>>5982385>ROBOTSwell there was that swivelling Boston Dynamics Atlas demo the other day,
https://bostondynamics.com/atlas/and also MSFT VASA-1 (see the video here)
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/04/microsofts-vasa-1-can-deepfake-a-person-with-one-photo-and-one-audio-track/clearly, one must imagine the potential for pornography
>>5982374>>5982385I think TV series usually written around 1yr ahead of airing (?) but re-watching the Buffy episodes you can really feel how 9/11 traumatised America lol, prior to season 6 (where that demon biker gang chain dismemberment gif is taken from) seasons 1-5 all fairly optimistic, there is some crying but mostly Buffy is just slaying vampires and demons and delivering some wise-cracks or one-liners.
Then season 6 which I believe was around Oct 2001, just overloads on all the trauma and degradation, it features rape/sexual assault (and not in a particularly titillating bdsm way either, it is just cringe unpleasant) substance abuse / drug addiction, self-harm, an episode where Buffy tries to murder all her friends and family, Buffy cuts her hair (it does not look good), horrible family relationships, a bride being abandoned at the altar, and perhaps worst of all many disgusting episodes showing the degradation of working in a fast-food restaurant (this is perhaps the most horrifying of all). The final Season 7 is okay and returns to some more uplifting heroic obligatory female empowerment themes, but Season 6 just leaves a very unpleasant psychologically damaged aftertaste
I think the secret to Joss Whedon writing is actually some perverse form of psychotherapy as abuse lol, he does not permit any of his characters to be happy. Nearly all the episodes are centred around psychological trauma of varying degrees (hence why I like the crying episodes lol
>>5966833 ) basically every romance is tragic and doomed, all emotions and desires unfulfilled or stultified.
This in fact is quite a gothic sensibility, the key elements of the gothic lie in SEDUCTION vs REVULSION, gothic separation (eg wandering Ahasuerus / Faust type motif) often behind that force of secret lust attraction / repulsion, which is often also tied to moral corruption (of innocence etc). I read some essay a while back explaining how gothic is based around sensation like hunger and lust/desire, there is a line in Buffy (I think Faith says it) asking about how doesn't slaying vampires make you feel hungry and horny afterwards? It makes sense, hehe