Gattaca
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Gattaca is a 1997 science fiction drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol, starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law.
The film presents a retro-futurist vision of a society driven by liberal eugenics. Children of the upper classes are genetically engineered in-vitro to be the optimal recombination of their parents' genetic material. A genetic registry database uses biometrics to instantly identify and classify those so created as "Valid": with attendant social privilege and qualification for professional employment; or "Invalid", conceived by "traditional" sexual reproduction ("faith birth"), susceptible to disease and relegated to menial jobs and the lower social classes, "de-gene-erates"
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 for society.
The movie also explores the theme of destiny, and the ways in which it can/does govern lives. Characters in Gattaca continually battle with both society and themselves as to where their place is in the world, determined by who they are destined to be, according to their genes.
Plot
In a fictional world where genetic engineering of humans is common and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class, Vincent (Hawke) is conceived and born 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 life-long dream of becoming an astronaut is to impersonate someone else.
He assumes the identity of paraplegic swimming star Jerome Eugene Morrow (Law) and, using "valid" DNA and tissue samples provided by Jerome, gains admittance to the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation, the most prestigious space-flight conglomerate of the day. The plan works perfectly until, a week before Vincent is scheduled to leave for Titan, the mission director is murdered and evidence of Vincent's own, "invalid" 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 centered around the irony of the "perfect" Jerome failing to succeed despite being given every advantage - a superior genome and (as implied) more money - while the "imperfect" Vincent transcends his deficiencies through force of will and spirit. Jerome won only a second place medal in a swimming competition and his paralysing "accident" was the result of a botched suicide attempt when he could not accept that failure in light of his supposed superiority. A milder version of the disorder which afflicts Vincent prevents Irene from taking part in space flight. This dichotomy shows how the eugenic policy in Gattaca and the world it is set in adversely affect 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, friendship, love, hope, the burden of perfection, sibling rivalry, fate, genetic determinism, and whether humanity and the human spirit can be defined or limited by our DNA.
Reactions
The film Gattaca's retro-futurist depiction of genetic discrimination has been cited by many bioconservative critics in support of their view that liberal eugenics should be suppressed. In his 2004 book Citizen Cyborg, bioethicist and democratic transhumanist philosopher James Hughes argues these points however:- Astronaut-training programs are entirely justified in attempting to screen out people with heart problems for safety reasons;
- In America, 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;
- 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.
Hughes counters that science fiction can pose interesting questions, but no film "demonstrates" or "proves" anything about the workability of policies. Ultimately, society needs genetic information privacy laws that allow justified forms of genetic testing and data aggregation, but forbid those that are judged to result in genetic discrimination. Citizens would then be able to make a complaint to the appropriate authority if they believe they have been discriminated against because of their genotype.
Trivia
- "Gattaca" is a word made from the abbreviations for the DNA base pair molecules Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine. The sequence GATTACA, along with many other short sequences of base pairs, occurs many times throughout the recently published human genome.
- If the title of this movie were to be translated into the genetic code, GATTACA would become GAT (aspartic acid), TAC (tyrosine), and "A" would remain a single base of adenine because codons are formed in groups of threes.
- The movie's tagline is "There is no gene for the human spirit."
- Throughout the opening title sequence and closing credits the letters A, T, C and G within words and names are displayed in an alternate typeface.
- To create an eerie atmosphere of ubiquitous physical perfection, director Andrew Niccol cast fashion models as extras.
- Although the spiral staircase in Jerome's house is reminiscent of the helical structure of DNA, it does not exhibit DNA's chirality (handedness). Whereas the staircase turns to the left, a furled DNA molecule turns to the right.
- The movie's score was composed by Michael Nyman, who also wrote the music for The Piano.
- In the film, people such as Vincent who fake a genetic make-up superior to their own are referred to as "borrowed ladders", a pun alluding both to social climbing and the ladder-like shape DNA exhibits when unfurled.
- When Vincent blows cigarette smoke into a wine glass to suggest the clouds of Titan, the background music is Nuages (French: Clouds), by Django Reinhardt.
- People held within large rotating gyroscope-like frameworks, known as Aerotrims, are glimpsed in some scenes. Although Aerotrims have been used for astronaut training, most were used for cardiovascular exercise in gyms during the 1980s.
- The character Irene Cassini is named for Giovanni Domenico Cassini, a seventeenth-century astronomer who discovered the Cassini Division, the largest gap in Saturn's main rings. Cassini also discovered four of Saturn's largest moons: Dione, Iapetus, Rhea and Tethys. In 1997, the satellite Cassini-Huygens was launched on a mission to study Saturn and its moons. Early in 2005, Huygens, the small probe part of the satellite, landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan. The space mission that Vincent joins in Gattaca is destined for Titan.
- The exterior shots of the Gattaca Aerospace building in the movie were of the Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Most of the interior shots were 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, designed by the architect Antoine Predock.
- In another dual pun, FBI agents are called "Hoovers" in the movie, referring both to former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and the vacuum cleaner company Hoover. The FBI agents use small hand-held vacuum cleaners to gather DNA evidence.
- The vacuum cleaner in Vincent and Jerome's apartment bears an insignia that says "Revelation."
- The irony that Jerome won second place in a swimming competition, which is where Vincent was relative to his brother in swimming (always coming in second) until Vincent gave it everything he had to finally best his brother.
- In the nightclub, Jerome complains that the red wine was not opened until his and Vincent's arrival and not given a chance to "breathe." This is incorrect. Simply opening a bottle of wine does not expose it to enough oxygen to make a difference. The wine needs to be fully decanted into another container (a pitcher, etc.) for it to oxidize enough to affect the taste.
- The reason given for genetic discrimination by companies was that a company would not invest time and money into a new hire if that person was likely to be sick or whatnot.
- Announcements within the Gattaca building are given in Esperanto, a constructed international language.
- The piece played by the six-fingered pianist is an embellishment of the Impromptu in G Flat Major, Op.90, No.3 by Franz Schubert. Notes were added to a recording of the piece so that it became, as Irene explains to Vincent, a piece that could "only be played with twelve [fingers]".
- Gattaca’s working title was The Eighth Day, invoking the Biblical creation story of Genesis in which God creates the world in six days before resting on the seventh day. As noted in the DVD deleted scenes, The Eighth Day is the name of the center in the movie where children are engineered. The name could not be used because a film of the same name (when translated) had been released during Gattaca’s lengthy production.
- Gattaca’s storyline shares parallels with Robert A. Heinlein's sci-fi stories. In Heinlein's 1942 novel Beyond This Horizon doctors would design children by selecting the best of the parents' genes and people without engineered genomes were considered inferior. Just as in Gattaca, they were forbidden to use any genes not already present in the parents. Furthermore, in Heinlein's 1953 story Starman Jones the protagonist falsifies his identity and memorizes a book on astrogation in order to gain acceptance and employment. Vincent studies relentlessly to attain significant knowledge in his desired field.
- Gattaca is also reminiscient of Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World which explores the development of genetic engineering and its role in the creation of a utopian society.
References
- Hughes, James (2004). [Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future]. Westview Press. ISBN 0813341981