Works of speculative fiction, especially as portrayed in movies, often highlight the spectacular potentials of technology for good and for ill. While technology’s benefits typically provide backgrounds for Hollywood’s bright and shiny futures, its drawbacks often feature at the center of plots. For example, the stories told both in the movie GATTACA and the novel Brave New World—itself set for a film production by the great science fiction director Ridley Scott—offer striking dystopian visions of reproductive and genetic technologies.
My Sister’s Keeper, the first movie based on a novel by best-selling author Jodi Picoult, confronts more subtle challenges posed by contemporary genetic and reproductive techniques. Instead of imagining worlds transformed, it focuses on family dynamics. What damage, it asks, can be wrought upon a child by parents with the best of intentions? Read More
