Abstract
Gerardo Porcayo’s specular fictions of La primera calle de la soledad (1993) and its accompanying short story “Esferas de visión” (1997) present markedly gendered cyborgs whose difference is largely anchored upon explicitly optical motifs: an ocular prosthesis coupled with the locus of visual perception—the eyes—as a site of struggle between the posthuman subject, gendered identity, and multinational capitalistic forces. Juxtaposed, these two texts demonstrate more than just hetero-patriarchal fantasies, they link to socio-political phenomena, such as the spectacularization of femininity and a particularly Mexican male gaze cast by, and constitutive of, neoliberal masculinities. This techno-vision is synonymous with sexually differentiated power, and lends itself to Freudian and Lacanian readings of the phallus and lack for subject constitution between genders.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Libia Brenda said this on July 13, 2020 as a panelist for a virtual class session on science fiction written by Latin American women. The course title was Ciencia ficción latinoamericana: la potencia de un futuro propio, taught by Dr. Rodrigo Bastidas Pérez.
- 2.
Hernán García has documented Mexican cyberpunk well, citing around ten authors and anthologies that have been published in the past 15 years that broadly pertain to cyberpunk or post-cyberpunk narratives. See “Texto y contexto del cyberpunk mexicano en la década del noventa” (2018) for details. Several prominent examples relevant to mention here are Eve Gil’s Virtus (2008), analyzed in this monograph in Chap. 4; Gerardo Porcayo’s own novel Plasma Exprés (2017); and the assembled but never-published Antología cyberpunk mexicano (2013).
- 3.
A frequently cited quote from Luis Ramírez helps elucidate this reality and the focus of Mexican cyberpunk critique: “Aunque pienso que no se trataba de que ya escribiéramos cyberpunk, de hecho, supongo que sucedió lo siguiente: nosotros abordamos el presente del México de los noventa -crisis económica, globalización, revolución, violencia urbana, narcotráfico, internet, apertura comercial, la estúpida creencia de que habíamos dejado el tercer mundo y estábamos a punto de pertenecer al primero- y ese presente, es el mismo que los escritores etiquetados cyberpunk en los Estados Unidos, vivieron diez años antes” (n.d. “Cyberpunk…”, 4) [“We addressed Mexico’s present in the 1990s, the economic crisis, globalization, revolution, urban violence, drug trafficking, the Internet, trade liberalization, the stupid belief we had put the Third World behind us and were about to be part of the First World, and that present was the same reality so-called cyberpunk authors in the United States had experienced ten years before us.”]
- 4.
This is not to say there were no women writers who produced works considered to be science fiction during the time of the cyberpunk movement; authors like Cecilia Eudave, Karen Chacek, Gabriela Rábago Palafox, and Blanca Mart, among others, were around and publishing in the genre. Additionally, some women formed a peripheral part of the cyberpunk movement in providing graphic design in fanzines like Sub and Número, as well as editing services—secondary and minor roles. The point is that both groups of women were not active, contributing members of the movement’s vision.
- 5.
As of this writing, this trend has reversed, with the visibility of women writing in science fiction, horror and fantasy in Mexico, Latin America and Spain, has exploded with numerous anthologies, scholarly works and journalistic articles, as well as courses and symposia specifically dedicated to the topic.
- 6.
Other print fanzines included Azoth, Fractal’zine, Umbrales and Sub, among others. Sub arrived in the late-1990s and became one of the most high-quality ‘zines within the movement, due in large part to the lower costs in printing and know-how of many tech-savvy SF writers and designers, such as Bernardo Fernandez (“BEF”), along with Pepe Rojo, Joselo Rangel, Ricardo Mejía Malacara, Rodrigo Cruz, et al. Sub stands for “Subgéneros de Subliteratura Subterranea” [Subgenres of the Subterranean Subliterature] touting the self-described marginal nature of SF production and consumption in Mexico. According to Zárate, it resembled a professional magazine with “textos excelentes, magníficos dibujos, una imaginativa diagramación, un diseño que…da envidia” [excellent texts, magnificent drawings, an imaginative layout, a design-worthy of envy] (n.d. “Fanzinerosos”).
- 7.
However, the author did state that the idea began in 1988 (Trujillo Muñoz 2000, 286). Furthermore, Porcayo clearly had this on his mind as far back as 1984 when he published the short story “Sueño eléctrico” [“Electric Dream”], which received an Honorable Mention award at the first Premio Puebla in 1984 (n.d., “Cyberpunk…”). The term “electric dreams” is a central and recurring theme throughout the PCS universe and clearly references Phillip K Dick’s influence in Porcayo’s work.
- 8.
The turn from late nineteenth-century dystopias toward a critical dystopia was more nuanced than its originator of the simpler dystopia. It tends “to be less driven by celebration or despair, more open to complexities and ambiguities, and more encouraging of new riffs of personal and political maneuvers” (Moylan 2000, 182).
- 9.
As of this writing, one other scholarly text focuses on the novel, although to a lesser degree of depth: Vanessa Ramírez’s “El espacio urbano del cyberpunk en La primera calle de la soledad” (2019).
- 10.
By standalone, I mean not in conjunction with any other Porcayo stories that pertain to the same fictional universe. However, Miguel García’s article, “Urbes corruptoras y visiones apocalípticas en dos novelas ciberpunk latinoamericanas” (2015) discusses urban space and apocalypse alongside another novel by Brazilian Fausto Fawcett’s Santa Clara Poltergeist.
- 11.
Three other Porcayo short stories also pertain to the same science fictional universe of PCS and “Esferas de visión”: “Imágenes rotas, sueños de herrumbre” (1993), “Antenas sin marte” (2002) and “Colinas del viejo ser,” (2002); the existence of these works underscores the enduring popularity of the original novel that spawned a total of four short-story addendums. These other three will not be treated here given that they do not focus upon issues central to vision and visuality, nor is the gender-technology link as prominent as in “Esferas de visión.” Altogether, this makes them unfit to be considered within this analysis as specular fictions.
- 12.
Each of his tripartite division of “complexes of visuality” involves classifying, separating and finally aestheticizing. He writes: “[Visuality] makes this separated classification seem right and hence aesthetic,” noting that this classifying action is attributable to Foucault’s notion of the “nomination of the visible” (Mirzoeff 2011, 3).
- 13.
Mulvey draws from Freud and Lacan to explain the psychoanalytical underpinnings of why the (Golden Age of Hollywood) gaze is male. The male character/camera/spectator triad that visually focuses on a woman on screen hides the connotation of her lack of a penis, which in turn threatens castration to male subject. From here, two routes are possible: voyeurism or fetishistic scopophilia (2000, 489).
- 14.
As might be expected, a volume that specializes in visibilizing female authors of sci-fi and fantasy—the first of its kind in Mexico—and ends up presenting such an undignified representation of a woman on its cover was not well received among some of its contributors and allies. For example, contributor and editor Libia Brenda, along with Gabriela Damián Miravete, both expressed their disappointment and disgust with the cover in a conversation with me in Mexico City during the first Estéticas de Ciencia Ficción symposium in 2017. Brenda also noted how no contributing author was consulted regarding the cover by the anthologizer Jorge Cubría—a fact which only underscores the long-standing marginalized nature of women in the science fiction genre in Mexico.
- 15.
See Raúl Cruz’s website at racrufi7.wixsite.com/racrufi. Some of the titles are Archer, Angel, Armed, Intervention, Insect, Floating Power, Provider.
- 16.
For an in-depth discussion of Lorena Velázquez, one of the first, impactful symbols of female star power in early science fiction and lucha libre films, see “The Star Power of Lorena Velázquez in Lucha Libre Cinema” by David Dalton (2022).
- 17.
Even as of 2016, men give forecasts very infrequently—only for emergency weather situations, according to Abimael Salas, chief meteorologist at Multimedios y Milenio Televisión (“El encanto de…” 2016). This unfortunate state of affairs clearly reinforces the patriarchal structure where men are given the “serious” jobs and women relegated to being mere showpieces for the mundane tasks.
- 18.
An image inspired by this story was rendered by the artist Ponce and included in the second issue of the fanzine Sub, published in 1996.
- 19.
A word specific to Mexico tied to the brand Gerber, which sells an array of large hunting knives akin to the one used by the character Rambo in his films.
- 20.
The different kinds include neo-, proto-, retro-, pseudo-, mega-, meta-, multi-, semi-, hyper-, omni- (Gray 1995, 14).
- 21.
In an interesting fiction-meets-reality twist, in 2013 some researchers at the University of Tokyo created just this device, a mirror that alters one’s facial expression. The device is called an “incendiary reflection” that tracks a person’s facial expressions and then alters them just slightly but upturning the corners of their mouth and crinkling the area around their eyes to make them appear happier than they actually are when they look at themselves in the mirror. The point is that if they look happier, they will also feel happier, so that they will consume more items while shopping (Waldman 2013). This is actually based upon a “facial feedback theory” that essentially claims that how a face appears may come to bear greatly upon their subjective experience of life, i.e. the more one forces themselves to smile, the happier one actually becomes.
Works Cited
Antología cyberpunk mexicano. 2013. Clarimonda Drunk Ediciones. Unpublished.
Balaev, Michelle. 2018. Trauma Studies. In A Companion to Literary Theory, ed. David H. Richter, 360–371. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell.
Biles, James J. 2008. Informal Work and Livelihoods in Mexico: Getting by or Getting Ahead? The Professional Geographer 60 (4): 541–555.
Bukatman, Scott. 1993. Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Postmodern Science Fiction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Cubria, Jorge. 2003. Ginecoides, las hembras de los androides: cuentos de ciencia ficción y fantasia por mujeres mexicanas. Ed. Jorge Cubría. México: Grupo Editorial Lumen.
Dalton, David. 2022. On Virgins, Malinches, and Chicas Modernas: The Star Power of Lorena Velázquez in Lucha Libre Cinema. In The Lost Cinema of Mexico: From Lucha Libre to Cine Familiar and Other Churros, ed. Olivia Cosentino and Brian Price, 62–87. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press.
El encanto de las “chicas del clima” en la TV mexicana. 2016. La Vanguardia, January 6. https://vanguardia.com.mx/show/el-encanto-de-las-chicas-del-clima-en-la-tv-mexicana-JMVG3049770. Accessed 1 December 2018.
Emmelheinz, Irmgard. 2016. La tiranía del sentido común: La reconversión neoliberal de México. Paradiso Editores.
Fernández, Bernardo. 2007. Monorama. México: Editorial Resistencia.
Freud, Sigmund. 1920. Beyond the Pleasure Principle. London: Norton.
García, Hernán. 2014. Carne eres y en máquina te convertirás: El cuerpo post-humano en La primera calle de la soledad de Gerardo Porcayo. Polifonía: Revista Académica De Estudios Hispánicos 4: 4–23. https://www.apsu.edu/polifonia/v4/2014-garcia.pdf.
García, Miguel. 2015. Urbes corruptoras y visiones apocalípticas en dos novelas ciberpunk latinoamericanas. Chasqui 44 (2): 138–148.
García, Hernán. 2018. Texto y contexto del cyberpunk mexicano en la década del noventa. Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía 5 (2): Article 5. https://doi.org/10.5038/2167-6577.5.2.5. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/alambique/vol5/iss2/5.
Genette, Gérard. 1988. Narrative Discourse Revisited. Trans. Jane E. Lewin. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Ginway, Elizabeth. 2020. Cyborgs, Sexuality, and the Undead: The Body in Mexican and Brazilian Speculative Fiction. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
Gray, Chris Hables, ed. 1995. The Cyborg Handbook. London: Routledge.
Jahn, Manfred. 2008. Focalization. In Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory, ed. David Herman, Manfred Jahn, and Marie-Laure Ryan, 173–177. London: Routledge.
Kristeva, Julia. 1982. Powers of Horror. An Essay on Abjection. Trans. Louis-Ferdinand Célice. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lacan, Jacques. 2006. Écrits: The First Complete Edition in English. Trans. Bruce Fink in Collaboration with Héloïse Fink and Russell Grigg. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Las medidas de Yanet Garcia Gente Regia 04-Ago-2015 Full HD. YouTube, Uploaded by Yanet Garcia www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulKHFbBxrXM. Accessed 9 August 2015.
Mirzoeff, Nicholas. 2011. The Right to Look: A Counterhistory of Visuality. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Moylan, Tom. 2000. Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Mulvey, Laura. 2000. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In Film and Theory: An Anthology, ed. Robert Stam and Toby Miller, 483–494. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Muñoz Zapata, Juan Ignacio. 2010. Narrative and Dystopian Forms of Life in Mexican Cyberpunk Novel La primera calle de la soledad. In Science Fiction, Imperialism and the Third World, ed. Ericka Hoagland and Reema Sarwal, 188–201. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Ordiz, Inés. 2016. De-construcciones y ciber-construcciones del cuerpo gótico y ciencia ficción en La primera calle de la soledad de Gerardo Horacio Porcayo. In Territorios de la imaginación: poéticas ficcionales de lo insólito en España y México, special issue of Brumal. Revista e investigación sobre lo Fantástico, ed. María Gutiérrez Campelo, 121–130. León: Universidad de León.
Porcayo, Gerardo. 1993. La primera calle de la soledad. México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes.
———. 1996. Esferas de visión. Sub (fanzine), eds. Pepe Rojo, Joselo Rangel, Ricardo Mejía Malacara, Rodrigo Cruz, and Bernardo Fernández ‘Bef’: 8–12.
———. Esferas de visión. 1997. Silicio en la memoria. Mexico City, Mexico: Ramon Llaca y Cía.
———. 2003. Rue Chair. Sub (fanzine), eds. Pepe Rojo, Jóselo Rangel, Ricardo Mejía Malacara, Rodrigo Cruz and Bernardo Fernández ‘Bef’: 59–64.
———. 2017. Plasma Express. Ciudad de México: Planeta Mexicana.
———. 2019. Volver a la piel. Cuidad de México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Ramírez, José Luis. 1997. Cuentos compactos: cyberpunk. México: Fractal.
Ramírez, Vanessa. 2019. El espacio urbano del cyberpunk en La primera calle de la soledad. Metáforas del aire 2 (1): 106–120.
Ramírez, José Luis. n.d. Cyberpunk: El movimiento en México. Ciencia ficción mexicana. http://comunidades.com.mx/cfm/?cve=11:09. Accessed 4 May 2013.
Sánchez Prado, Ignacio M. 2012. Ending the World with Words: Bernardo Fernández (BEF) and the Institutionalization of Science Fiction in Mexico. In Latin American Science Fiction: Theory and Practice, ed. Elizabeth Ginway and Andrew Brown, 111–132. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Scott, Ridley. 1982. Blade Runner. Warner Bros.
Silverman, Kaja. 1983. The Subject of Semiotics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Trujillo Muñoz, Gabriel. 2000. Biografías del futuro: La ciencia ficción mexicana y sus autores. Mexicali: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.
Waldman, Katy. 2013. Fake Mirrors May Soon Ensnare Shoppers in Web of Lies. Slate, August https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/08/incendiary-reflection-mirrors-make-you-look-happier-than-you-are-so-you-buy-stuff.html. Accessed 2 March 2015.
Wright, Linda. 2010. Talking About Men: Conversations About Men and Masculinities in Recent Gender-Bending Science Fiction. PhD diss., University of Ballarat.
Zárate, José Luis. n.d. Fanzinerosos. Ciencia Ficción Mexicana. ciencia-ficcion.com.mx. http://comunidades.com.mx/cfm/?cve=11:14. Accessed 29 October 2014.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tobin, S.C. (2023). Where is my Eye? Gendered Cyborgs, the Male Gaze, and Lack in La primera calle de la soledad [The First Street of Solitude] and “Esferas de visión” [“Spheres of Vision”]. In: Vision, Technology, and Subjectivity in Mexican Cyberpunk Literature . Studies in Global Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31156-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31156-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-31155-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-31156-7
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)