Cloning goes to the movies

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Public attitude research conducted by Biotechnology Australia shows that one of the major sources of information on human reproductive cloning is movies. Traditionally, understanding of new and emerging technologies has come through the mass media but human cloning, being so widely addressed through the popular culture of movies, is more effectively defined by Hollywood than the news media or science media.

But how well are the science and social issues of cloning portrayed in box office hits such as The Island, Multiplicity, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Jurassic Park? These movies have enormous reach and undoubted influence, and are therefore worth analyzing in some detail.

This study looks at 33 movies made between 1971 and 2005 that address human reproductive cloning and it categorises the films based on their genre and potential influence.

Yet rather than simply rating the quality of the science portrayed, the study compares the key messages in these movies with public attitudes towards cloning, to examine the correlations.

In general the public has strong concerns about human reproductive cloning which are reinforced, or mirrored, by the portrayal of cloning in movies – whether that be through mad scientists, bad science or immoral corporations – themes that are duplicated many times in the movies studied.

This study only looks at human reproductive cloning, as portrayed in movies, and does not touch on other forms of cloning, such as organ cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer/ therapeutic cloning, as these are generally not addressed in the films and are not how the general public understand the term cloning.

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