Bioethics through the lenses
of literature and film
Dr Pat Brereton
&
Dr Brigitte Le Juez
Current intra-faculty research project
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Enhancing Ethics though Literature and Film
(EELF)
Members: Pat Brereton (Film Studies, SC),
Bert Gordijn (Director of Ethics Institute),
Brigitte Le Juez (Comparative Literature,
SALIS) and Francesca Lorenzi (Philosophy of
Education, SE)
Research Question: How can Literature and
Film be used to enhance Ethics Education?
One of our objectives: creation of an intrauniversity module on ethics education (open
to the Sciences).
Premise
• Literature and Film part of the science of
observation and of getting to know humanity
based on critical investigation of human nature
in all its representations and forms of
expression.
• Essential (moral) educational feature: to explore
ethical themes, develop self-awareness in
terms of values and beliefs (incl. stereotypes),
and offer new perceptions of the real in order to
develop the autonomous, critical self.
• Literature and Film may form a Moral
Laboratory.
The perception of science
Mixture of awe, respect and suspicion re scientists embedded in
culture, as shown in literature (from Frankenstein, The Strange Case
of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, novels by Jules Verne and H.G.
Wells, among the great classics) and film (from Fritz Lang early films
to the James Bond villains and The Fly).
For Lewis Wolpert (UCL): confusion between science and the
technological applications of science. ‘Reliable’ scientific knowledge
value-free, with no moral or ethical value (admits that a rare case of
immoral science was eugenics).
Obligation of scientists to make public both any social implications of
their work and its technological applications.
For information we rely on institutions of democratic societies:
parliament, free and vigorous press, affected groups + the scientists
themselves.
Recognises difficulty in promoting public understanding of science.
Can literature and film help?
Teaching Bioethics from an Interdisciplinary
Perspective: a previous experiment
• Rivers Singleton and D. Heyward Brock’s
experience (both University of Delaware) started in
1982
• Based on their Centre of Science and Culture’s
interdisciplinary courses on bioethics and related
problems
• Taught by teams of scientists, literary critics,
historians and philosophers
• Based on given issues which each member of the
team approaches from his or her own perspective.
Theme: Human experimentation
• The scientist’s primary role is to keep the discussion as
factually correct as possible.
• The philosopher’s is to connect ethical and philosophical
principles.
• The literary critic with the help of the historian provides an
exploration of ‘how human beings experience the moral and
ethical dimension of their lives in a more dynamic and
perceptive way than can be obtained through sketchy case
studies alone.’
• Films used as complements to literary texts.
• None of the members operates in intellectual isolation.
• Objectivity of overall discussion thanks to multiplicity of
perspectives.
Literary Texts
• Chosen for their strong moral component.
• Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Death of Ivan Ilych (allows to
discuss how human beings react to dying and death)
– Two films used here as well (Please let me die and Who
Shall Survive?) on euthanasia.
• Dürrenmatt’s play, The Physicists, and Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s short stories, Dr Heidegger’s Experiment and
Rappaccini’s Daughter: no resemblance to reality in current
science but possible discussion on perceived deficiency of
science re the dignity and worth of people (possible subjects
of discussion: DNA or abortion, for ex.).
• Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World: discussion on
foetal research or genetic engineering, and the
consequences of utilitarian ethics.
Positive reaction and outcome
• Those involved in the programme felt both
‘excited’ and ‘enlightened’ by their participation.
 because of the new contexts and new
perspectives encountered
 feeling of intellectual stimulation of working
together with colleagues from different
disciplines on questions of common interest.
• Experiment brought to high-school level.
Brave New World (1932)
• Why this choice of text?
 News of Ridley Scott’s adaptation to appear in 2011.
 Huxley’s novel still topical: BNW’s argument that man is
genetically modifiable and psychologically conditionable still
rings true.
 Director: Ridley Scott well known for films dealing with
science fiction (Alien, Blade Runner), myth (Gladiator),
ethics (American Gangster)
 Main actor (and possible producer), Leonardo di Caprio also
significant: involved in films dealing with human
experimentation (mostly of a psychological nature, latest
films Shutter Island and Inception) and ethics (Blood
Diamonds and Body of Lies, the latter also by Scott).
‘Genetically modifiable and
psychologically conditionable’
• Novel opens in Central London Hatching and Conditioning
Centre, where we learn about the Bokanovsky and Podsnap
Processes that allow the Hatchery to produce thousands of
nearly identical human embryos.
• During the gestation period embryos travel in bottles along a
conveyor belt in a factory, and are conditioned to belong to 1 of
5 castes: The Alpha embryos destined to become the leaders
and thinkers of the World State, and each of the succeeding
castes is conditioned to be less physically and intellectually
able. The Epsilons, stunted and stupefied by oxygen
deprivation and chemical treatments, destined to perform
menial labour.
• “Hypnopaedic” (sleep-teaching) methods used to teach children
morals of the State. While children nap, a whispering voice
repeats lessons in “Elementary Class Consciousness.” To make
them docile and eager consumers later on, infants can be
programmed to dislike books and flowers.
Current view on BNW: still relevant
to current debate on cloning
Patrick Hopkins argues that BNW is a stand-alone reference,
image, and warning about dehumanization, totalitarianism,
and technology-wrought misery – epitomised and made
possible by the technology of cloning.
He also argues that Huxley’s work continues to influence the
discourse on cloning in recent media coverage, for there has
been ‘no comparable book’ that speaks to the potential
benefits of cloning.
Also appearing on school syllabi (example).
Library list on the cloning debate entitled BNW.
What will Ridley Scott’s stance be ? (no interviews available yet)
Themes found in science fiction novels an
films inspired by BNW
• Negative view:
– Eugenics as a means of controlling and selecting the
population
– Issues of differentiation and identity
– The separation of sex from reproduction (and
subsequent effects on love relationships)
– The resulting disintegration of familiar family structures
– Institution of laws for the production and regulation of
clones and cloning in a totalitarian society.
• Positive view:
– Gene therapy and the ability to clone organs for
transplants
• In both cases, novels explore fear of effects of human
cloning on people and future generations.
Synopsis of BNW
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Novel takes place in 26th century (A.F. 632)
World united as ‘The World State’, eternally peaceful, stable and
plentiful, where everyone thinks they’re happy.
Natural reproduction has been done away with and children are
conceived, born and raised in Hatcheries and Conditioning Centres.
Sexual competition and romantic relationships obsolete.
Society rigidly divided into 5 castes: the Alphas, Betas, Gammas,
Deltas and Epsilons (further split into Plus and Minus members).
Alphas and Betas top of society. No concept of family. Father, mother
and love are considered dirty words.
All citizens conditioned to believe in the values idealised by the State.
Everyone consumes soma, an anti-depressant hallucinogen.
Everybody dies at 60. No sense of loss or mourning.
Two characters go to an island (margin of the State where ‘savages’
still live according to old order). Discover one man born of a stray
‘civilised’ woman, John. Bring him back to the mainland with
devastating consequences for all around.
From a literary perspective
Examination of how the themes are tackled:
– Huxley clearly adopts negative view from first page,
present scientists as either experienced and dangerously
knowledgeable, or as meek students, discouraged from
conceiving/expressing alternative views.
– Dark picture of the future, reflecting both an amazing vision
of what science can achieve and the dangers of such
achievement (elimination of human qualities).
– Use of stereotypes (need to question his apparent
misogynistic and racist portrayals/remarks – imagology)
– Elements of humour, reflecting on current society – God/the
Lord has been replaced by ‘Ford’ (i.e. a successful
American business figure). ‘Thank Ford!’
– Language: neologisms and play with words (like ‘feely’).
Contemporary issues of early 20th century
Huxley (1894-1963)
• Although set in the future, the novel has contemporary
references:
– The Industrial Revolution
– Mass production
– References to politics, Russian Revolution and WW1 (characters’
names: Polly Trotsky, Benito Hoover, Lenina Crowne, Mustapha
Mond, Helmholtz Watson and Bernard Marx)
– Religion replaced by consumerism but ideas of ‘opium of the people’
(Marx) perpetuated. Citizens indoctrinated by recorded voices
repeating slogans
– Also unhappiness resolved by antidepressant and hallucinogenic
drug soma distributed by the Arch-Community Songster of
Canterbury.
• Expresses widely-held opinions: fear of losing individual identity
in the fast-paced world of the future (particularly fear of
Americanisation) and/or in totalitarian conditions.
Huxley Scientific Credentials
• Huxley wrote BNW before structure of DNA known,
but Gregor Mendel’s work with inheritance patterns in
peas re-discovered in 1900, and eugenics movement
well established.
• Huxley's family included prominent biologists: Thomas
Huxley (grand-father, supporter of Darwin), halfbrother and Nobel Laureate Andrew Huxley (in the
Physiology or Medicine category in 1963), and brother
Julian Huxley (first Director of UNESCO and notable
evolutionary biologist and humanist).
• Peter Firchow: before partial blindness, Huxley
prepared for career in biology. Literary work, whether
fiction or essays, full scientific references. (‘Science
and Conscience in Huxley's BNW’)
Huxley Scientific Influences and Vision
• JBS Haldane (Marxist pioneer geneticist) a friend of
AH. His essay, Daedalus; or, Science and the Future
(1924), predicted many scientific advances but
criticised for presenting idealistic view of scientific
progress. Showed effect of separation between sexual
life and pregnancy as satisfactory on human
psychology and social life. Book regarded as shocking
science fiction, being the first book about ectogenesis.
• Selective breeding (Pavlov, J. B. Watson +Nazi
experiments come to mind).
• Finally, Freud’s ideas about happiness and how
suffering can be regulated by chemical means
(‘Civilisation and its Discontents’).
Reception of BNW in Ireland
Book banned in 1932 for centring
around negative activity, for its bad
language, and for being anti-family and
anti-Christian (no explicit mention of
sexual liberty).
Reading film [based on literary and
other models of analysis]
• Film grammar – camera, editing,
composition, lighting, music, acting etc.
• Generic Conventions
• Narrative Structure
• Auteuristic preoccupations
• Realistic Representation
• Reflection theory and thematic concerns
Science Fiction film and Science
Communication
• ‘Science’ and the ‘mediation’ of science, including
bioethics in film.
• Stephen Mulhall: films might themselves be seen as
‘themselves reflecting seriously and systematically
about them in just the ways that philosophers do’?
• Christopher Falzon: ‘just as images in philosophy can
go beyond illustration and play a role in the argument
itself, the kinds of concrete scenarios that are portrayed
in a film may be used to explicitly raise questions within
the film’s narrative about the adequacy of sense
experience for giving us knowledge of reality.’ (2007: 7)
• Film as ‘teacherly text’ for exploring/explaining ethics.
Cloning on film
• Staple metaphor in many sci-fi films from
Frankenstein, Invasion of the Body
Snatchers, through Jurassic Park, I Robot,
The Island and many others.
• Sci-fi ‘exemplifies/simplifies’ complex
scientific and ethical issues.
• Long history of film analysis as a means of
explaining ethics/science.
Film Theory Debates include
• Address: how does a film/media product
address its audience [gender, age,
ethnicity etc.].
• Semiotics – encoding/decoding: how to
read image making.
• Ideology – what is film trying to say
[politics/mystification, etc.].
• Reality and Representation [diegesis of
film?].
• Intertextual: how films link to other texts.
Brave New World
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1980
1998
What is the film saying about ethics?
Opening exposition
Form v content debate
The power of the visual
Leaving a lasting impression
What questions does it present to the
viewer?
Related novels and films
• The Boys from Brazil (a novel by Ira Levin,
1976, first film version, 1978) sci-fi thriller
whose premise is based on a Nazi deathcamp Dr Joseph Mengele’s endeavour to
resurrect Adolf Hitler through cloning
(having acquired skin and blood samples
from Hitler to use as DNA).
• A remake is planned for 2012.
Bibliography
• Firchow, Peter, 1975. Science and Conscience in
Huxley’s Brave New World. Contemporary Literature,
Vol. 16, No. 3 (Summer), pp.301-316
• Hopkins, Patrick, 2001. The News Media and the
Human Cloning Debate. In The Ethics of Human
Cloning. Ed. William Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven
pp.15-27
• Singleton, Rivers & Brock, D. Heyward, 1982.
Teaching Bioethics from an Interdisciplinary
Perspective. The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 44,
No. 5, May, pp.280-285+313
• Wolpert, Lewis, 2005. The Medawar Lecture 1998: ‘Is
Science Dangerous?’ Philosophical Transactions:
Biological Sciences, Vol. 360, No. 1458 (Jun. 29),
pp.1253-1258