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(2019) Handbook of popular culture and biomedicine, Dordrecht, Springer.
With great power comes changing representations
from radiation to genetics in the origin of spider-man
Simon Locke
pp. 259-270
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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Full citation:
Locke, S. (2019)., With great power comes changing representations: from radiation to genetics in the origin of spider-man, in H. Fangerau (ed.), Handbook of popular culture and biomedicine, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 259-270.
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