Essay

“I got up and pretended to study the pictures on the walls like I was a lover of religious art. When I got to the Merciful Mother right above Sinita’s head, I reached in my pocket and pulled out the bottom I’d found on the train. It was sparkly like a diamond and had a little hole in back so you could thread a ribbon through it and wear it like a romantic lady’s choker necklace. It wasn’t something I’d do, but I could see the button would make a good trade with someone inclined in that direction.

The movie Gattaca is based on the idea of social discrimination. It's not the usual type of discrimination that we are used to. In the distant future depicted in the film its genetic discrimination rather than racial. These people are separated into valids and invalids. In this movie parents are allowed to engineer their children to the exact detail. However Vincent was not engineered but his brother Anton was. This started his lifelong quest to be better than his brother. This leads to an elaborate heist to impersonate a “valids” identity and go to space. But this didn't go perfectly as he dealt with his identity trying to be discovered and relying on many other people along the way.

Vincent calls for extreme measures because he is determined to become an astronaut so he takes on the identity of a valid man with perfect DNA called jerome who was an amazing swimmer that committed suicide by running in front of a car and failed but paralysed himself in doing so. Vincent and Jerome strike a deal where vincent uses genetic samples of Jerome's urine, blood, skin cells to get into GATTACA (the space agency.) Vincent is told “You could go anywhere with this guys helix tucked under your arm.” This means that by using Jerome's DNA, Vincent is able to have the same opportunities as the valids and can pursue his dream of becoming an

Andrew Niccol’s ‘Gattaca’ explores a science-driven society where there are two classes – the invalids and the valids. The underclass ‘invalids’ or ‘faith birth’ individuals are forced to accept limited opportunities for advancement and the ‘natural’ valids, whose access to any job is based on their genetic make-up. ‘Gattaca’ shows that no matter how you are defined by your genetic makeup, you will not get anywhere in life without determination.

The science fiction cinematic piece Gattaca by Andrew Niccol was released in 1997. It addresses the moral and ethical concepts regarding genetic engineering and the social order strives in the pursuit of biological perfection. The idea of perfection and genetic engineering is portrayed with a dystopian world were genetic discrimination is the foundation for society that takes place in “the not so distant future”. To address these ideas Niccol, uses archetypal characters such as Vincent as the underdog and Eugene as the supporting character to convey the psychological challenges and boundaries that have an effect on how the characters live their lives and interact within the world they live in. The films idea of genetic engineering causes the viewer to consider the ethicality of such technology and how its superiority can result in a world were individuals are bound by social restrictions and discrimination due to the presence of a scientifically engineered race of human beings.

In conclusion, the film shows many themes of prejudice and discrimination towards Vincent, simply because of his genetic make-up, but this film is about the fight of the underdog and how Vincent rose up and reached his goal despite being put down his whole life and being “inferior” to his brother, friends and co-workers. As Vincent says in the film “there is no gene for fate” simply

used in Gattaca to show how the environment in which Vincent lives ephaisises the importance of DNAl,. Those who are considered perfect among the society are often delayed and put down by a lack of aspiration; this idea of perfection comes from ones i ndividual values influencedby a corrupt society.nVincent is considered a god child due to having no genetic

By opening the movie Gattaca with quotations from Willard Gaylin and Ecclesiastes, director Andrew Niccol invites us to ponder the tension between science and religion with regard to the ethics of genetic engineering. This tension is further sustained through the complex relationship of the main protagonists Vincent and Eugene, who must ultimately conquer their own physical limitations in order to find ``God''.

Vincent (Nurture), born with a weak body, talentless, and with a life expectancy of about 30 years, does not accept his fate. He never has. As a child, he had swimming contests with his brother Anton (Nature), born a superior being who has all the right scores but eventualy lost to Vincent and needs to be saved from drowning. Now Vincent dreams of becoming a crew member on an expedition to one of the moons of Saturn. With the help of an illegal DNA broker, he makes a deal with a man named Jerome (Jude Law), who has the right genes

Humanity is inherently paradoxical. We strive for what we think is perfection, but are defined by our flaws. In Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca, the idea that genetic manipulation is the only thing that makes a person perfect shines through when Ethan Hawke’s character, Vincent is naturally born. In this movie, to have a child born without the help of science is so barbaric and indiscrete, that the child is labeled as a “de-gene-erate”, as a sign of contradictory beliefs. The society portrayed in Gattaca is distinguished by a lack of happiness and they dullness, clearly due to all the alterations made to make this human so perfect. In their society, they have to get rid of any abnormal emotions or passions shown because they’re a sign of weakness or a flaw. People believe they know the form of a perfect human and they have become so lacking of flaws that they have lost the sense of being real, and being the definition of a human, which is imperfect.

Living up to one’s full potential may not seem easy, but with genetic help, life might not be so difficult after all. Vincent Anton Freeman is living in a society where people are genetically modified to be the best versions of their parents. With a dream to travel in space, Vincent impersonates a disabled “valid” in order to chase this dream. The movie Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol shows how Vincent, Lamar, Jerome, and Irene are unorthodox by breaking the societal rules of what a particular invalid could or should do.

Even after being discriminated and marginalised from society by his ‘low’ quality genes, Vincent never gave in. SInce the genetically engineered individuals form the society’s elite, parents wish to select the best versions of their genes to create the ‘perfect’ offspring, this suppresses individuality as the society still ends up conformed to the rules of a striving organisation towards a ‘perfect’ society. This would result in no individuality within a society which would mean that the society could never evolve as there will be no one to oppose or notice the flaws in this ‘perfect’ society. Vincent becomes the exception when he didn’t accept being treated as an inferior the way Irene had. She accepted the fact that she would never accomplish her dream of space travel and so, she accepted her role in Gattaca. This is shown through her obedience to follow any order given to her by the director. VIncent’s achievements showed that invalids can be just as good as valids. He showed Irene that he was here “to show that it’s possible” for those who are marginalised to be just as good. These accomplishments were reached only because Vincent didn’t conform to the society by taking risks that involved being suspected as a murderer and as an infiltrated invalid. Both of which would result in severe punishments. In addition, when he won the final

Vincent was born in the old fashioned way with a life expectancy of only 30 years. He seeks to overcome that by having swimming contests with his brother Anton (Loren Dean). The strong imagery and emotion in two brothers swimming towards their fates. Swimming towards something they don't understand yet, their only drive is their competition. Vincent's brother Anton was born artificially with perfect genetics and programing.

These fears are emulated in Gattaca through the representation of a culture where embryonic modification is customary and thus resulted in the implementation of genetic testing where those without ideal characteristics fall victim to severe disadvantage and limitation on their future opportunities. Due to Vincent’s natural birth, his embryo was not altered to bring out his best possible traits, instead he is born with illness and likelihood to die young. From an early point in the film, Vincent states, “We now have discrimination down to a science”, instilling notions of the harmful impact of genetic modification in engineering the conditions for social discrimination, no longer based on factors such as ethnicity and gender. Due to his inferior genetics, Vincent finds work at Gattaca as a cleaner and is seen being transported to Gattaca in grey, work clothes with shots of him gazing towards a barred window to view a rocket launch. The uniform and placement of the bars is suggestive of a prison-like state where he is chained by his genetics, incapable of achieving his aspirations due to extreme genetic prejudice.

Niccols questions the idea that one can triumph or fail (make or break) with ambition and is not based on genetics can be examined through the contrast of Vincent and Eugene in Gattaca. Eugene, a ‘valid’ ex-swimmer who was ‘never meant to be one step down on the podium”, is a product of the crushing weight of the social expectations – failing in his attempts for success. Consequently, he tries to commit suicide by “walking in front of that car” sober and fails, making him a paraplegic. Arrogant and mildly depressed,