Abstract

Based on the study of two contemporary mainstream TV series, we aim to analyze how massive cultural products showcase values and beliefs related to knowledge, science and technology.

Through the comparative study between the first season of the TV series Westworld (2016) and the first season of The Handmaid’s Tale (2017), which explore dystopia and science fiction, it is possible to draw similarities amongst the android’s, the handmaid’s and our own –each time more– illusory realities, in which the dominant segments employ certain strategies based on the unequal distribution of knowledge and technology.

The initial proposal is very similar: in both series, it is sought to recreate an artificial analogue world that apparently lacks high technologies. The fragile success of these artificial worlds depends on the fact that their manufacturing footprints are erased: the beings that inhabit these places are forced to forget their previous identities. We suggest that in both series the alternative worlds fail in the end because the oppressed segments manage to recover their memory and to regain the prerogative of knowledge.

We put into practice, in this comparative study, theoretical and methodological tools from Anthropology, Social Science & Technology Studies (SSTS) and Literary Studies.

Keywords: Science and technology | knowledge | social control | memory | television | fiction