“Reproductive Technohorror” Is A Burgeoning Genre On Screen
Editor's note: This article contains spoilers.
STORIES About reproductive technology can be divided into two genres. Comedy In films like The Delivery Man, artificial insemination is a prerequisite for farce: reproduction takes place in Petri dishes rather than between the sheets, and there's room for accidents involving children and confused people. Most fairy tales of this type end happily, with sperm donors embracing the aliens they helped create.
Another kind is fear. That's partly because the world of infertility treatment is buzzing with scary journeys. It includes tools that look like torture devices – mirrors, needles – and are used in an intimate and emotional way. In these stories, the main characters must use drugs that make their bodies feel strange, change their minds, or cause strange visions. If the treatment is successful, it leads to pregnancy and childbirth, along with much blood and suffering.
In Women, Monsters, and Horror Movies, Erin Harrington calls these stories "techno-horror proliferation." In these stories, "angst boils, collides, and bleeds at the intersection of technology, women's bodies, and reproduction." It is a rapidly evolving genre. False Positive (2021) tells the story of a woman (played by Ilana Glazer) who, after becoming pregnant, begins to suspect her doctor of nefarious activities. Ringing the Dead, a remake of David Cronenberg's 1988 film, hit Prime Video (pictured above and below) on April 21. The miniseries follows twin sisters Elliott and Beverly Mantle and gynecologists (both played by Rachel Weisz) as they set up their own maternity hospital and research lab. Ella (Dianne Agron), star of The Watch, released April 28 on Hulu and Disney+, enters a clinical trial in an attempt to remedy her lack of interest in her parents.
The filmmakers explored concerns about the growth of life outside the human body before infertility treatments became available. (The global market for assisted reproductive technology is expected to be worth more than $50 billion by 2030.) In 1976, two years before the first IVF baby was born, the film Embryo raised concerns about artificiality. uterus
In 2017, US researchers unveiled Biomesh, a way to move fetuses from a sheep's womb, and described the technology's potential to help premature babies. In Dead Ringers, Eliot also uses lambs to perfect his design for artificial wombs. She also hopes to help premature babies, but soon grows human embryos out of them. Elliott's research works to benefit women, and it does. The problem is that he is a renegade who creates life without thinking about the ethical or legal consequences. (One of the adult human babies was conceived without parental consent.)
"False Trigger" and "Clock" (pictured below) also raise concerns about violating rules and the scientific method. In both films, part of the problem is that the treatment is experimental (ie unproven). In "False Positive," Dr. Hindle (Pierce Brosnan) uses his "proprietary technique" to inseminate. In The Hours, a combination of newly developed synthetic hormones, cognitive behavioral therapy and a special intrauterine device were designed to "fix" Ella's "broken" maternal instincts and help her conceive. When she tells her doctor about the terrible side effects of the treatment, she is told that what she is experiencing is "the most natural thing in the world".
Because they chose reproduction as their theme, these stories explore the connection of ideas. First, access to health care is determined by race and class. Part of Beverly's motivation for opening the maternity hospital is her anger at the way women, especially African-American mothers, are treated. She wants the facility to be affordable, not just for "incredibly rich and privileged women." Another is the desire to pass on people's heritage and DNA. Notably, both the Mantlaw Center and the medical facility Ella attends use the infinity sign as a logo; Ella's father (Saul Rubin) pressures her to reproduce so that the family line does not end with her.
The question of whether or not to have children and how to have them is an open question, but it has become even more urgent after the decision of the Supreme Court to revoke the constitutional right to abortion in America. In these three stories, the characters lose control over their bodies. The suffering of the women in "False Trigger" and "Hours" is directly related to their ability and desire to have children. Ringing the Dead examines fertility politics: reporter asks Mantlov if their work could actually lead to the reduction of women's will, because "the sooner life is viable outside the womb, the stronger the movement's argument against abortion." For filmmakers looking to comment on serious matters, Replay could be the perfect vessel for techno-horror. ■
Death Bells is available on Prime Video. The Watch streams on Hulu and Disney+; "False Trigger" is streaming on Hulu
