Before explaining who Joey is and his importance to this essay, I’d like to turn back the clock to the time when it all started. The 1950s. It was an exciting time for the entire world, especially for technology. The Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC) was invented which was the closest thing to a computer. It was capable of multiplying numbers rapidly and it used 180,000 watts of electricity. This was then developed into the first commercial computer in 1952.¹ If that computer was to exist today, it would be as useful as a plastic bag with a hole in it.

The advancement of technology had many effects on people’s everyday life in the 1950’s.



Although people became “Masters of the machine”, after World War Two, a fear of technology grew resulting from the creation of the first atomic/nuclear bomb. People began to wonder what would become of humanity once they have the ability to destroy the entire world.²

This made a lot of people anxious about machines and feared its future impacts on human life. Many artists took this fear and created something from it. For example, many science fiction movies were made, such as Frankenstein that was influenced by the fear of machines. Even today, many movies are based on that fear. However, the kind of art I will be talking about is not the art we are familiar with. It is not a painting, a photograph, a song nor a movie. The art here is the message that Joey’s story gives. It is the emotional connection the observer has towards Joey.

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