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- Title
Surviving Ourselves: Mothers, Clones, and the Legacy of 1968 in Blueprint (2003) and The Elementary Particles (2006).
- Authors
Mueller, Gabriele
- Abstract
This article examines two German films which, in different ways, engage with ethical questions raised by scientific advances in biotechnology and the specter of eugenics: Blueprint (Rolf Schübel, 2003), an adaptation of Charlotte Kerner's Blaupause, and The Elementary Particles (Elementarteilchen, Oskar Roehler, 2006), a cinematic interpretation of Michel Houellebecq's novel with the same title. Assuming different positions, the films contribute to the divisive public debate surrounding human cloning. Their visions vacillate between dystopian warnings of a commodification of human existence and euphoric promises of the potential to genetically erase human flaws forever. The films' main concern, however, is a critique of ideological positions associated with the generation of 1968, and the directors use the debate on genetics to infuse this discussion with an element of radicalism. This article explores the ways in which the films engage with the memory discourse in Germany through the lens of discourses on ethics and biotechnology.
- Subjects
BLUEPRINT (Film); ELEMENTARY Particles, The (Film); HUMAN cloning research; HUMAN cloning in motion pictures; DYSTOPIAN films; RADICALISM; GERMAN films
- Publication
German Politics & Society, 2010, Vol 28, Issue 4, p1
- ISSN
1045-0300
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3167/gps.2010.280401