Niall Martin
Lit – 101 – 057
Professor Scahill
April 18th, 2014
Final Paper

A Splice of the Future
The theme of the mega-corporation runs deep in the history of science-fiction a genre that is continually evolving to reflect today’s technology. As far back as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), and as recently as James Cameron’s Avatar (2009), mega-corporations have served as the physical embodiment of the absence of humanity. Furthermore, these films continue to generate more complex and more compelling perceptions of the relationship between humans and technology, which is often made manifest in the mega-corporation. As often as the identity of the “natural” human may be called into question, in nearly all of these films the character the audience perceives to be most human is victorious in the end. Cameron’s Avatar, for instance, sees the protagonist Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) remain on the alien world of Pandora in the body of an alien. Although not innately human in form, it is Jake’s preserved sense of morality and his ability to sympathize with the other characters that give him his sense of humanity. However, in Vincenzo Natali’s Splice (2009), the victory does not lie with the most human characters, but rather with the dehumanizing corporation, which threatens to recreate all of humanity in its likeness. Natali argues that the creation of Dren (Delphine Chanéac) represents the future of humanity in the sense that humans are becoming creatures with equal parts human and technological – a shift that threatens to change society’s perception of what is “human”.
Splice is in many ways a modern retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus – a point highlighted by Natali’s choice to name the protagonists Clive and Elsa; a direct homage to the stars of James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester. In the film, two romantically involved scientists, Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley), are employed by a billion dollar corporation known as Nucleic Exchange Research and Development, or N.E.R.D. The pair is under contract to create new organisms with medical benefits by splicing together a variety of animal DNA. After creating an organism deemed worthy of profit, they are admonished to not pursue future research. However, Elsa pushes Clive to help her continue their work secretly, which results in the creation of a female human hybrid they name Dren (Delphine Chanéac) - an anagram of the corporation N.E.R.D. Unlike Victor Frankenstein who wished to create life for the sake of discovery, Dren is created for purely selfish reasons. Elsa, longs to be a mother, but is disgusted by the natural cycle of birth, a process through which she has no real control over, and therefore demands the precision of science to create life. On the other hand, Clive sees the creation of Dren as an opportunity for fame and glory. The selfish nature of Dren’s creation aligns perfectly with the greed of the corporation. Looking back at the inspiration of the film, Shelley’s subtitle, “The Modern Prometheus” is very applicable to the relationship that Elsa and Clive have with N.E.R.D. The classic myth sees Prometheus, a man, stealing fire from Zeus and being eternally punished for his offense. In Natali’s version of the myth, the corporation assumes the role of Zeus, or the keeper of fire. However, when Clive and Elsa (Prometheus) steal that “fire” by creating a human like creature, the corporation is thrilled and is poised to benefit. As the story progresses, Elsa develops a maternal relationship with Dren who is growing at an accelerated pace. After a series of unnerving events reach their climax when Clive and Dren engage in sexual intercourse, both Elsa and Clive decide it is time to end Dren’s life, and thus, their experiment. However, Dren comes back to life, now a male, and kills Clive and rapes Elsa before meeting her ultimate demise. Several months later, Elsa, who is now pregnant, decides to sell her unborn child to N.E.R.D. for medical research.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Splice is Natali’s ability to coerce the audience to identify with a character despite said character’s humanity being “broken”, or incomplete. In general, the average viewer finds it discomforting, and all the while unenjoyable to be unable to identify with any character in a film. One of Natali’s first films, Cube (1997), received an early review claiming “the claustrophobic film is inhabited by six uninteresting individuals who’d have you climbing the walls in 90 minutes” (Karten, 2000). The most common critique given to Natali’s films is the lack of interesting, identifiable characters. Interestingly, Splice is no exception to this rule, however, it is very conscious of the fact that it offers the audience no truly identifiable characters. In the beginning of the film, the audience is led to believe that Clive and Elsa lead “normal” lives outside of work. They are seen communicating with “normal” language and the two exhibit all the traits of a couple trying to conceive a child. This “normality” allows the audience to identify with them as characters. However, once the experiment that produces Dren begins, it becomes clear to the audience that Clive and Elsa are “broken humans”. As the experiment progresses, Elsa’s obsessive monomania along with her perverse maternal relationship with Dren begin to distance her from being fully “human”. The audience is encouraged to see cracks in her façade of humanity - she is a broken human. Rather, the audience latches onto Clive, whose moral stance regarding Dren is as unclear as the audience’s moral stance. Clive finds himself feeling conflicted as he begins to regret his involvement with the experiment, but is equally intrigued to see how far it will go. The audience’s sentiment matches Clive’s to a tee when he attempts to drown a young Dren. It is clear at this point that should Dren develop further, she will be more of a threat, however both her familial relationship with Elsa and her physical appearance require second thought. As Elsa begins to be blinded by ambition and emotion, it becomes clear that Clive is to be seen as the voice of reason. Therefore, all future transgressions of Dren are directly linked to Elsa in the minds of the audience.
The creation of Dren took place inside of a laboratory that was dimly lit, with a cool blue, almost artificial light. The laboratory served to eliminate any organic feelings regarding Dren’s creation or existence. In this area, Elsa’s scientific and rational mind was at the forefront, while her maternal mind was pushed into her subconscious. The audience sees her inner conflict in the scene where she first is introduced to the experiment’s creature, which later becomes Dren. After the birthing process sees Elsa nearly killed by a poison from the creature, Clive and Elsa both decide that they must end the experiment, and thus the creature’s life. However, once they reach the laboratory the next day, Elsa’s maternal instincts begin to grow. The removal of her protective gear in an effort to calm the subject signifies the ultimate shift in Elsa’s instincts. As she sheds the protective mask and gloves, she is simultaneously shedding any logical, rational thoughts pertaining to the experiment.
As the maternal side begins to take a hold, the new “family” relocates to Elsa’s childhood home – a farm haunted by the memory of her abusive and neglectful mother. It is here that Elsa tells Clive that the egg that was fertilized to create Dren belonged to her. The psychological complex that Elsa has so clearly received from her own mother’s neglect and abuse has transferred to yet another generation. As Dren grows it appears that she experiences somewhat of an Electra complex. Elsa discovers Dren’s crude drawings of Clive, and only Clive, suggesting she has begun to sexually covet him. Furthermore, Dren continually rebels against Elsa’s authority. At the climax of the film, Dren seduces Clive and the two engage in sex. Up to this point, Clive has served as the moral compass of the film. He shares the audience’s sentiments about Dren, and the growing perverse maternal relationship of Elsa – he has been the voice of reason. However, this act, which is simultaneously incestuous, bestial, and pedophilic, makes Elsa’s transgressions pale in comparison. In a sense, the creation of Dren has served as a modern retelling of the story of Original Sin. In the same way that Eve’s transgressions brought about the demise of Adam, we see Elsa’s creation bring about the demise of Clive. As Paul Virilio points out in his novel Ground Zero, the death of God at the hands of science was the end result of the ‘Luciferian bargain’ struck up between Eve and the serpent in the garden, the promise that Eve would be ‘like God’, that she would become immortal and gain the knowledge reserved for the divine (2002: 9). Splice as a whole, seems to suggest that the seamless combination of technology in the process of procreation has begun to fulfill that promise. Dren’s barbed tail, bat-like wings, and hooved feet all play up the idea that she is to be seen as a luciferian-esque creature. Despite this heinous act eliminating the last bits humanity found in the film, it appears that through Elsa’s disgust, Clive’s immediate remorse, and Dren’s death there is an attempt at a re-stabilization. However, as is the case with most science-fiction horror films, there is a last twist that is meant to leave the audience questioning all that has happened thus far. Dren, although thought to be dead, is brought back to life, this time as a male. In a bout of extreme karma, the male Dren then rapes his “mother” Elsa, paralleling Clive’s taboo sex act and Elsa’s transgressions against the laws of nature. Dren then kills Clive, and Elsa in turn kills Dren. In the epilogue of the film, a now very pregnant Elsa meets with the head of the mega-corporation. The head informs her that Dren’s body held hundreds of compounds that will ensure them profit for decades. Elsa is then offered a very large sum of money for the unborn child, who assumedly was conceived by Dren. The final shot of the film sees the dark silhouettes of Elsa and the oddly androgynous CEO behind her eerily resembling Dren in figure.
The final scene asks what the future of the family structure will look like. Initially, it is believed that Elsa refuses to create life with her own body. She even tells Clive early on that she will only consider having children after they “crack male pregnancy”. Yet, through her decision to keep the child she is impregnated with, it becomes evident that she is not opposed to the idea of natural birth, it just takes second place to technological, controlled birth. In the end, Elsa’s natural pregnancy becomes a reflection of the technological pregnancy. She is pregnant with what is assumed to be a projection of a techno-human, Dren. In 1991, Donna Haraway (1991) wrote about the potential of man becoming what she called a “cyborg”. “A cyborg,” she wrote, “is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction”. Obviously, categorizing Dren as a “cyborg” would be appropriate by this definition, however, I believe that Natali also poses the question of whether or not Elsa, can be considered a “cyborg”. Through her seamless combination of science, or technology, and motherhood, it is clear that Natali’s answer to this question is “yes”. It is equally clear that Clive represented the modern human perspective throughout most, if not all, of the film. He was disturbed by Elsa’s seamless combination. He understood that Elsa’s love for Dren did not originate from a strictly motherly place. Elsa is able to see Dren as both a child and her own scientific creation. Two kinds of love are placed on Dren, a maternal affection, and a scientific, or technological adoration. This may appear as a futuristic version of motherhood, but today with pregnancy becoming more and more premeditated with the aid of technology, and the world being more and more technologically connected, Natali’s claim, although hyperbolized, is not incredibly far off. The modern view of humanity has always been defined by the ideals that were laid out during the Enlightenment – the uniquely human capacity for freedom, rationality, higher emotions and morality. As Clive was the only character to truly exhibit a range of these qualities, his demise emphasizes Natali’s view that society’s perception of what is “human” will shift as evolution continues. A large part of the discomfort found in Splice is this realization – the realization that humanity is evolving, not being overrun by a new type of being. This evolution has already begun. Natali argues that Dren’s future is humanity’s future, and that she is correct when she says her only words of the movie that she is “inside [us]”. Vincenzo Natali’s Splice offers a new breed of science-fiction horror in which the essence of humanity is irreparably changed by our involvement with technology.

Works Cited
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Haraway, Donna. "A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s." Australian Feminist Studies 2.4 (1987): 1-42. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.

Karten, Harvey S. "Review for Cube." Rev. of Cube. 1997: n. pag. Imdb.com. IMDB, 1998. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.

Reese, Diana. "A Troubled Legacy: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the Inheritance of Human Rights." Representations 96.1 (2006): 48-72. University of California Press. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.

Schneider, Tassilo. "When the Difference Can't Be Told: The Subject in Contemporary Horror and Science Fiction Film." Spectator 11.2 (1991): 44-53. USC School of Cinematic Arts. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.