Episode 80: It's About What?

TRANSCRIPT OF “IT’S ABOUT WHAT?”

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MALE VO [00:03]
This is Bad Attitudes.

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LAURA [00:20]
Hello friends and strangers! Welcome to another episode of Bad Attitudes: An Uninspiring Podcast about Disability. I’m your host, Laura.

Do you think MCU knew what it was doing with this?

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As always, I want to remind you that disability is not a monolith. My experience as a disabled person is going to be different from the experiences of other disabled people. I am one voice for the disabled community but I am not the only voice.

[01:47]
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I’m late to the party, but I finally caught the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie on Disney. When it was released in theaters, someone I follow said that it was about eugenics, so that’s been stuck in my head ever since. And guess what?

They were right.

Okay, it’s not really ABOUT eugenics, but eugenics does play a huge role in the plot. If you’re behind like me and you haven’t seen it yet, please watch for spoilers ahead.

Now, I’ll say that this is probably my least favorite of the Guardians movies. It just doesn’t have the humor that I associate with the other Marvel movies, and the MCU at large. But, it does have a Nathan Fillion cameo so, you know, win some, lose some.

The main storyline of the third movie is learning about Rocket’s past and how he came to be the smack-talking raccoon we know and love. Which is where eugenics comes in. Rocket is one of many, many animal subjects experimented on by a character known as the High Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary’s goal is to create a utopian society and populate it with highly advanced creatures, combining the best characteristics of human and animal.

The High Evolutionary believes that he can alter DNA enough that he essentially eliminates any negative characteristics that prevent us from living in utopia. This isn’t limited to physical characteristics but includes mental and emotional characteristics as well.

Guardians is certainly not the first time we encounter a fictional entity hell-bent on altering DNA in the hopes of bringing about utopia — or at least a significantly improved modern society. If you know me, you know that I’m a huge Browncoat. The movie “Serenity” wraps up the cancelled-too-soon series “Firefly,” (more Nathan Fillion) and in the movie, we learn that the Alliance, the main governmental body, had attempted to do just that. Scientists created a compound that they pumped into the air that would, theoretically make citizens calmer and more pliable. It worked, to an extent. It made the citizens so calm, they literally laid down and died.

But, in some cases, it had the opposite effect, and this compound created the faction called the Reavers. Reavers are known for their EXTREME anti-social behavior, including rape, pillage, and cannibalism. Aside from the Alliance, the Reavers are the main threat to our beloved space cowboys and society at large.

Because what eugenicists seem to regularly forget to take into account are the anomalies that will naturally occur in any species.

Over the course of the Guardians movie, we learn that the High Evolutionary has created a utopian society several times, and that each time, it has failed, only for him to raze it to the ground and start again. Because, regardless of his attempts to eliminate undesirable traits from his populace, his utopia will ultimately develop objectionable areas — areas where drug trade thrives, low-income areas, etc. No matter how meticulously the High Evolutionary modifies the DNA of his experiments, there will always be factors unaccounted for.

It’s one reason why, in the movie, he is so obsessed with Rocket. Even though, as far as we know, Rocket was an average raccoon before his modifications, afterwards, he is discovered to have a far above-average intelligence, something that has not happened with the other experiments. The High Evolutionary is obsessed with getting Rocket back in his grip so that he can study Rocket’s brain, thinking he can duplicate whatever genetic fluke resulted in Rocket’s genius. He cannot accept that it may just be that, a fluke.

Eugenicists are obsessed with the idea that they can improve society by removing undesirable traits. But only THEY get to determine what is undesirable. Eugenics focuses hard on disability. What eugenicists fail to acknowledge, however, is that even if we could successfully eradicate genetic disabilities, disability can still occur. You can’t breed out injury or illness. Personally, my disability is the result of a genetic mutation. You can’t eradicate genetic mutations. By their very nature, they are surprises. In some cases, it might be possible to tweak the genetic code to get rid of the mutation, but new mutations pop up all the time, and it takes time to learn what areas of the code they affect.

Eugenicists insist that what they are doing is for the betterment of society; it will improve the lives of everyone. Unless, of course, you happen to belong to one of the groups targeted by eugenicists.

Eugenicists aren’t actually interested in creating utopia. As Rocket says to the High Evolutionary near the end of the film, “You didn’t want to make things perfect. You just hated things they way they are.” I think that pretty much sums up the way the majority of eugenicists look at the world. They claim to want to make things “perfect,” but really, all they want to do is change the things that THEY don’t like.

If they really wanted to create a better society, wouldn’t eugenicists focus on things like housing or food insecurity or our jacked-up healthcare system? Things that would ACTUALLY improve life for a majority of individuals? Instead of trying to make human beings fit into a neat little box by eliminating anything that makes them different?

I’m not saying all genetic science is bad. After all, that science led us to discover the genes for breast cancer, which helps women take better control of their health. But that’s a far cry from experimenting on human beings and trying to make them into some arbitrary vision of perfection.

If you watched the third Guardians movie and it hurt your heart to see the experiments performed on Lila the otter or Teefs the walrus or Floor the rabbit, why would that kind of experimentation be acceptable to perform on people?

You might say, “That was just a movie. Science fiction.” Just remember that the science fiction of 30 to 50 years ago is today’s science fact. We may not have reached that point YET, but that is definitely the road we’re on.

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you in the next one.

[09:22]
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