Gattaca Review and Discussion

By Yiler Huang

In the movie Gattaca, the main character Vincent lives in a futuristic world where genetic technologies are advanced enough to predict how a person's life would go. Vincent was born as an in-valid individual due to his disadvantages in his genes. On the other hand, Vincent's younger brother Anton was born genetically modified which gave him advantaged genes. In Vincent's early life, Anton was also better than him at most of the things. However, this did not diminish Vincent's passion for space exploration. One day, Vincent finally proved that he could surpass his potential by beating Anton in a swimming match. Vincent then left his family to pursue his dream of working in the Gattaca space exploration program. Due to his in-valid genes, he couldn't become an astronaut in Gattaca. He worked with a disabled man named Jerome who had the prestigious modified genes, and used Jerome's identity to get a job in Gattaca. In the end of the story, it was found that Vincent was a genetically in-valid individual. Yet, he was still allowed to go to space because the doctor who did the genetic test saw how Vincent overcame his fate and potential and became an astronaut.

The director of Gattaca used the story of Vincent to tell the audience that the future of a person could be changed if they try hard enough. We were constantly reminded that Vincent was disadvantaged in this world, but we were also shown how he was always able to overcome the difficulties he was in. The director also used the concept of genetics as a narrative of natures and nurtures of a person's life, and showed us people with a disadvantaged birth can still improve their lives by working harder.

In this movie, there is a debate that was constantly brought about: is nature or nurture more important to a person's life? In the movie, Vincent represented the argument that suggests nurture is more important, while Anton represented the argument that nature is more important. If Anton's argument is valid, it would mean that the condition a person was born in decides the fate of this person and what would happen to them. Everything is based on the nature of people and there is very little thing a person can do to change the situation they are in. I believe in a world like this, there will be a huge disconnect between those who are born advantaged and those who are not, because there those who are disadvantaged might not be satisfied with the condition they are in and start hating those who are luckier than them. From countries with high income inequalities such as China, India, South Africa etc., we can see that the people from the lower class tend to be less educated and sometimes could bring problems to the society such as protests, law disobedience, strikes etc. Therefore, it is not hard to imagine the trouble it would cause if people are divided by how good their genes are. If Vincent's argument is valid, it would mean that people's fates are not set and can be altered by taking actions. In my opinion, a world like this will be an ideal world to live in. This is because it would mean that everyone will have equal chances to get the life they desire if they work hard enough. The world could be a much better place in this kind of situation because everyone would be willing to work hard to improve the condition they are in, and society would progress a lot faster if everyone works hard.

Personally, I would hope the world is more like how Vincent thinks it is. This is because I often think it is unfair how some people can get more advantages from things such as the family they are born in, the place they are born in, the traits they inherit from their parents etc., and it feels really bad when you realize you will never be as successful as someone just because you are unlucky. However, we can see that the world is unfair in many of the situations. A lot of factors that can greatly affect someone's life in the modern society are still determined by luck. Even though I hope the world is how Vincent thinks it is, I would say that it is hard for society to make it fair for everyone because everyone is different in many ways.