lumrant
Friday, April 30, 2004
Being Reasonable: the Godsend Movie
I stumbled upon something interesting today: the makers of a movie called Godsend have recently begun a major marketing blitz in preparation for the movie's upcoming release. Though I haven't read much in the news about the movie yet, I suspect that I will soon, as more Christian groups and "concerned citizens" band together to protest it.
To fully understand the intrigue, simply visit the movie's official Web site and click on the link that says "The Institute". You'll see.
The thing I like about this issue is that it exemplifies some of the most troubling undercurrents of American society today: scientific illiteracy and media-driven mob mentality. What is happening right now is that thousands of people are being directed to the "Institute" site by friends, misinterpreting it just as they are intended to do, getting all pissed off, and then mailing the link to other friends. Even when they eventually learn that it's all just a way to market a movie, these people are going to remain pissed. And, just as Americans supported going to war in Iraq in response to 9/11, they are going to support escalating their side of the "culture war" in response to the movie, the Web site, and the underlying premise--even though there is no basis in reality for any of it!
The brilliance of this marketing strategy makes me wonder why we haven't seen stronger analogous efforts for other movies. Jurassic Park comes to mind: one of the best parts of that movie was the "movie within a movie" where they showed a behind-the-scenes documentary/propaganda short that explained for the characters how the dino-restoration technology actually worked. Why didn't the Jurassic Park folks pull a Godsend and release that short film as a marketing device? My guess is that it's because Jurassic Park was first and foremost about special effects, and the marketing folks correctly realized that nothing should dilute that message.
Of course, there is a basis in reality for human cloning in general--just not Godsend-style cloning with the intent to exactly reproduce a dearly-departed family member. Even if no human has yet been cloned, gestated, born, and raised, technological advances guarantee that it will soon be feasible. And for this reason it is an important topic that everyone should be interested in understanding.
Indeed, what the movie Godsend should be stimulating is not moral outrage, but instead an important ethical discussion. We should be talking openly about about the differences between therapeutic and reproductive cloning and the foolishness of the notion that it is possible, even in principle, to clone someone's exact personality and behavior patterns. We should be examining Bush's decision to hamstring American scientists from pushing the envelope of benefits that therapeutic cloning technology can provide for the world.
Hell, I'm more than happy to stand up and be Exhibit A! Either I am, or my twin brother is, after all, a clone. The majority of Americans need to understand this fact and realize that cloning--even reproductive cloning of the sort that Nature used to create me or my brother--does not automatically imply evil. At the end of the day, technology is, without exception, morally neutral. And the best way to ensure that technology is not used to expand human misery is to face the issues directly and reasonably.
