Postmodernism in 'Humans'

'Humans' is set in the present day and to establish this and a self-reflexive setting the produces use intertextuality and pastiche. For example:

-The character Elster is a reference to Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" where Gavin Elster creates the 'perfect' woman.

-Odi is a reference to Tim Berenes-Lee's Open Data Institute

-The character of Nishka is very reminiscent of Pris from "Blade Runner" -the basic pleasure model.

-The whole show is a remake of the Swedish programme 'Real Humans'

-The Hawkins' family name may be a reference to physicist Stephen Hawking.

-Anita mentions Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics (Asimov blocks) when she 'accidentally' hurts Laura

-Sophia the robot can be seen in the opening sequence amongst other real-life robot.

The use of this intertextuality and pastiche creates a self-reflective setting for the text. However this isn't completely self reflective as technology is far more developed in this world, the synthetic people are shown to have been completely integrated into society doing the more working-class jobs that people wouldn't usually want to do. This creates Simulacra in the text as the world is only partly similar due to the advanced technology in this world.