Journal de Etica y Cine

AI, accelerationism, and eroticism: An ethical-psychoanalytic reading through film

Aldana Argüello Valenzuela, Rut Fidel — 2026-03-14T15:03:34Z

Abstract

The following article will analyze contemporary discourses arising from technological advances, using the 2026 AI Impact Summit in India as an example. It will attempt to establish a dialogue between Jacques Lacan's (1954-1955, 1972) early reflections on cybernetics and current techno-political discourse. Furthermore, it will present some elaborations by contemporary psychoanalysts to consider the growing movement known as ‘accelerationism' (Land, 2011), thus analyzing the implications of “knowledge without a subject” in the face of the rapid advancement of AI. Finally, it will offer a brief ethical-analytical reading of excerpts from the films Her (Jonze, 2013) and Companion (Hancock, 2025) in relation to topics such as cybernetics, eroticism, and the social bond. Thus, this recent technological advance does not constitute a historical break, but the culmination of a project integrated into the capitalist discourse with profound consequences for subjectivity.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence | Accelerationism | Psychoanalysis | Cinema

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

Science fiction: film, politics, and education on alien invasion

Brito Alvarado, Xavier , Sedeño-Valdellos, Ana — 2026-03-14T15:03:26Z

Abstract

This article reflects on science fiction cinema as a film genre that shows other ways of understanding social “reality,” using imaginary and scientific narratives that project the present and future of humanity. This cinema reflects the political, cultural, and social contradictions of events that threaten the survival of humanity on the planet. Among the most recurring stories are space exploration, time travel, supermachines, and alien invasions, which have given rise to a utopian and dystopian sphere of life on the planet. This work emphasizes alien invasions in fiction cinema within two historical contexts: the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and the new geopolitical scenario of tension between the United States and China, using the films Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955) and Arrival (2016). Methodologically, this essay is divided into the conceptual construction of fiction cinema, arguing its political and pedagogical meaning, using an empirical and descriptive-historical analysis of the films under investigation, which allow us to weave together the ideas that this cinema is not just fantasy, but provides an opportunity for social debate about human life on the planet and how to deal with this situation, which would change all cultural forms.

Keywords: fiction | ideology | pedagogy | cinema | aliens

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

Weaving together ethics and praxis

Enrique Richard, Melisa Eileen Richard Contreras — 2026-03-14T15:03:21Z

Abstract

The use of film as a complementary tool for health science training is described and explored, particularly in the field of clinical simulation in a bioethical context. The advantages offered by film are highlighted, as well as the possibility of recreating complex and unusual situations realistically, fostering the development of soft or transversal skills such as communication, otherness, altruism, and empathy, and exposing students to a wide range of diagnoses, procedures, and ethical dilemmas. However, the essay also recognizes the limitations of film in medical simulation, such as the lack of control over the information presented and the possibility of inaccuracies or biases. Therefore, the importance of using film critically and reflectively is emphasized, guiding students in the analysis of the films and series used to ensure meaningful learning. In conclusion, the essay defends film as a valuable tool for medical simulation, provided it is used appropriately and responsibly. It highlights its potential to complement traditional training and strengthen the comprehensive development of future healthcare professionals.

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

Frankenstein in the Feminine. Variations of the Monstrous

Hilen Ottone, Lucía Amatriain — 2026-03-14T15:02:52Z

Abstract

This article proposes a reading of the Frankenstein myth through the relationship between science, creation, and the feminine from a psychoanalytic perspective. Drawing on Mary Shelley's novel and its cinematic variations –Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), and Poor Things (2023)– it examines how the scientific ambition to produce life encounters a structural limit that returns in the form of the monstrous. The female figures that emerge in these films introduce different modes of misalignment with phallic logic. In this way, the feminine appears as the point at which the scientific claim to mastery fractures, revealing the limits of human control over life. The contemporary return of the figure of Frankenstein thus allows us to question, in a context marked by accelerated technological development, current fantasies of absolute control over creation and their inevitable failures.

Keywords: Frankenstein | the feminine | monstrosity | horror | science

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

Ed Gein, unfriendly neighbor

Jorge Bafico — 2026-03-14T15:02:45Z

Abstract

The case of Ed Gein raises questions about the link between psychosis and criminal acts. Following his mother's death, a delusion emerged centered on becoming a woman by constructing a female body from human remains. Although some behaviors may suggest perverse traits, clinical analysis situates them within a psychotic structure. His crimes can be understood as an attempt to manage the unregulated jouissance characteristic of psychosis, in the context of a push-toward-the-woman linked to the absence of phallic regulation.

Keywords: Psychosis | perversion | jouissance | Ed Gein

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

Black Swan: blemish of the self in the mirror's double

Ignacio Roldán Martínez — 2026-03-14T15:02:40Z

Abstract

Aronofsky's Black Swan, 2010 film, focuses on young Nina's rehearsals to play the black and white swans in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The demand to release his libidinous unconscious allows the irruption of the disturbing and fantastic element of the Double, and to apply to the analysis Freud's contributions on Super Ego, Ego and Id, and those contained in his essay The Uncanny. Likewise, the contrast between white and black refers to the question about the evil implied in the Chariot Allegory of Plato, whose answer Ricoeur enriches when it points to the fallibility of the human being, to the pre-understanding of his miserable condition and to original guilt. For its part, the myth of Narcissus explains the function of the mirror in the film, the nature of longing and the tragic meaning of the death of the heroine.

Keywords: mirror | identity | the double | evil | Narcissus

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

Promethean ethics in Oppenheimer's film: risk, uncertainty, and ambivalence

Serapio Estanislao Cazana Canchis — 2026-03-14T15:02:35Z

Abstract

Our usual concept of ethics is usually associated with universal, stable, and non-contradictory principles. However, the human ethos is intrinsically dynamic, both due to the evolution of societies' ideals and to unforeseen circumstances that sometimes surpass known moral norms and demand new courses of action. In this article, I will explain how these types of contradictions have been addressed in the myth of Prometheus and how its legacy has survived in Western tradition through literature, film, science, and its technological achievements. Specifically, I will explain how the myth is updated in the film "Oppenheimer." The objective is to show that in ethical matters, myth and science are not opposed, but rather complement each other, because scientific knowledge opens the doors to greater possibilities for action, which entails the need to broaden our evaluative horizons in the face of its consequences. This is where myth begins its pedagogical and instructive role, not so much to resolve dilemmas, but to show that moral systems and codes are not always flat and coherent.

Keywords: Prometheus | Oppenheimer | ethics | risk

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

A Melancholic Monster: A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Coppola's Dracula

Tomás Gaete Altamirano — 2026-03-14T15:02:24Z

Abstract

This essay analyzes Francis Ford Coppola's portrayal of Dracula from a psychoanalytic and ethical perspective, integrating the theories of Freud, Lacan, and Leclaire. Unlike Bram Stoker's original novel, in which the vampiric count lacks a complex psychological background, Coppola's film version presents a fallen hero, marked by the loss of his beloved and the subsequent renunciation of divine law. This reinterpretation of the character allows us to read him as a melancholic being, trapped in unresolved grief and deprived of the possibility of death. Following Freud's distinction between mourning and melancholia, Dracula remains fixated on the lost object, unable to free himself from its absence. Lacan and Leclaire contribute new dimensions: the absence of a reflection in the mirror symbolizes the impossibility of a unified identity, while the denial of the paternal function and the symbolic law forges a universe without moral boundaries. Immortality stands as a metaphor for the suspension of all ethical boundaries, leaving the vampire devoid of responsibility and trapped in the repetitive compulsion of unfulfillable desire. This analysis places the vampire myth in a contemporary dialogue with other works, showing that the figure of the vampire remains a valid lens through which to explore the tensions between life, death, love, desire, and law. Thus, Coppola's Dracula emerges as a powerful cultural archetype for reflecting on the human condition, the acceptance of finitude, and the constitution of moral order.

Keywords: Dracula | Mourning and Melancholy | Immortality | Symbolic Law

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

Creators and parents in the Frankenstein myth

Eduardo Laso — 2026-03-14T15:02:16Z

Abstract

The text analyzes the Frankenstein myth starting with the famous phrase "It's living," highlighting that the doctor refers to his creature as "it," that is, as a thing and not as a human being. The profound meaning of Victor Frankenstein's experiment is not to cure or bring back to life someone who already existed, but to create human life from death, defying the natural limits of reproduction.

This act is an aspiration characteristic of the Enlightenment spirit: humanity's attempt to take God's place through science. However, when the creature comes to life, the creator experiences horror and rejection, revealing the ethical and psychological conflict of having gone "beyond the father."

From a psychoanalytic perspective, the central drama of the myth is the absence of filial desire: the creature is neither desired, named, nor recognized as a child. Therefore, it is reduced to a laboratory product, without identity or a place in a line of descent. This explains its condition as a "monster," understood as that which is rejected by its creator. The human or monstrous destiny of a being depends not so much on how it was created, but on whether it was loved, recognized, and placed in a relationship of desire and filiation.

Keywords: Science | Desire | Filiation | Father

- Volumen 16 | Nº 1 - March 2026

Prometeo en Occidente

Javier Aliaga — 2026-03-14T15:00:52Z

Universidad Católica Silva Henriquez, Chile

El mito de Prometeo ha acompañado a la cultura occidental durante siglos como una imagen insistente: la del ser que roba el fuego para entregarlo a los hombres y, por ese gesto, queda condenado a un castigo interminable. No se trata solamente de una historia antigua. Como ocurre con muchos mitos, su persistencia parece indicar que allí se condensa algo que la cultura no termina de elaborar del todo.

Prometeo en Occidente parte de esa intuición. El libro no busca reconstruir el mito desde una perspectiva erudita ni ofrecer una interpretación definitiva de su significado. Más bien se acerca a él como a una escena que continúa resonando en la experiencia cultural de Occidente. En esa escena, el fuego aparece como símbolo ambiguo: es el principio que inaugura la técnica, el conocimiento y la posibilidad de transformar el mundo; pero también es aquello que introduce un exceso que no puede ser completamente controlado.

Desde esta perspectiva, Prometeo puede leerse como una figura que expresa algo de la relación ambivalente que la cultura mantiene con sus propias creaciones. El fuego que permite construir ciudades, herramientas y saberes es el mismo que puede devorar aquello que produce. La civilización se sostiene sobre ese gesto inaugural: un acto de apropiación que abre posibilidades inéditas, pero que también introduce una tensión permanente entre creación y castigo.

El ensayo sigue algunas huellas de esa tensión en la historia cultural de Occidente. No lo hace como una genealogía exhaustiva, sino más bien como una exploración de imágenes que reaparecen en distintos momentos: el entusiasmo por el progreso técnico, la confianza en que el conocimiento puede liberar al ser humano de sus límites, y, al mismo tiempo, la sospecha de que ese mismo impulso puede volverse contra quien lo ejerce.

En ese sentido, el mito de Prometeo funciona como una especie de espejo cultural. Allí donde Occidente ha celebrado su capacidad de transformar el mundo, también ha aparecido la inquietud por las consecuencias de ese poder. El fuego prometeico funda una cultura, pero también la expone a su propia desmesura.

Leído desde una sensibilidad cercana al psicoanálisis, el mito puede sugerir algo más. No solo habla de un origen cultural, sino también de una repetición. El gesto prometeico –transgredir un límite para acceder a un saber o a un poder– parece reaparecer una y otra vez en distintas formas de la experiencia histórica. Como si la civilización estuviera animada por un impulso que la empuja constantemente hacia el exceso que ella misma teme.

En el libro, esta repetición no se presenta como una tesis cerrada, sino como una intuición que atraviesa distintos momentos de la cultura occidental. Los relatos culturales y ciertas imágenes persistentes parecen volver una y otra vez sobre la misma escena: la creación que se vuelve contra su creador, la obra que termina por desbordar la intención que la originó. El fuego que permite levantar una cultura puede también consumir aquello que ha fundado.

Tal vez el mito de Prometeo conserve su fuerza precisamente porque señala algo que las culturas tienden a olvidar en los momentos de mayor confianza. Cada civilización, cuando alcanza su punto de mayor expansión, suele imaginar que ha logrado estabilizar su mundo. Sin embargo, es justamente en esos momentos cuando aparece nuevamente el gesto prometeico: la transgresión de un límite en nombre de una promesa mayor.

El mito sugiere que toda cultura se organiza alrededor de una frontera que no puede atravesar sin consecuencias. Aquello que en el relato aparece como los dioses podría pensarse también como el orden mismo que la cultura establece para sostenerse. Prometeo, en cambio, encarna el acto que desafía ese orden: no necesariamente para destruirlo, sino para forzarlo a ir más allá de sí mismo.

El fuego que roba no es solo una herramienta o un conocimiento. Es la marca de un límite atravesado. Gracias a ese fuego se funda una civilización, pero al mismo tiempo se introduce una tensión que ya no puede resolverse completamente. La cultura se construye entonces alrededor de ese exceso: necesita del gesto que la inaugura, pero también debe cargar con su consecuencia.

Desde esta perspectiva, el castigo de Prometeo adquiere un sentido distinto. No aparece simplemente como la sanción de una falta, sino como la marca que acompaña a todo acto creador que se atreve a desafiar el orden establecido. El fuego permanece entre los hombres, pero su presencia recuerda siempre el precio de haberlo robado.

Quizá por eso la imagen del ave que vuelve cada día a devorar el hígado del titán conserva una fuerza tan inquietante. El castigo no ocurre una sola vez: se repite. Cada día la herida se abre nuevamente, como si el acto que inauguró el fuego no pudiera cerrarse del todo. El hígado vuelve a crecer, el ave vuelve a descender, y la escena recomienza.

Tal vez esa repetición diga algo sobre la propia historia de las culturas. Cada época vuelve a acercarse al fuego que la funda, cada civilización vuelve a atravesar el límite que la sostiene. Y con ese gesto, también regresa el ave.

Porque el fuego prometeico no desaparece. Permanece encendido en la cultura, iluminando y amenazando al mismo tiempo. Y quizá por eso Prometeo sigue encadenado en la memoria de Occidente: no porque el fuego haya sido devuelto a los dioses, sino porque aún no sabemos qué hacer con él.

Referencias

Aliaga, J. (s/d) Prometeo en Occidente. Edición independiente.