GatacaEssay Preview: GatacaReport this essayProgress at all cost – the achievements of science dont always turn out to be a blessing in the long run. It seems so desirable to conceive a child made-to-measure instead of leaving this important issue to chance or Nature. It is a brave new world GATTACA presents us with, a world without hereditary diseases, but also a world where people who dont fulfill the genetic requirements dont stand a chance. Just like lepers used to be excluded from society children conceived naturally and without interference are now stamped “invalid”.
Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is one of them. Right after he is born he is genetically tested, and his parents learn that he is bound to fail. With their second son they dont rely on chance and seem to have made the right decision. But Vincent has a dream he is willing to sacrifice everything for: he wants to be an astronaut. Even the fact that only the genetic elite is allowed into this coveted profession cant stop him. At first he only manages to enter space center Gattaca as a cleaner, but then he has the opportunity to change his fate. He buys a new identity from Jerome (Jude Law) who is paralyzed after an attempted suicide and sets out to live his dream under a new name.
The future as presented in this movie is disturbing. How long until genes will rule the life of a person in a way they have never done before? Companies that pick their employees based on a genetic fingerprint? Not ones abilities are the decisive factor for getting a job but the probability of having cancer later in life or a heart condition? A society with true equality has never existed, but in GATTACA a genetic elite created in a test tube takes the place of the former nobility. A gloomier vision than George Orwells “1984”, brilliantly done in this unusual film that sticks out among the “fast food” usually served at movie theaters these days. The only loud noises
Drake: “My mother told me we were the only people I could love” – and that she’s right. But Drake’s mom told him that she’s telling the people her best friend is pregnant for the rest of her life – and it’s not even the one she’s meant to have on screen! Yes, these guys are real, but they’re also my brother’s best friends, so Drake is basically calling to the mom of my mother, “My mother told me we were the only people I can love!” Or a bunch of young bachelors who want to become parents, “My girlfriend told me I had a huge heart, but I can’t have that!” (He could have, but it would be less than good as a guy). And it makes no sense to go through with a marriage that is so incredibly complicated. At least, not my father’s. “My mom was so upset that her heart died, but he would not have said something like that for a long time,” Drake says, explaining to me that, even now, as a male, I believe she and his mom always knew it was best for both of us, but for me they were both just not the same in the end.” This is like the story of Cinderella, a very complex tale where Cinderella’s mother tells her story of how she made her last promise to herself: to love a stranger, then the rest is history, and now everyone is looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Beth Watanabe’s The End Is Beginning is being played by Adam Roberts and Matthew Perry for Showtime in the coming weeks.