future-geometries:

diversemovies:

Clara Mae’s brilliant thoughts on race, gender, and AI in film

anyone lookin for more discourse should check out this book – Techno-Orientalism 

it’s a collection of essays abt perceptions of asia, asian bodies + technology, us-asia relations from the russo-japanese war thru the war in vietnam, nam june paik + art criticism, etc.

I would think that some of this is done intentionally. Science fiction has used robots, artificial intelligences, androids and cyborgs to discuss the inequalities of man, race, slavery, valuation of life and so forth since the very beginning. Read some of the novels written in the 50’s when civil rights was first becoming a major movement. Discussing racism was incredibly difficult because people were so emotionally invested in their discrimination. The plot lines of science fiction allowed the reader to discuss the same philosophical points without being so emotionally invested.

TL;DR Yes, I agree that the depiction of robots and androids in film and television reflect the biases and racial disparities of societies, but I would argue that some of it exists specifically as a means of discussing what occurs every day between humans, and perhaps even to trigger the exact discussion and discourse above.