Gattaca Review and Discussion

By Steve Wang

The main character's name is Vincent. He has a brother named Anton who is genetically customized. This caused Vincent to be less perfect than his brother genetically. They live in a society where genetics are the most important deciding factor in everything and Vincent's parents believe that. So, his parents always favoured and supported Anton but told Vincent he could never achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut. One day, he beats his brother at swimming and has to save his brother from drowning which causes him to believe it is possible for him to do thing s and work hard and chase his dream. , he left home and worked as a cleaner while studying to work as an astronaut at Gattaca. He seeked the help of Jerome who has perfect genes but wants to die because he got second place in a competition. Following that, he takes Jerome's identity and gets the job. After working there for a while, he gets the chance to go to space but it all gets messed up when one important director gets murder. Vincent then proceeds to accidentally drop his eyebrow which causes the police to track him because Vincent is not supposed to be there only Jerome is allowed to be there. Things get complicated when his brother is the detective in charge of this case. However, the police eventually finds the real murderer and Vincent gets to go swimming with his brother again and proceeds to save him from drowning again. While that is happening he also meets this girl called Irene that he really likes but she believes in the genetic perfectness stuff. However, she has genetic problems too. In the end they both learn to accept their shortcomings and get together and Vincent goes to space. Vincent also causes Irene to change her view about genetics being everything. When Vincent goes to space, Jerome cooks himself in a furnace because he has finished his goal of helping Vincent reach his dream while making Jerome a successful person.

This movie discusses the topic of nature versus nurture. People who are genetically perfect have the advantage because of their nature but people who are not have to work hard to succeed. However, the main character is genetically imperfect but very motivated to succeed

Some people believe what your are born is more important that the environment you grew up is or more important than what you do. Some people believe the opposite. If what you are born with is more important, there would be even less equal opportunity in society. If nature is more important and genetic manipulation is getting better, this might lessen the gap between rich and poor because everyone can be born perfect with genetic manipulation.

I think both are important but nurture is more important for society. People need to feel that everyone has the same opportunities but things depend on their attitude and what they do. People need to feel like they are in control if not, society will break down. People who are less smart might just give up. However, nurture is very important to one's success. For example, if one is a lot smarter than normal people, they have a very high change of succeeding. Another example is, if one is born very healthy, they will not need to spend money on healthcare. I think to succeed you need to be born lucky. If one is born lucky, they will have a very high chance of succeeding. If one is not born lucky, they have a very low chance of succeeding.