Temp Cyborgs

Abstract

This article analyzes three primetime television series: Chuck and Bionic Woman on NBC and Dollhouse on Fox. The narratives and representations in the three programs raise questions about the role of immaterial labor, gender, and technology in contemporary life. Each series articulates and reifies the unequal sexual division of labor around prized technological work. The texts also express the instability of humanity as it becomes ever more intimate with new technology. As cyborgs, the main protagonists are temporary subjects because technology is driven by capital’s need for newer products and newer iterations of existing technology. The potential for liberation and collective activity that comes with the newfound power, skill, and interconnection of cyborgs is closed off. The contemporary cyborg in Chuck and Bionic Woman is alienated and never far from being obsolete, while Dollhouse shows the possibility for working-class resistance.