Abstract
In 1962, Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and transformed into Spider-Man; in 2000, Peter Parker was bitten by a genetically modified spider and transformed into Spider-Man. What does this change in scientific representation mean? This paper reflects a little on this question to suggest that, whilst in one way it is an indication of the cultural penetration of ‘gene talk’ (Howe HF, Lyne J Social Epistemol 6:1–54, 1992) – that is, the rhetoric of the genetic determination of the whole of life (if not quite the universe and everything) – in another way it means nothing of any particular significance at all (In saying this, as should become clear from the following discussion, I do not mean it is merely a ‘McGuffin’ or plot device, although it might be taken to have something of this nature).
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Notes
- 1.
I am grateful to the editors for pointing out that a tale depicting a ‘geriatric’ Spider-Man has been published (Andrews 2007), albeit involving an alternative timeline (see below).
- 2.
More correctly, having brought out the dualistic temporality of superheroes, Eco’s ideological analysis only focuses on one side of the dualism: the unchanging, myth-like, and hence supposedly ‘passive’ side. A proper understanding, however, needs to consider both, towards which the present discussion is intended as a fragment.
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Locke, S. (2019). With Great Power Comes Changing Representations: From Radiation to Genetics in the Origin of Spider-Man. In: Görgen, A., Nunez, G.A., Fangerau, H. (eds) Handbook of Popular Culture and Biomedicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90677-5_19
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