Echo and Mirror: Clone Hysteria, Genetic Determinism and Star Trek Nemesis
Abstract
This essay examines the hysteria that surrounded cloning and the law that this hysteria called forth in Australia in 2002. Through a parallel reading of two accounts of clones, the public record of cloning that ended with the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 (Cth), and Star Trek: Nemesis, it argues that instead of fearing the clone, it is clone hysteria that should be feared. Star Trek: Nemesis exposes the constitute anxieties (clone as double, clone as artefact) of clone hysteria, and offers a partial critique. In doing so it points to the foundational place of genetic determinism in thinking about cloning. Although ...
View more >This essay examines the hysteria that surrounded cloning and the law that this hysteria called forth in Australia in 2002. Through a parallel reading of two accounts of clones, the public record of cloning that ended with the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 (Cth), and Star Trek: Nemesis, it argues that instead of fearing the clone, it is clone hysteria that should be feared. Star Trek: Nemesis exposes the constitute anxieties (clone as double, clone as artefact) of clone hysteria, and offers a partial critique. In doing so it points to the foundational place of genetic determinism in thinking about cloning. Although its critique turns out to be illusionary, the film highlights the need for addressing genetic determinism in clearer thinking and lawmaking about clones and cloning.
View less >
View more >This essay examines the hysteria that surrounded cloning and the law that this hysteria called forth in Australia in 2002. Through a parallel reading of two accounts of clones, the public record of cloning that ended with the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 (Cth), and Star Trek: Nemesis, it argues that instead of fearing the clone, it is clone hysteria that should be feared. Star Trek: Nemesis exposes the constitute anxieties (clone as double, clone as artefact) of clone hysteria, and offers a partial critique. In doing so it points to the foundational place of genetic determinism in thinking about cloning. Although its critique turns out to be illusionary, the film highlights the need for addressing genetic determinism in clearer thinking and lawmaking about clones and cloning.
View less >
Journal Title
Law, Culture and the Humanities
Volume
3
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© 2007 SAGE Publications. This is the author-manuscript version of the paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Law