NSB Film School: Fembots, AI, and Emotional Labor [Durham, NC]
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $200 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Nicole Berland | 3 Weeks | Thursdays | August 15-29 (optional intro class August 8 Sunday August 11) | IN PERSON, 719 N Mangum St., Durham, NC
Join an in-person screening and discussion series at Night School Bar for films, fembots, and fancy cocktails.
Derived from the Czech word, robota, meaning “forced labor,” the term robot first appeared in the 1920 play, R.U.R., by the Czech writer, Karel Čapek. Since then, our hopes, fears, and imaginations for the future of robotics have continued to link robots to that foundational condition of enslavement. Highlighting this connection raises important questions about why our most popular and pervasive AI, like Siri and Alexa, are "coded" (in at least two senses of the term) female. Or why the burgeoning field of Artificial Emotional Intelligence (AEI) so often demonstrates its accomplishments through the bodies and voices of robotic women? In this course, we'll ask: What is the role of film in both fueling and interrogating our desires for our servants to be not simply gendered, but feminized?
In this three-week mini-course, we will meet in person to view and discuss three films: Her (Spike Jonze, 2013), Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014), and M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone, 2022). The course will be preceded by an optional preliminary session, in which we discuss some recent texts theorizing gender representations and AI in contemporary film and television. Each of the three subsequent screenings will be preceded by a brief introduction and followed by a discussion of roughly one hour.
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This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing 50% or higher tuition tiers in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $200 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Nicole Berland | 3 Weeks | Thursdays | August 15-29 (optional intro class August 8 Sunday August 11) | IN PERSON, 719 N Mangum St., Durham, NC
Join an in-person screening and discussion series at Night School Bar for films, fembots, and fancy cocktails.
Derived from the Czech word, robota, meaning “forced labor,” the term robot first appeared in the 1920 play, R.U.R., by the Czech writer, Karel Čapek. Since then, our hopes, fears, and imaginations for the future of robotics have continued to link robots to that foundational condition of enslavement. Highlighting this connection raises important questions about why our most popular and pervasive AI, like Siri and Alexa, are "coded" (in at least two senses of the term) female. Or why the burgeoning field of Artificial Emotional Intelligence (AEI) so often demonstrates its accomplishments through the bodies and voices of robotic women? In this course, we'll ask: What is the role of film in both fueling and interrogating our desires for our servants to be not simply gendered, but feminized?
In this three-week mini-course, we will meet in person to view and discuss three films: Her (Spike Jonze, 2013), Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014), and M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone, 2022). The course will be preceded by an optional preliminary session, in which we discuss some recent texts theorizing gender representations and AI in contemporary film and television. Each of the three subsequent screenings will be preceded by a brief introduction and followed by a discussion of roughly one hour.
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing 50% or higher tuition tiers in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $200 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Nicole Berland | 3 Weeks | Thursdays | August 15-29 (optional intro class August 8 Sunday August 11) | IN PERSON, 719 N Mangum St., Durham, NC
Join an in-person screening and discussion series at Night School Bar for films, fembots, and fancy cocktails.
Derived from the Czech word, robota, meaning “forced labor,” the term robot first appeared in the 1920 play, R.U.R., by the Czech writer, Karel Čapek. Since then, our hopes, fears, and imaginations for the future of robotics have continued to link robots to that foundational condition of enslavement. Highlighting this connection raises important questions about why our most popular and pervasive AI, like Siri and Alexa, are "coded" (in at least two senses of the term) female. Or why the burgeoning field of Artificial Emotional Intelligence (AEI) so often demonstrates its accomplishments through the bodies and voices of robotic women? In this course, we'll ask: What is the role of film in both fueling and interrogating our desires for our servants to be not simply gendered, but feminized?
In this three-week mini-course, we will meet in person to view and discuss three films: Her (Spike Jonze, 2013), Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014), and M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone, 2022). The course will be preceded by an optional preliminary session, in which we discuss some recent texts theorizing gender representations and AI in contemporary film and television. Each of the three subsequent screenings will be preceded by a brief introduction and followed by a discussion of roughly one hour.
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing 50% or higher tuition tiers in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.