The theoretical concept of the posthuman has been instrumental in the creation of cyberfeminism. The posthuman represents the radical possibility of existence without identity markers. To eradicate identity markers is to eradicate discrimination based on identity. The liberatory potential of the posthuman machine is recognized by current society and this recognition has manifested itself in fear.

Chappie is a 2015 Hollywood film which is emblematic of the societal fear of the posthuman. Machines’ ability to liberate is prominently evoked in the film’s tagline: “Humanity’s last hope isn’t human.” Salvation is attainable through the posthuman. This film chronicles a Johannesburg in which the human police force has been almost entirely replaced by a robotic force. These robots are created by a weapons manufacturer for the sole purpose of providing security and protection; they are machines of pure utility. When an engineer discovers a way to equip these robots with the ability to feel emotions and possess opinions, he is informed that these characteristics are superfluous to the utility of these machines. As Toffoletti explains, “the characteristics that are commonly defined as essential to being human, such as emotion and intuition, are the qualities computers are supposedly unable to emulate” (Toffoletti 28). This engineer embarks on an unauthorized project and is successful in creating an emotive robot which is named Chappie. There is a public outcry when Chappie is witnessed acting of his own agency and there is the realization that “machines can no longer be conceptualized as neutral tools that are appropriated by human beings to control and master their environment” (Toffoletti 11).

Despite the theoretical value of the film’s premise, the film’s conclusion is problematic and serves to undermine the radical possibility of the posthuman. When Chappie’s human ‘mommy’ dies, he transfers her consciousness to a robot body. This act of transference “complicate[s] the idea of ‘human essence'” (Toffoletti 13). However, unlike the previous transfer of a male consciousness into a gender neutral machine, ‘Mommy’ is transferred into a pink machine with the blatantly feminine human features of large eyelashes and pouty lips. Although this machine does “act as a projection of the self,” it is not “a mirror of the mind,” rather a mirror of the female body (Toffoletti 28). ‘Mommy’ illustrates that “the machine is equated with the feminine while remaining the exclusive domain of the masculine” (Toffoletti 20). While the male protagonist is capable of being transferred to a gender neutral posthuman body, the female protagonist is incapable of divesting her identity markers. Even in the posthuman, the female is marked as the Other.