sociological review polish ISSN 1231 – 1413 3(215)’21 DOI:10.26412/psr215.01 Culture and Values JAN DOMARADZKI Poznan University of Medical Sciences Popular Culture and Genetics: Genetics and Biotechnologies in the Movies Abstract: Although the past few decades have been marked by a rapid development of biotechnologies, it signifcantly precedes the social understanding of genetic phenomena. At the same time, as biotechnologies have become an object of public interest, popular culture, particularly movies, plays an increasingly important role in shaping the public attitudes towards biotechnologies. Thus, by stressing the impact of popular culture on the social understanding of science, this paper aims to describe the dominant genetic tropes portrayed in the cinema. By analysing 175 movies that relate to biotechnologies produced between 1953 and 2018, it analyses seven main themes: 1) the general image of genetics, 2) genetic procedures 3) mutations, 4) DNA, 5) genetic essentialism, 6) the nature versus nurture debate, and 7) biofears generated in the movies. Keywords: biotechnology, cinema, genetics, movies, popular culture, science fction. Introduction Although the past few decades have been marked by a rapid development of biotech- nologies, it signifcantly precedes the social understanding of genetic phenomena. Con- sequently, the public express ambivalent attitudes towards biotechnologies (Priest 2000; Eurobarometer 2010). Simultaneously, as genetics generates a huge social interest, it func- tions as a unique object of the collective imagination (Domaradzki 2016, 2018). In fact, biology itself does not explain the social fascination with genetics. On the contrary, while its social perception is infuenced by consecutive scientifc discoveries, in a large part, ge- netics owes its renown to popular culture, which invokes many myths, beliefs and ideas on scientifc issues (Handlin 1965; Turney 1998; van Dijck 1998; Nelkin and Lindee 1999; Bates 2005; Roberts et al. 2019). Consequently, the social communication of science is not a linear process. Since lay knowledge about scientifc topics is much more complex and advanced than it is assumed by the experts, the public are not a passive recipient of a scientifc message but actively participate in the social construction of meanings ascribed to genetics. Indeed, individuals who face biotechnologies already possess specifc knowl- edge, ideas and opinions about genetics, which are infuenced by their personal and social experiences which shape their understanding of biotechnologies. Simultaneously, as biotechnologies have become an object of public interest, popular culture, including the cinema, plays an increasingly important role in the popularization of science. This is not surprising because while many individuals gain their knowledge