Réplicas y perfección humana: «Los niños del Brasil» y «GATTACA»

Abstract

The possibility of human cloning has been a worrisome subject since the birth of the sheep Dolly in 1997. The advances in molecular genetics and the assisted reproduction techniques in the last thirty years have shown its feasibility that seemed remote after the frog cloning in 1952. The cinematographic view has ranged from the terror like Invasion of the body snatchers (1956) to the humor of Sleeper (1973). However, in the last years several films have used a more scientific approach to show negatively what will happen if it was finally possible to clone humans. As for the majority of people, communication media and popular movies are the only way to obtain information about scientific issues, we consider that the analysis of films and of its historical and scientific context is of interest to know better the social understanding of these facts. We have chosen The Boys from Brazil (1978) and GATTACA (1997) to perform such analysis. Both movies allow the interpretation of the possible consequences of human cloning in a particular situation or as a socially accepted tool. In addition, the films permit to analyze the critical issue of how human identity is built, from biological, social determinism or both.