Gattaca

          Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1997), released in 1997, has been heralded as one of the best science fiction films ever created.  Released at the height of both the Human Genome Project and Dolly, the first cloned sheep, the film primarily deals with the issue of genetic discrimination.  Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1997) depicts a futuristic society in the wake of genetically engineered children and focuses on Vincent, “a genetically imperfect man and his seemingly unobtainable goal to travel in space.” [1]   Vincent’s imperfection lies solely in his natural birth, and as a result, he is taught to believe that he is inferior to those who are genetically engineered.

            In the first act of the film, Vincent’s parents decide to have another child – this time, one who will be genetically engineered; the result is his parents’ dream-child, in the form of Vincent’s younger brother, Anton.  As the children grow, their parents’ focus shifts from Vincent to Anton; Vincent’s dream to go into space is now shadowed by Anton’s perfect genes and ideal physique, and his parents’ ignorance of Vincent ultimately causes him run away from home.  This is where genetic discrimination first comes in; by choosing to have children of differing genetic backgrounds and by treating them differently, Vincent’s parents teach their children that one child is inferior to the other.

Such an outlook invokes memories of the Holocaust, and other eugenic movements, for such movements “methodically created the means to efficiently round up and kill millions of people;” [2] for even though Vincent has no deformities or disabilities by today’s standards, in his society, living without genetic tampering is considered a handicap, which should be (and is) stopped prenatally.  This brings in an interesting question: are women accountable to the public for the choices they make? [3]  

Arguing her view, Ruth Faden believes that “pregnant women ought to use reproductive technology [to] prevent or reduce significant illness or disability in the child after birth;” [4] Vincent’s parents employ such tactics to reduce the illness of imperfection by choosing a second baby genetically engineered to guarantee flawlessness.  Yet their decision also plants Vincent’s initial feelings of inferiority; so if we can “learn the history of our species,” [5] but in doing so, create discriminatory classes, why would we want to do so?

This question enlightens us to three not-so-radical technologies explored in the film: DNA sequencing, blood tests, and urine samples; such tests are used – all that is needed is a hair, blood, or urine sample – to maintain the separation of the so-called classes and deny them access not only to the space program, but also the certain government buildings and desk jobs.  The idea that a single eyelash or hair, even a single drop of blood or urine can determine a person’s fate is a chilling thought, yet it is right on our doorstep: genetic engineering is “happening today all the time in areas outside the human species, and sometimes within.” [6]

Vincent belongs to a lower class of genetic “invalids,” yet through the film, he “borrows” the DNA of a genetically perfect man to pose as a worthy candidate for the space program and, in a sense, validate himself; he passes such genetic tests and in the end finds himself on a spaceship, by providing scientists with his donor’s hair, blood, and urine samples. The broader question this film exposes is whether a man is truly the sum of his genes, or could his spirit somehow carry him beyond all expectations? [7]

Vincent provides us with an answer.  Through all of these tests, even a murder case where he is the foremost suspect, he somehow evades discovery; he manages to swim farther than his seemingly-perfect brother, end with a highly well-received career, and even become accepted as part of the class that for so long oppressed him.  In the end he not only falls in love with a genetically perfect girl who accepts him as who he is, but he also proves to his brother, the ultimate cynic, that sometimes “a man who refuses to trust the odds, and relies on fate and sheer will [will] achieve his dreams.” [8]