Androids In Film Are Topic Of Mercer CC Lecture Next Month

From Blade Runner to Westworld, the portrayal and social influences of human-like robots - or androids - will be the topic of an upcoming lecture at Mercer County Community College (MCCC) Feb. 7.

"The Android Archetype: From Metropolis to Westworld" will be the subject of a lecture by Dr. William Indick, professor of Psychology at William Paterson University, at noon on Thursday, Feb. 7 in the Communications Building, Room 109. His talk is part of MCCC's spring 2019 Distinguished Lecture Series at the West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Beginning with Fritz Lang's masterpiece Metropolis (1927), Indick will trace the development of the archetype through classic films and series such as The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Disney's Pinocchio (1940), The Stepford Wives (1975), Blade Runner (1982), I, Robot (2004), The Terminator (1984-2019), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and both the film and television versions of Michael Crichton's Westworld.

Indick will discuss that as a symbol of humanity's endless quest to represent, perfect, and master itself, the android archetype inspires fertile discussions about ethics and technology, the morality of slavery, and what it means to be human. In addition, Indick will address issues related to feminism, male domination, and female objectification as they pertain to the creation of android female forms.

Indick earned his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University, and B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Music Therapy from New York University.

For more information on MCCC's Distinguished Lecture Series, call (609) 570-3324 or visit www.mccc.edu/events.