A Woman Manufactured to Order:
Exploring Nonhuman Agency and Gendered AI in East Asia
through Machinima and Virtual Production
YUSHIEN, 2025
Exploring Nonhuman Agency and Gendered AI in East Asia
through Machinima and Virtual Production
YUSHIEN, 2025
鳥の血に悲しめど、魚の血に悲しまず。声あるものは幸いなり。
Abstract
This thesis examines the construction and representation of non-human characters in a highly gendered, AI-driven future in East Asia. It culminates in the CGI-animated short film Manufacturing a Woman to Order, which follows a female AI agent and explores the intersection of technological progress and gender politics.
By focusing on the creative process of game engine cinema, the research merges speculative narrative and interdisciplinary worldbuilding with virtual production filmmaking, integrating non-human agents into social discourse. Through this integration, the thesis underscores the persistence of gender stereotypes in AI design and calls for a critical reassessment of the sociocultural impacts of technological advancements on East Asia’s future.
By focusing on the creative process of game engine cinema, the research merges speculative narrative and interdisciplinary worldbuilding with virtual production filmmaking, integrating non-human agents into social discourse. Through this integration, the thesis underscores the persistence of gender stereotypes in AI design and calls for a critical reassessment of the sociocultural impacts of technological advancements on East Asia’s future.
Keywords: computational cinema, game engine cinema, virtual production, nonhuman agency, East Asian Futurism, gendered AI.