GATTACA [1997]

I'VE GOT YOU... UNDER MY SKIN


1997, USA
Andrew Niccol
8 // 10



Is genetic segregation worse than what we have already? Would genetically perfect Ethan Hawke still have wonky teeth? Do electric cars of the future have to be so noisy? There's only one way to find out!

In today's episode of Films That Everybody (Except Me) Has Known For Yonks I give you Gattaca. I've had a copy of this film (first VHS, and then on a DVD) for more than ten years and yet, only watched it recently. But hey, within a month I watched it twice, so at least I'm compensating for the delay! Here's what I think.

Let's try to imagine a future, in which everything about us and our lives is being predetermined even before our conception. A world, where money can buy you a child as close to perfection as it makes no difference. What happens then? Well, Gattaca is neither first nor only sci-fi work to try to answer that question. And the answer is bleak. It is more than likely, that commercially available genetic tampering would result in a new social system, in which genetic superiority will determine pretty much everything. Education, work, people we live in contact with, the whole social status will depend on how well our features were selected for us in accordance with the capacity of our parents' wallets. In Gattaca it leads to a new form of discrimination, where a bunch of unlucky genes will successfully stop you from getting a better job and denote you to living in the slums. Discriminating is illegal, but come on, we all know how these king of restrictions work. So imagine, you're up against a system that is so large, so prevalent, there is no way of cheating it unless you're committed to break the law and, pretty much, sacrifice your life as you now it. And all that, because nothing's left to the chance any more and the pure, cold calculation (of your illness, early death, ailings and conditions probability) is all that matters in the eyes of the system, but also in the eyes of the society en masse. Now, that's a chilling vision.

Until you try to imagine a world, in which the financial status of your parents decides on the type of education you're going to receive in your life. And I'm not saying, that money buys better. I mean a world, where pay-for, exclusive schools are only CONSIDERED to be better, even if they're not. But they still open the doors for you to a better jobs and higher tiers of the social structure. Imagine a world, in which your medical records and health checks are held against you when used by insurance companies, who will happily dig into your family's health record history of heart problems, cancer cases or mental conditions, so that they can justify higher premiums. Or, likewise, banks running health checks to determine whether you're fit enough to get a mortgage. Now, that's pretty fucking scary, if you ask me. Because that's just as much of a social discrimination as genoism in Gattaca is. And because, of course, this is no fiction. This is the very world we live in. 

So go and watch it. And think of it as of a film, that tries to warn us about future, that we've already allowed to happen long time ago.