Orphan Black's use of clones to discuss issues in society (major spoilers)
I would like to preface this blog post with Orphan Black is, actually, the greatest television show to have ever aired, and this post does contain spoilers. So if you would like everything in this show to remain a surprise, please ignore this post.
Orphan Black is a sci-fi thriller television series created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett starring Tatiana Maslany (as 10+ different characters) that ran from March 2013 to August 2017. This show used a massive, government funded cloning experiment to talk current issues in our society.
There were two lines of clones: Castor and Leda. The Leda clones, played by Tatiana Maslany, were a pretty amazing group of female characters. Their line of clones was developed out of love... sort of. While it started as a way for an infertile couple to get a child they could love and care for, it ended up with thousands of women actually being genetic property. Even their children could be property of a corporation. At the time of this airing, the third wave of feminism was "trending" in a way, and a lot of discussion on social media and in the news was about women's ownership of their bodies. Women being treated as objects and property is still a major issue in our society that affects women's health and safety. Orphan Black found a really clever way to show how oppressive this treatment is.
The Castor clones, played by Ari Millen, were created to be used as chemical warfare. Both lines of the clones are purposefully created with a life threatening illness. The Leda clones are infertile, but their infertility is actually a product of a cancer that will eventually kill all of them. The Castor clones are also infertile, due to an illness that affects their brain function and is sexually transmitted. The Castor clones were designed as chemical warfare. Under capitalism, there is a clear disregard for people's safety in the interest of profit and progress. The Castor and Leda clones are an extreme example of this. An entire generation of people were created with a time bomb inside them to protect a genetic patent.
One of the most impressive things about this show (next to Tatiana Maslany's other-worldly acting skills) is that everything that occurs is completely plausible. All of the science is based on real world experiments and theories that give the fiction an incredibly legitimate grounding. I think Orphan Black is an excellent example of Fiction of Ideas.
Orphan Black is a sci-fi thriller television series created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett starring Tatiana Maslany (as 10+ different characters) that ran from March 2013 to August 2017. This show used a massive, government funded cloning experiment to talk current issues in our society.
There were two lines of clones: Castor and Leda. The Leda clones, played by Tatiana Maslany, were a pretty amazing group of female characters. Their line of clones was developed out of love... sort of. While it started as a way for an infertile couple to get a child they could love and care for, it ended up with thousands of women actually being genetic property. Even their children could be property of a corporation. At the time of this airing, the third wave of feminism was "trending" in a way, and a lot of discussion on social media and in the news was about women's ownership of their bodies. Women being treated as objects and property is still a major issue in our society that affects women's health and safety. Orphan Black found a really clever way to show how oppressive this treatment is.
The Castor clones, played by Ari Millen, were created to be used as chemical warfare. Both lines of the clones are purposefully created with a life threatening illness. The Leda clones are infertile, but their infertility is actually a product of a cancer that will eventually kill all of them. The Castor clones are also infertile, due to an illness that affects their brain function and is sexually transmitted. The Castor clones were designed as chemical warfare. Under capitalism, there is a clear disregard for people's safety in the interest of profit and progress. The Castor and Leda clones are an extreme example of this. An entire generation of people were created with a time bomb inside them to protect a genetic patent.
One of the most impressive things about this show (next to Tatiana Maslany's other-worldly acting skills) is that everything that occurs is completely plausible. All of the science is based on real world experiments and theories that give the fiction an incredibly legitimate grounding. I think Orphan Black is an excellent example of Fiction of Ideas.
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