Homo Sapiens 1900
| Homo Sapiens 1900 | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Peter Cohen |
|
Release date
|
30 October 1998 |
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Running time
|
88 min. |
| Country | Sweden |
| Language | English |
Homo Sapiens 1900 is a 1998 documentary directed by Peter Cohen, about various eugenics methods that were in practice in Europe during the first part of the 20th century.
Eugenics is to be the scientific credo of the 20th century. The man credited with its invention, Francis Galton, says it is based on the concept that the evolution of man is crippled by the ill-conceived - those unfit to breed. The study of eugenics thus would concern itself with distinguishing the weed from the good flowers.
Eugenics offers two approaches: positive eugenics, and negative eugenics. Positive eugenics aims towards creating better humans by careful mating, based on one's genetic makeup. Negative eugenics, on the other hand, seeks to prevent those deemed inferior from reproducing, and thus not impeding man's evolution.
The documentary begins with a clipping of a 1916 American movie that trumpets the creed of eugenics. In The Black Stork, the lead character, physician Dr. Harry Haiselden playing himself, refuses to give a newborn, mildly deformed baby a life-saving operation (or, instead, makes the operation fatal). 'There are times when saving a life is a greater crime than taking one', he proclaims. It soon transpires that The Black Stork's climactic scene was, far from being merely fiction, actually a re-enactment of one of Dr.Haiselden's real-life cases, where he let a baby die because he considered the deformed baby to be a burden on society.
Charles Davenport is credited with being the founder of the eugenics movement in the United States. He founds the Eugenics Record Office on Long Island, the purpose being to create a nationwide eugenics register. He trains field workers to visit poor houses, prisons and mental institutions to document, and eventually eliminate through negative eugenics, inferior hereditary characteristics. To justify an aggressive campaign against blacks and immigrants, the eugenics movement used the concept of racial degeneration.
The world's first compulsory sterilization laws are passed in 1907. Shortly thereafter, over 20 states pass similar laws. Tens of thousands are sterilized in the process.
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