Can I Show you my Circuits? (2022)
A cyborg does a striptease for you.
An animated short film addressing themes of Queer gender and sexuality empowered by technology.
Can I Show You My Circuits? builds on the idea of “monsterification” in social trans and non-binary theory. Monsterification is the identification with non-human or near-human forms (like zombies, robots, and monsters) among gender non-conforming people. This cultural phenomenon rises as a response to the structures that enforce binary gender as central or necessary to the human experience; therefore, experiencing something outside this binary must make someone “non-human”.
Can I Show You My Circuits? uses the form of the cyborg to explore how technology can enable new forms of gendered expression and Queer desire. The cyborg’s body approximates a human one; however, through its striptease, it takes on a new Queer form. This being’s idea of what it means to have a body and to express desire differs entirely from our own.
Can I Show You My Circuits? exemplifies how Queer gender expression and Queer representations of sexuality defy limitation and expectation, allowing for more complex modalities of relation. The cyborg’s idea of a striptease, a classically sexual act, differs from the human one. Rather than clothes, it strips its skin. The sexuality of the act lies in its intention. Its body, too, defies convention: a lack of sexual features and its frivolously mechanical body parts assert its existence for no sake other than its own.
Can I Show You My Circuits? was animated in Procreate. I began by storyboarding the animation and creating sketches for the stripped cyborg version of the main figure. Afterwards, I worked scene by scene, using my own body as a reference to rotoscope many of the moving shots. The mechanical elements were drawn by hand and superimposed over the body. With a runtime of 2:54 animated at 12FPS, this film features over 600 frames.
The soundtrack was created through a process of sampling, distorting, and looping sounds I made with my mouth. My goal was to create a soundscape that was immersive and mechanical, but unnervingly organic. Audio editing, video editing, and final assembly were all done in Adobe AfterEffects.
This piece was created for Elisa Giardina Papa’s course Art, Gender, and Technology in Fall 2022. It was selected and displayed as a featured piece for the SMFA’s annual Digital Media Exhibition in Spring 2023.