Magical flounders and cloned dinosaurs
Genetics and gene technology are sciences which affect “ordinary people” in the highest degree. The experts do not have exclusive rights to the knowledge of the human being; scientists and non-scientists appear to agreeing about this. But this is not yet easily accessible knowledge.
Since the mass media represent the major part of the information about genetics and gene technology, they also create an arena for the construction of an every day ethics for these topics. The journalists use different methods to explain and arouse emotions about modern medical technology. And besides, popular culture is significant in the formation of people’s opinions.
In this article modern folklore as feature films is compared with legends and fairy tales from preindustrial society. In both the present and the past folklore functions as a commentary on the contemporary cultural and social situation, contributing to a collective consciousness. Here serious matters, such as genetic engineering, can be presented in extreme terms, making consumers of fiction stop and think of their everyday moral.
Topical matters on the scientific agenda become interesting in a folkloristic context. If we look at the cinema repertoire of the last few years, we can see clear links with new research. The films often begin with a quotation of a famous scientist, which gives the following scenario credibility. This is what Briggs and Bauman call an intertextual strategy. In the same way journalists use feature films, as for example Jurassic Park, to give scientific news, for example cloning, a cultural connection. Facts and fiction interact and the narratives are incorporated to become a part of a larger narrative about what genetics and gene technology really are. Folklore, whether true or not, thereby becomes part of the arena from which people seek inspiration in the construction of an everyday ethic.
