Everywhere now I see these Svedka Vodka ads. What I can’t figure out is whether they’re deliberately making a clever literary reference.
The word “robot” first appeared in Karel Čapek’s 1921 play R.U.R., which stood for Rossum’s Universal Robots (the name of the company that manufactured the automatons).
So, Svedka, R.U. Referencing Čapek’s Play Or Not?
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A. D. Jameson is the author of five books, most recently I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING: STAR WARS AND THE TRIUMPH OF GEEK CULTURE and CINEMAPS: AN ATLAS OF 35 GREAT MOVIES (with artist Andrew DeGraff). Last May, he received his Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the Program for Writers at UIC.
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What I can’t figure out is… is that robot sporting a thong? I think that if Tim J-Y designed a robot it would.
I think we’re definitely meant to think thong. Though she (it?) seems to be “post-thong”:
http://www.bizbash.com/content/editorial/StoryPhoto/big/e9754image1.jpg
I agree that we definitely need Tim to weigh in on this. Tim?
Ah, that linked ad is much more obvious (I haven’t seen these ads around, or at least didn’t notice them).
WELCOME TO UNCANNY VALLEY! (sorta)
They’re all over the place in Chicago. I guess we’re the intersection of technofetish and vodkafetish.