Socialist cinema, gender, and the robot revolution: Ion Popescu Gopo’s Galax, the Doll-Man (1984) beyond Utopia and Dystopia

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I argue for the relevance of Eastern European cinema dealing with the robot revolution in the context of Romanian communism. I aim to fill a gap in the literature by focusing on Galax, the Doll-Man (Galax, omul-păpușă, 1984), the only Romanian drama movie centered on a robot, and directed by Ion Popescu Gopo (1923–1989), the most internationally awarded Romanian animator and cineaste during communism. I argue that Gopo’s Galax challenges obliquely socialist realism and the Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters of the period, providing emancipatory gender insights and an appealing alternative to utopian or dystopian scenarios in which robotic technology is either liberating or all-destructive. In Galax, Gopo combines different filmic genres and styles to explore a multi-layered crisis of subjectivity, human relations, and male-dominated public authorities generated by the robot revolution. Gopo’s emancipatory vision reconstructs the transformative relationship between the robot Galax capable of learning and creation, and a young female student (Mariana) who challenges different male authorities built on social, political, and psychiatric rationalities, and thus breaks with the typical female heroes of the Romanian socialist films – the sacrificial worker, mother, or activist.