Film
Fixed: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement
A documentary that questions the dream of human enhancement by centering disabled people's actual voices rather than medical experts' visions. It asks hard questions about normalcy, choice, and who gets to decide what counts as improvement. Urgent, unsettling, necessary.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy a thoughtful, talking-heads documentary that argues with itself, where the pleasure is in hearing people who live with disability push back on the fantasy of being 'fixed' by gadgets.
Skip it if you want a documentary with tight narrative drive or a clear arc; this is a sequence of conversations and ideas, and the momentum comes from argument rather than story.
What it asks of you: It runs about an hour, stays in conversation rather than scenes, and asks you to sit with competing ideas about bodies and minds at a steady, unhurried pace.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Unrest2017
Jennifer Brea's film about ME/CFS makes illness visible and intimate while refusing pity or inspiration narratives. Essential watching that shifts how you think about bodies and medicine.
But Slow, deliberately paced, and deals with profound isolation and suffering. Not an uplifting story, and intentionally so.
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution2020
A history of the disability rights movement told by the people who lived it. Joyful, angry, exhilarating—proof that disabled people were radicals first.
But Focuses on a specific historical moment (1970s California) that might feel distant from today's biotech debates.
The Social Network2010
Not about disability, but a sharp examination of how innovation happens and who decides what matters. Watch it after Fixed to see how enhancement cultures get built.
But Primarily about able-bodied tech billionaires. Easy to miss the point if you're not thinking critically about whose story gets told.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Fixed: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
How to Train Your Dragon2010
Both use a disabled character and an enhancement technology as a lens to question what 'normal' means and who decides what bodies are acceptable.
Hiccup is a disabled protagonist in a warrior culture that has no place for him—until he invents a technology that lets him fly. It asks the exact question Fixed asks: is enhancement about fixing the person or changing the world?
But It's animated, funny, and a commercial blockbuster. The film disguises its philosophy in adventure and comedy, so it's easy to miss what it's actually arguing.
More like this (3)
The Hip - Brainstorm2020
Documentary about a psychiatrist's daughter and mental illness that refuses easy answers. Explores how we pathologize difference.
But Centered on one family's experience rather than broader movement. Some might want more historical scope.
Love, Gilda2018
Gilda Radner's life through her own words and journals. About thriving while sick, and the pressure to hide it. Unexpectedly tender and honest.
But A celebrity biography first, disability story second. Focuses on one life rather than systemic critique.
Vessel2014
Fixed questions who benefits from enhancement narratives; Vessel shows how those narratives get manufactured and spread, and who profits from our desires to be different.
Documentary about Dr. Mehmet Oz's rise as a media personality and the gap between his on-screen persona and his actual practice. Shows how enhancement narratives get sold without evidence.
But A bit dated now (Oz's reputation has shifted further). Focuses on one figure rather than systemic issues, and some will find it more celebrity-gossip than ideology critique.
People
Cast
- Patricia BerneHerself
- Fernanda CasteloHerself
- John HockenberryHimself
- Gregor WolbringHimself
Hugh HerrSelf
Directing
- Regan BrashearDirector
Production
- Hannah SwensonAssociate Producer
- Jamie LeJeuneCo-Producer
- Regan BrashearProducer