- Author: Rocío Carrasco-Carrasco
- Journal: The Posthuman Condition in 21st Century Literature and Culture
- Year: 2025
- Pages: 69-84
Abstract
TV series The Power (2023), based on Naomi Alderman’s novel of the same name, tells the story of how teenage girls progressively develop an inborn new organ that allows them to electrocute people, empowering women and eventually reversing patriarchal societies. The transhumanist idea of enhancing and transforming our bodies to evolve as humans and have better societies in the future can be said to apply to the oppressed ones in The Power. As this chapter argues, the series offers a critical perspective of the present, highlighting current debates on feminism, transhumanism, and the future of humanity with the purpose of encouraging viewers to reflect upon the oppressive effects of patriarchy and to consider the ideas of critical posthumanism in the search of more inclusive paths for our societies. By means of gender reversal, the show succeeds in offering a picture of how patriarchy has worked to oppress women over the years. Considering theories proposed by transhumanism (Bostrom, More) and critical and philosophical feminist posthumanism (Braidotti, Ferrando), this contribution deals with the enhanced body as depicted in The Power, considering it as something superior that resists against patriarchal structures and that ultimately urges spectators to reconsider current societies for the better.