“Can you lend me a hand” A study into the showing of prosthetics in the genre of science fiction

Research questions

How are prosthetics shown in the genre of sci-fi in cinema?

How are they shown in other genres of cinema?

Where have we gotten these views from?

How have they changed throughout cinema?

What are some of the reasons for there being prosthetics in the movies?

Statement of Significance

One thing with society, prosthetics are a topic that is not talked about in detail or that is glanced
over. People do not see prosthetics in their daily life often unless they live with someone who has one or
have one themselves. In terms of development, there is a lot of room for improvement with prosthetics.
Other researchers will see how they are shown in a major form of media that people see regularly. It
allows people to see how people view something that is a major part of people’s lives that can
sometimes be a hindrance in their lives. This research will give an outline of how prosthetics are shown
in a genre of media. Prosthetics are a focus; they are always something added to universes. So, this will
look into if they are shown to be a hindrance or if they are shown to be an enhancement in other cases.
Other research only investigates the prosthetic itself, while this one will focus on the representation of
it.

As a future career, I hope to develop prosthetics. With the research, it for one will help give me
ideas on what I would like to do for development in prosthetics. It is also fascinating that with so much
of it being shown in the media and through different mediums, there is not a lot of it shown in everyday
life. This can also look into how people visualize the future and all that comes with it as a society looking
at what they want to accomplish going forward.

Research

For primary research I will look at different movies, shows and games in the science fiction
genre. With this I will look into how they are shown. Are they good, bad, an enhancement, a hindrance?
I will also look into the role prosthetics play in the worlds of these different mediums. I was thinking
about watching a few movies, a couple shows, and playing a couple of video games. This will add a wide
range of different worlds to look into. I plan to look at five to seven examples, three movies, one to two
shows, and one to two video games. I will use some history of prosthetics as background knowledge of
past and modern-day prosthetics. This will help give an idea of how it is different in the science fiction
genre, and this can be used to help analyze said mediums. With the background, I will also go into depth
about the science fiction genre, and this will just give an overall explanation of what is being
investigated.
Sources

History of Prosthetics

https://www.premierprosthetic.com/02/history-of-prosthetics/

The Good Prosthetic, Evil Prosthetic Trope in Sci-Fi, Explained

https://gamerant.com/good-prosthetic-evil-prosthetic-sci-fi-explained/

Prosthetics in Fiction

https://academic-accelerator.com/encyclopedia/prosthetics-in-fiction

Video Games/ Artificial Limbs

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ArtificialLimbs/VideoGames