Look at the Bunny: Totem, Taboo, Technology (Zero Books, 2013) — ORDER
“What starts out as counter-intuitive ends up as so true and right that one can no longer recall ever thinking otherwise […] Only for those courageous enough to venture down the rabbit-hole.” — Jodi Dean
Are totems merely a thing of the distant past? Or might it be that our sleek new machines are producing totemic forces which we are only beginning to recognize?
This book asks to what degree today’s media technologies are haunted by a Freudian ghost, functioning as totems or taboos (or both). By isolating five case-studies (rabbits in popular culture, animated creatures that go “off-program,” virtual lovers, jealous animal spirit guides, and electronic paradises), Look at the Bunny highlights and explores today’s techno-totemic environment. In doing so, it explores how nonhuman avatars are increasingly expected to shepherd us beyond our land-locked identities, into a risky – sometimes ecstatic – relationship with the Other.
In-depth podcast interview with the author: http://newbooksinscitechsoc.com/2013/05/31/dominic-pettman-human-error-uminnesota-2011look-at-the-bunny-zero-books-2013/
Dominic Pettman 