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Epilogue

“Going Viral” at the End of the Anthropocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2021

Julia A. Walker
Affiliation:
Washington University, St Louis
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Summary

In an epilogue that examines the current shift from human to animatronic performers in film and video, this book concludes with a meditation on the contemporary ambition to “go viral.” The history of computer-generated imaging (CGI) technology suggests that, in its pixelated form, a new - if also contested - concept of self has emerged for the twenty-first century. While fantasies of disembodiment and photo-realistic avatars of domination and destruction persist in contemporary media, pixilation offers us an alternative model of self that presages a post-Anthropogenic era. By fracturing the contours of a reified identity, the pixelated image invites us to re-envision ourselves as multi-celled organisms capable of co-existing with other such life forms within a shared biosphere. Inscribed in this new performance form, in other words, is yet more evidence for the ways we seek to comprehend and adapt to changes in our ever-modernizing world.

Type
Chapter
Information
Performance and Modernity
Enacting Change on the Globalizing Stage
, pp. 249 - 269
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Epilogue
  • Julia A. Walker, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Performance and Modernity
  • Online publication: 09 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108966870.007
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  • Epilogue
  • Julia A. Walker, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Performance and Modernity
  • Online publication: 09 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108966870.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Epilogue
  • Julia A. Walker, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Performance and Modernity
  • Online publication: 09 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108966870.007
Available formats
×