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Tommy1 vs Tommy2: How much do they have in common?

posted 13 years ago by elliest_5
4 replies | jump to latest

This is a very common question that arises when the issue of cloning is discussed and different people have different opinions depending on where they stand on the "nature vs nurture" debate.

I think in the movie Tommy2 shares some traits and manners with Tommy1 (although this is also due to the same actor portraying both), but Tommy 2 is essentially very different since he had a very different upbringing in a different environment.

There is a scene that I didn't get: when Rebecca asks Tommy2 to name his "pet". She suggests a name and he chooses a different one. Is this somehow related to Tommy1? Had Tommy1 used any of the two names for a pet?

Anyway, I think Tommy2 is a very messed-up kid, with a completely different psychology from Tommy1 therefore being a completely different person. What do you think?

~*~

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nettwench 13 years ago

I agree with that - he had a much stranger and lonelier up-bringing than the original Tommy. It's TOO close to the mother - he doesn't really get to become separated from her in a normal way, because she used this child as a sort of pseudo-spouse and her only companion and influence in life. That's not healthy at all - it's a form of child abuse - psychological incest, or using the child for your own emotional fulfillment, rather than a relationship with a grown man. This actually happens pretty frequently, especially when mothers are depressed and withdrawn, which Rebecca most definitely is, especially as he tries to break away with his girlfriend. It's amazing he's even healthy enough to have his own girlfriend! But the anger in him is completely understandable - he is being used, and he doesn't understand what is happening to him. She's being emotionally manipulative of him, "punishing" him for being with Monica by becoming sullen and withdrawn.

Ssssshh! You'll wake up the monkey!

[–] Em0411 11 years ago

It wasn't normal, I agree, and the girlfriend had the good sense to get out of there.

[–] ciprianl 11 years ago

There is also a short scene that implies traces of some kind of genetic memory transmission. Some time after he meets the mother of Tommy1, Tommy2 says that he remembers her face.

This raises of course the question if Tommy2's attraction for Rebecca is solely the rest of seduction from her part, or if there was also something transmitted from the love of Tommy1 for her.