Critical Response on The Film Gattaca

The film Gattaca is a futuristic movie released in 1997. The film was written and directed by Andrew Niccol. In the movie, children are conceived genetically by keeping only the best genetic materials of their parents. One of the four main characters, Vincent, is the only one who was conceived naturally but was predicted in the first seconds of life of his invalidity, such as future diseases, short life expectancy. Throughout the movie, Vincent tries to push himself working hard by adopting the genetic information of Jerome – who failed in sport and did not live to his full genetic potential – to overcome his genetic discrimination.

Vincent's parents were the first to know that their son was born with several invalidities. At the first seconds of his life, it was predicted by a genetic blood test 'neurological condition, 60 percent probability. Manic depression, 42 percent probability. Attention deficit disorder, 89 percent probability. Heart disorder… 99 percent probability. Early fatal potential. Life expectancy: 30. 2 years'. Vincent later had a brother, Anton. Vincent soon realized that something was different between him and his brother. Anton was genetically engineered. One day when Vincent and Anton swam together, something peculiar happened. 'But something was very different about that day. Every time Anton tried to pull away, he found me right beside him. Until finally the impossible happened. It was the one moment in our lives that my brother was not as strong as he believed, and I was not as weak. It was the moment that made everything else possible'. Jerome, Irene, and Anton, three of the four main characters were all genetically engineered at birth. They saw their life unraveled through the eye of the technology, their genetic material. Irene, just like Georgiana at the beginning in 'The Birth-Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne' is not disturbed by the possibility that she could push beyond her genetical potential. She seems content with her minor heart condition and does not aspire to travel to space even when we observe that she might find it enjoyable. Anton on the contrary, since that moment with his brother Anton, aspires to realize his dreams to travel to space. He impersonates himself with the character of Jerome and uses his genetic material to get a position at Gattaca and continue to work hard to achieve his dreams.

Vincent did not have the advantages of his genetic materials to work in a field that he likes. In the film, he is categorized as an invalid citizen, only good to perform undermining jobs; the valid citizen in the movie is elite, strong, intelligent, perform a genetic duty for the society and is genetically engineered. Although Vincent wanted to go to space, he couldn't because he wasn't a valid citizen. 'For all my brave talk, I knew it was just that. No matter how much I trained or how much I studied, the best test score in the world wasn't gonna matter unless I had the blood test to go with it'. We can see that the genetic inheritance in the film has a great impact. At the 00:37:40 we see Irene stealing a sample of Vincent's hair who is now Jerome to get it tested. Irene is interested in Jerome and before dating him she makes sure that his genetic predisposition is suitable for her. She uses one of the many walk-in clinics. All this to show that Vincent lives in an unfair world. He needed to aspire for perfection to survive. Vincent took a great risk to impersonate Jerome and managed to get and to retain a post at Gattaca. He had to work even harder than the rest in order to survive and not getting caught. He aspired for greatness and his genetic attribute did not stop him for going after his dreams.

In the film, there are those who acquire their attributes through genetic manipulations at conception and others who receive their attributes naturally. Those with genetically engineer genes live a very satisfactory life and those who acquired their attributes naturally live despondently and are viewed as less than human. In the film director Josef suggest that no one can exceed his potential. 'We have to ensure that people are meeting their potential…No one exceeds his potential if he did, it simply means that we did not accurately gauge his potential in the first place'. We see something different from Vincent. Vincent did not possess the capacity to excel in life. He did not pass the blood test at birth and was required to clean bathrooms in order to survive; but hence he studied, work harder to achieve a pleasant life and finally went to space. We see at the end of the movie when Vincent gives his urine sample to get it tested, the results came out as him an invalid, Dr. Lamar changes his status as a valid citizen. Through the eyes of Dr. Lamar, he saw how Vincent worked hard and was determined to exceed his potential.

According to the film, the quality of the gene was enough to validate a person as good or bad in society. During the investigation of the murder of the mission director, the detectives found Vincent's eyelashes near the crime scene and he became the prime suspect of the crime because he was an invalid. They never thought that a valid citizen could do such a crime because their genes predicted non-violence or so. It was later revealed that the murderer was the director Josef a valid citizen with an impeccable resume. The quality of the gene was responsible for the actions of an altered human in this case because the investigators never thought for one moment that a valid citizen could do such a crime and more to exceed his current potential. If really, we revolved around genes to tell us what we were capable of, we would not be able to have control over our lives.

Because many parents want their children to be born healthy, having their children genetically engineered is an opportunity that they can't just pass by. There are so many people suffering from congenital diseases and a quick technological fix promise a good offspring, but such people are unable to do so because their genetic material is carried to the next generation. We can see in Gattaca when Vincent's parents wanted a second child, they saw a geneticist. 'I took the liberty of eradicating any potentially prejudicial conditions: premature baldness, myopia, alcoholism, and addictive susceptibility, propensity for violence, obesity, etcetera'. After Vincent's brother Anton was born, his father seems very proud of his son. Although thousands of people wanted their children genetically engineered, it is so surprising that they took the call. The first thing in mind is ethics. Is ethical to genetically change what Mother Nature has given us? Doesn't it bear any risks? Just after watching the movie, it shows that genetically engineered people act like robots, born for a task. Is that what people want? What about free will and accessing to limitless opportunity about what the world has to offer even with an incapacity?

The film connects well with the text, Being Human as they approve well in using science to achieve happiness. For Vincent to secure a job at Gattaca, he uses the help of science to change his utmost appearance to look like Jerome who according to his gene was made perfect. The same way, in 'The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne' Aylmer uses science to remove Georgiana mark from her cheek to make her the most perfect being. In 'The Science Of Happiness: Unlocking The Mysteries Of Mood by Stephen Braun', Braun agrees with Vincent to constantly renew themselves every day in order to be better people. Braun uses drugs to relieve symptoms of mood and Vincent uses outmost apparel to be identified as Jerome.