Screening Posthuman Procreation and Monstrous Motherhood in Raised by Wolves

Abstract

Representations of posthuman birthing and artificial motherhood are at the center of the fictional universe of the HBO sci-fi series
Raised by Wolves (2020-2022). This paper investigates how the series’ cinematographic aesthetics fabricate discourses on human
procreation, posthuman motherhood and maternal heteronormativity. In the series, these topics are negotiated within the categoric
triangle of woman, animal, and machine. Embodied by the series’ gynoid protagonist ‘Mother’, these categories become blended
into a monstrous-feminine other whose uncanny performances of maternity outline the potential fascination and horror of
(post)human gestation.