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Gattaca

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File:Gataca Movie Poster.jpg
Movie Poster for Gattaca

Gattaca is a 1997 science fiction drama film by director/screenwriter Andrew Niccol, starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law.

The film presents a dystopic vision of a future driven by liberal eugenics where genetic engineering and in vitro fertilization has allowed engineering of children at birth, including gender, intelligence, life expectancy, hair color, height, and the elimination of most genetic diseases. People who are conceived by "traditional" sexual reproduction ("faith love") form a poor underclass with inferior genes, collectively known as "in-valids", who are delegated to the lower ends of the social ladder.

The movie draws on concerns over technological developments which facilitate in vitro fertilization, genetic engineering and diagnosis of genetic disorders, and the possible consequences of such technology upon society.

Plot

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Set in a world where genetic engineering of humans is common and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class, Vincent (Hawke) was conceived without the aid of this technology. Suffering from the nearly-eradicated physical dysfunctions of nearsightedness and a congenital heart defect, as well as being given a life expectancy of 30 years, Vincent faces extreme discrimination and prejudice. The only way he can achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut is to impersonate someone else. He assumes the identity of paraplegic swimming star Jerome Eugene Morrow (Law) and, using DNA and tissue samples provided by Jerome, gains admittance to Gattaca, the space flight agency of the day. The plan works perfectly until an agency director is murdered and evidence of Vincent's own DNA is found at the crime scene in the form of an eyelash. Vincent must evade ever-increasing security as his mission launch date approaches and he pursues a relationship with his co-worker Irene Cassini (Thurman).

The story is centred around the irony of the "perfect" Jerome failing to realise the potential of his perfect genes and the "imperfect" Vincent transcending his. A milder version of the disorder which afflicts Vincent prevents Irene from taking part in space flight. This dichotomy shows how the eugenics policy in Gattaca and the world it is set in adversely impacts the humanity of both Vincent and Jerome, as well as the "in-valid" and "valid" humans they represent.

The film's themes include personal identity, courage, hope, the burden of perfection, faith, sibling rivalry, fate, genetic predetermination, and whether humanity and the human spirit can be defined or limited by our DNA.

Criticism

The film Gattaca's retro-futurist depiction of genetic discrimination is now widely cited by bioconservatives as one of the convincing proofs that liberal eugenics is a dangerous idea. However, bioethicist James Hughes argues that 1) astronaut-training programs are entirely justified in attempting to screen out people with heart problems for safety reasons; 2) people are already discriminated against by insurance companies on the basis of their propensities to disease despite the fact that genetic enhancement is not yet available; and 3) rather than banning genetic testing or genetic enhancement, society should ensure the privacy of genetic information, and strictly control when genetic information can be used to make decisions in education and employment.

Trivia

  • The name of the film is derived from GATTACA, an arbitrary DNA base pair sequence of adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine. The recent publication of the human genome sequence reveals that GATTACA, along with most other short base-pair sequences, occurs commonly throughout the human genome.
  • Throughout the opening title sequence, the letters A, T, C, and G are displayed in an alternate typeface.
  • To create an eerie atmosphere of ubiquitous physical perfection, the director cast fashion models as extras.
  • The spiral stairway in Jerome's house is reminiscent of the helical structure of DNA, but has not the correct helical chirality (DNA is right-handed, the staircase is left-handed).
  • The musical score of the movie was composed by Michael Nyman, known for his work on The Piano.
  • The music playing in the background when Vincent blows cigar smoke into a wine glass to suggest the clouds of Titan is "Nuages" (French for "Clouds") by Django Reinhardt.
  • Vincent's brother Anton may be perceived as his antagonist (Antagonist).
  • "Eugene" means "well born" in Greek, and is similar to "eugenics".
  • Jerome's first name sounds similar to genome.
  • In a few scenes large gyroscope-like machines can be seen, with people inside. These are known as Aerotrims and were sometimes used for astronaut training, but more commonly for cardiovascular exercise in gyms throught the 80s.
  • The character Irene Cassini is named for Giovanni Domenico Cassini, a 17th century astronomer who discovered the largest gap in Saturn's main rings: the Cassini Division. He also discovered its moons, Dione, Iapetus, Rhea, and Tethys. Cassini-Huygens is a space mission intended to study Saturn and its moons, launched in 1997. The space mission in Gattaca is destined for Saturn's moon Titan.
  • Gattaca is partially filmed in Marin County at the Marin County Civic Center (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), which is called "Gattaca Aerospace Corporation" in the movie. Much of the interior of Gattaca, however, is filmed in Hollywood, except for scenes near escalators.
  • The exterior of Vincent and Jerome's apartment was filmed at the CLA (Classrooms, Laboratories, and Administration) Building of Cal Poly Pomona.
  • Agents of the FBI are called "Hoovers" in reference to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and the Hoover Company — creators of vacuum cleaners, which are shown gathering DNA evidence.
  • American author Gore Vidal is cast as Director Josef, whose first given name is Eugene.
  • The public announcement system of Gattaca is spoken in Esperanto, a constructed international language.
  • The piece played by the six-fingered pianist is based on Impromptu in G Flat Major, Op. 90, No. 3 by Franz Schubert. For the performance in the film, the piece was embellished with additional notes and harmonies so that it "can only be played with twelve [fingers]," as Irene explains.
  • The film's working title was "The Eighth Day", a reference to the Biblical creation story, which states that the earth was created in six days and on the seventh day, God rested. The original title implies the tampering of man with what God has already made, and "The Eighth Day" is still the name of the center in the movie where the children are engineered, as noted on the DVD deleted scenes.
  • The story shares parallels with Robert A. Heinlein's 1942 novel Beyond This Horizon. In that story, as in Gattaca, doctors would design each child by selecting the best of the parents' genes; and just as in Gattaca, the use of genes not found in either parent was forbidden. As in Gattaca, people without engineered genomes were looked down upon. Another similarity between Gattaca and Heinlein's writing is that the protagonists in both Gattaca and Heinlein's story Starman Jones memorize a book on astrogation and falsify their identities in order to gain employment.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Gattaca.
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