Week 7: Japanese Gattaca/Genetically Modified Race Traitors (Leslie Do)

Leslie Do
ASA 115, Dr. Valverde
14th May 2016

Between the US and Japan as Two Post-Humanist Empires: Gattaca (1997) Merges with Tokyo Ghoul (2011) 

Cindy Nakashima's inquiry on the intersection of mixed race issues (such as the problemization of interracial couples as the catalyst towards cultural genocide) and the rise of mixed race characters in current science fiction series inspired my self-portrait of being a race traitor. My "mug shot" documents my incarceration for merging with non-human species and becoming a post-humanist servitor of US empire. As I was drawing my portrait with a fine, black sharpie, black ball-point pen, and red pen, I theorized that the current trend of post-humanist anime and American, science fiction movies with mixed race characters are preparing American and Japanese consumers to accept the new post-humanist power structures where genetically modified humans will comprise of the elite, ruling class. Using racism as the foundation and template for the imagination of new American societies, films such as Gattaca (1997) imagine these post-humanist socities where parents can design their babies with advanced medical technology and remove any congenial illnesses before they are born.

Subsequently, these designer children will be seen as the superior race over children conceived without genetic screening and genetic intervention. Yet, I realized that Sui Ishida's post-humanist manga Tokyo Ghoul (2011) evolves this idea by arguing that this power structure, privileged class, ruling elite will also include modified humans who can regenerate their body parts through stem cells will comprise of the superior class. This class can emerge from stem cell experiments and the merging of non-human organs that will create a new class of designer, regenerative humans in the future. All in all, Japanese post-humanist, science fiction anime such as Tokyo Ghoul (2011) and even American movies that explore techniques genome modification and gene splicing such as Jurassic World (2015) and Splice (2009) are desensitizing and normalizing the American masses to a power hierarchy based on genetic modification and species that can regenerate their bodies. Therefore, combinations of Japanese popular culture and American popular culture warns us of the US and Japan becoming joint, post-humanist empires that normalizes the genetic modification of human beings.

Since Kaneki (the main character from Tokyo Ghoul) wears a mask to hide his identity as an artificially created post-humanist super soldier as who escaped from his power handlers and scientists, I decided to portray myself as Kaneki with a mask with the main character's face from Viet Thanh Nguyen's book the Sympathizer. (I drew myself with Kaneki's retractable weaponized claws on my back as well.) My mask and the weaponized limbs extending from my back symbolize the dominant power structure transition from racism to a social system that values genetically modified humans at the dehumanization of humans made from natural reproduction. In a fictional world, my mug shot records my escape from the science labs of genetic modification in Viet Nam as I subvert scientific, post-humanist studies institutes that use involuntary Vietnamese, test subjects. Yet, since the mission of my artwork is to resist against the use of countries as social laboratories for unethical experimentation of humans, I will use my own portraits and paintings as a cautionary, dystopic tale against post-humanist futures.