The $50,000,000.02 Woman

Last updated on: September 26, 2007 at 10:08 pm by James F. McGrath

The $50,000,000.02 Woman 2007-09-26T22:08:00-04:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I just finished watching the season premier of the new TV series on NBC, Bionic Woman. The title of this blog entry reflects the updating of the value of the original six million dollar woman to reflect inflation – plus me adding my “two cents” worth.

We’ve had various series that treat machine intelligences and people with seemingly miraculously enhanced abilities, even if the explanation is pseudo-technological (such as Heroes and The 4400). This is the first major series since Dark Angel, however, to genuinely offer what may rightly be called a cyborg (and one cannot help wondering if the choice of dark-haired actress Michelle Ryan for the new Jamie Sommers was influenced by Jessica Alba’s role in that series).

As with David Eick’s other recent recreation of a classic science fiction series from the 70s, Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman is not an attempt to retell the story of the original series The Bionic Woman. For those of us waiting for the new season of BSG to begin, it was refreshing to see not one but two familiar faces from that series (Starbuck and the Chief), the former promising to return regularly on the series. The new recreated Bionic Woman is darker, edgier (again like Battlestar Galactica), reminiscent in some ways of La Femme Nikita. In any current series involving government secrets, we expect the lines between the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ to be at least somewhat blurry. This is not a bad thing – in studying the Ramayana recently for a class on South Asian Civilizations, I had the chance to reflect on how that great classic of the Indian tradition avoids such moralistic oversimplifications. Star Wars too does a great job of bringing the same theme to our attention.

One does not have to look beneath the surface of the new series to come into contact with the moral and religious overtones. As Jamie’s boyfriend, bionics expert Will, says in an introductory lecture on bioethics, the question regarding enhancement technologies is “When is it OK to intervene in God’s work?” Few if any today would have objections to glasses, contact lenses, or laser eye surgery. Prosthetics are fine, and we seem to be willing to go a step further and allow breasts, for example, to be enlarged. I doubt there is anyone in the world with an e-mail account who does not receive frequent spam offering them the opportunity to increase the size of organs they have and others they do not (or rather, they do, but because of their gender most have no interest in enlarging them). What would be wrong, then, in simply making improvements for their own sake? Why allow interventions to correct our vision but not to improve it?

Such ethical questions are pressing as technological possibilities develop with breathtaking speed. The character Will says at one point that “technology is at the point where science fiction isn’t science fiction any more.” This may well be a statement of truth – military technology is usually advanced beyond what is disclosed to the public, and so it may indeed be the case that, somewhere in the world, there is technology related to human enhancement that is much more advanced than anything known to the general public.

Although the special effects aren’t really Matrix-like, as some had anticipated, the series seems closer to the thinking of the Matrix films, steeped in cyberpunk and technological optimism, as opposed to the viewpoint of the Star Wars films, in which Darth Vader represents a shadow of a human self that has lost something of its soul as it has become “more machine than man”.

Many of these recent series show that our deep-seated longing for superheroes with super-human abilities is not waning. Bionic Woman, however, has the potential to allow us to explore the ethical and spiritual side of a technology that is much closer to becoming science fact within the lifetimes of those who watch it. It is also off to a descent start, with characters that have the potential to enchant us and draw us into their stories, and keep us glued to the TV night after night. I just hope I won’t have to find myself choosing between Bionic Woman and LOST!

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 26, 2007

Let Us Make Humanity In Our Image (update)

Next Post

September 27, 2007 "That's Not Me": More on Bionic Women

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz