Lejla Kucukalic
Adjunct Assistant Professor
UCLA Department of English

Abstract

Biotech to Biopunk: Science Fiction’s Visions of Genetics will present an overview of relevant science fiction literature, film, and art ranging from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) to Paul Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl (2009), examining the ways in which science fiction authors dramatize and explore our increased knowledge of biotechnology on the cellular and sub-cellular level. The talk will briefly consider: why are scientists so often represented as evil geniuses or solitary, superior beings in popular culture and why does it matter? What is the place of imagination and speculation in science and how does science fiction contribute to their growth? Is biopunk a new hope or a menace to society? And, what are the insights gained from science-fictional texts regarding moral and practical challenges in biomedicine? By extrapolating on scientific findings and the possibilities of genetics, the sf genre re-organizes and re-examines specific categories and parameters such as identity, belonging, class, politics, religion, race, government, and social organization, making it particularly well-suited to be a mediating agent between the worlds of science and literature, addressing the increased awareness that “bodies are always cultural and biological.”