Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca (Columbia, 1997) is a science-fiction drama that presents a futuristic world wherein humans are genetically engineered so that their perfect genes will suit social developmental expectations. Persons who are traditionally conceived have genetic factors that are deemed flawed and “in-valid,” hence they are assigned to the lowest rungs of the social pyramid. One such in-valid is the character played by Ethan Hawke, who is determined to belong to an elite league of cosmonauts no matter what the cost. He buys and usurps the identity of the character of Jude Law to fulfill his dream. He matches his hairstyle, facial features, even height with those of the valid guy, who in turn supplies him with urine, blood, even heartbeat record just so their deal will be culminated.
Seeing the film has me mulling over the ill-effects technology can inflict toward the society at-large. In humans’ hard-core aspiration to create a utopian state, they actually aggravate division and marginalization because their faith rests alone on contemporary superstition: science. Obviously, destiny is what we make it and not what makes up our genetic pool, so the way human lives are being governed by scientific experiments in the film is deplorable. Thus, I admire how the characters fought for their place in the world even if it meant going against the society’s difficult grains.
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