The Future of Genetics: G A T T A C A
Written and Directed by Andrew Niccol
Starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law
Character Information:
Ethan Hawke plays Vincent Anton Freeman, Jude Law plays Jerome Eugene Morrow, Uma Thurman plays Irene Cassini
There are two classes in GATTACA:
• Valids are those who were genetically engineered prior to conception.
• In-Valids are those who were conceived naturally and left their fate up to chance.
1. Where is “Jerome” aka Vincent scheduled to go?
2. How long is Vincent supposed to live? What did they predict would be the probable cause of his death?
3. Vincent always had a dream to go into
.
4. Why was Vincent the first-born not named after his father Antonio, but the second son, Anton?
5. What was Vincent’s first job at Gattaca?
6. What does the turnstile do to the people entering Gattaca?
7. What physical changes did Vincent make to “become” Jerome? Give at least 4.
8. List at least three ways that Vincent tricked the people at Gattaca into believing that he was Jerome.
9. How did Jerome become crippled?
10. What was found that led investigators to suspect Vincent of the murder?
11. How did they test the workers at Gattaca for a match of what was found at the crime scene? How did
Vincent get past this test?
12. How does the staircase in the apartment relate to this movie?
13. Who is the younger detective?
14. At the end, what happens to …
Vincent
Jerome:
15. Who is the new second class? What is this called?
16. What is a borrowed ladder? Why do you think is it called that way?
What are Your Thoughts???
The purpose of this assignment is to connect the content of the movie to vocabulary, key concepts, and/or
examples presented in class. This writing assignment will be assessed on a four point scale using the
Pennsylvania Writing Assessment Domain Scoring Guide. Each of the following five areas: focus, content,
organization, style, and conventions.
Pick from one of the following prompts to write a one page reaction paper (3-5 paragraphs). This
assignment is due:
1. In the future, as portrayed in the movie, babies are tested at birth to determine their probability of
developing certain diseases and their approximate life span (or expiration date). If this technology was
available at your birth, would you want to know the results? How would your life be different than it is
today? Think about dating, having children, employment, pre-diagnosis of disease, and date of death. Pick
one viewpoint (for testing or against testing) and discuss three points defending your viewpoint.
2. When Vincent was a young child, even though he was not sick, the insurance company refused to cover him
(pay for his medical expenses). Since his DNA indicated that he had a higher probability of developing
certain diseases (example Heart Disease), the insurance company considered Vincent as a risk for their
investment. Do you support the insurance company’s decision? Take the role of Vincent’s parent and
respond to this action OR take the role of the insurance company and defend their decision.
3. In the movie, the “natural” method to have children involved parents combining their sperm and eggs in a
laboratory and then selecting the embryos which had desired traits in their DNA. Parents are virtually
“designing” their own babies. What traits do you think should be “off limits”? What should parents not be
allowed to choose or tamper with? Pick one side of the argument (for or against “laboratory baby
designing”) and defend your position by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the practice
of designing babies in the lab.
4. In GATTACA, Vincent was a victim of “genoism”. Genoism is discrimination based upon one’s DNA
sequence. Vincent was destined to a low paid job (cleaning man) and he had no possibility of traveling to
outer space regardless of his “efforts” or “hard work”. However, as Jerome, he was given a great job based
only on his urine test. Is it fair to discriminate based upon DNA? Take the role of Vincent OR Jerome
(the real guy in the wheelchair) and discuss genoism and how it affects one’s life in the future.
Quotes from the movie and Fun Facts
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“The new underclass is no longer determined by social class or the color of our skin. We now have discrimination down to
a science.”
“The best test score in the world wouldn’t matter unless he had the blood test to go along with it.”
“There's no gene for fate.”
Anton Freeman: “Vincent! How are you doing this Vincent? How have you done any of this? We have to go back.”
Vincent: “You wanna know how I did it? This is how I did it Anton. I never saved anything for the swim back.”
While it has been identified that "GATTACA" uses the 4 DNA nucleotide abbreviations of G, A, T, C, more specifically,
when identifying genetic markers, the tests measure "short tandem repeats" at specific DNA marker locations. These are
known as "GATA or CA" repeats - hence GATTACA.
Jude Law's character asks to be called by his middle name, Eugene. "Eugene" comes from the Greek for "well born," which
he is. "Eugenics" (the science of improving the hereditary qualities of a race or breed) is the central theme of the film.
When GATTACA was first released, as part of a marketing campaign they advertised for people to call up and have their
children genetically engineered. The GATTACA ad featured a baby crawling towards the camera with the words "Children
made to order." Underneath, there was a checklist of possible traits which you could choose to "engineer your offspring,"
including physical characteristics such as eye color, weight, and stature, as well as personality traits such as intellect,
athletic ability, aggressive tendencies, addictive susceptibility, and musical ability. "Unfortunately," the ad declared, "there
is no gene for the human spirit." Thousands of people called, wanting to have their offspring genetically engineered.