Do Clones Dream of Love? Images of Clones in Popular Culture

Abstract

Fantasies about clones, cyborgs and androids have become part and parcel of the mythology of modern times – the mythologies of the biotechnological era in which the achievements of genetic engineering have inflamed fears of possible abuse of scientific knowledge and the consequences of such abuse. The paper considers the phenomenon of reproductive cloning of human beings as it is represented in popular culture, especially film as it is one of the most important sources of representations and constructions of ideas about clones. After the introductory consideration of this phenomenon in scientific, ethical and media debates which are imbued with rejection of reproductive cloning, I have analyzed the different uses of the clone motif in selected movies. I have examined the structure and content of the genre formula of “social melodrama” which is present in films about clones, and have analyzed the mythical patterns pertaining to the topic of cloning, such as the myth of immortality, the myth of twins, the myth of the uniqueness of human kind etc.  Ultimately, the nature and origins of the fear of clones and disgust that clones cause have been examined, and it has been shown that they mostly boil down to the fear of the dehumanization of human beings, the fear of the loss of difference and the transgression of biological, sociocultural and metaphysical boundaries.