Themes and Discussion
Themes in Gattaca
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Genetic Engineering and the moral and ethical
issues surrounding it.
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Human Frailty vs. Inhuman Perfection
Oppression and Discrimination
Science vs. Religion (or “Ethics”)
Most of these themes are inter-related
Names in Gattaca
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Jerome = Genome (Genetic material)
Morrow = i.e. as in tommorrow (of the future)
“Eugene” = comes from Greek, which means “well born”
Eugenics – Science of improving the hereditary qualities
of a race or breed.
Gattaca = GTCA, symbols for four main chemicals in
DNA.
“Hoovers” or “J. Edgars” = vacuum cleaning brand and
also J. Edgar Hoover, director of FBI.
Irene Cassini – the Cassini division is the largest gap in
Saturn’s rings
Oppression
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“As night-fall does not come at once,
neither does oppression… It is in such
twilight that we all must be aware of
change in the air – however slight – lest
we become victims of the darkness.”
- Justice William O. Douglas
Discrimination and Oppression
Gattaca is set in a future where science,
and not religion, has taken over society.
 A new form of discrimination has arisen,
called GENOISM, discrimination according
to one’s genetic purity.
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Write down three examples of how people are
discriminated by their genes in GATTACA.
Discrimination and Oppression
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Examples of discrimination:
Labels – “Invalid” – in today’s world this
means useless.
 Use of illegal genetic testing in job interviews.
 “God-child” and “Faith birth”
 Other examples?
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What examples of discrimination and
oppression are there in the world?
World Examples of Oppression
Nazi Fascism
 Untouchables caste of India
 ??
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Discrimination against India's
lowest Hindu castes is
technically illegal. But try
telling that to the 160 million
Untouchables, who face
violent reprisals if they forget
their place.
The sins of Girdharilal Maurya are many, his attackers
insisted. He has bad karma. Why else would he, like his
ancestors, be born an Untouchable, if not to pay for his
past lives? Look, he is a leatherworker, and Hindu law says
that working with animal skins makes him unclean,
someone to avoid and revile. And his unseemly prosperity
is a sin. Who does this Untouchable think he is, buying a
small plot of land outside the village? Then he dared speak
up, to the police and other authorities, demanding to use
the new village well. He got what Untouchables deserve.
One night, while Maurya was away in a nearby city, eight
men from the higher Rajput caste came to his farm. They
broke his fences, stole his tractor, beat his wife and
daughter, and burned down his house. The message was
clear: Stay at the bottom where you belong.
To be born a Hindu in India is to enter the caste system,
one of the world's longest surviving forms of social
stratification. Embedded in Indian culture for the past 1,500
years, the caste system follows a basic precept: All men are
created unequal. The ranks in Hindu society come from a
legend in which the main groupings, or varnas, emerge
from a primordial being. From the mouth come the
Brahmans—the priests and teachers. From the arms come
the Kshatriyas—the rulers and soldiers. From the thighs
come the Vaisyas—merchants and traders. From the feet
come the Sudras—laborers. Each varna in turn contains
hundreds of hereditary castes and subcastes with their own
pecking orders.
By Tom O'Neill
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0306/feature1/
The World of Gattaca is Dystopic
How is the world of Gattaca Dystopic?
 It could be a utopian world: most people
are engineered to be born with little or no
disabilities.
 But it is a dystopia. It is a perfect world,
but only perfect for those who are
genetically gifted.
 Lack of individuality.
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Gattaca is Dystopic and
Oppressive
Numerous identity checks.
 Police and detectives all uniformed in grey
trenchcoats and bring up memories of
dark secret police organisations (e.g. SS
in the Nazi regime)
 Buildings are large, bare and artificial and
huge compared to individual.
 Surfaces of the world are polished clean
and shiny, and almost sterile.
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Gattaca is Dystopic and
Oppressive
It is a picture of a world ruled by science.
 Tiny individual vs. monster engine of
society.
 Nearly everyone is accepting and passive
of their place in society (best example?).
 It is a world where an oppressive system
has been created, not by intention, but by
the simple choices of individuals and their
applications of scientific discovery.
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Visual metaphors which show
Oppression
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Motifs (repeated symbols) of glass and water
illustrate the invisible walls Vincent is rebelling
against.
Where do we see glass and water in the film?
The swimming scenes and Anton as a symbol of
the society who rejects Vincent.
Bars are a metaphor for the visible barriers (find
three examples in the film)
Human Frailty vs. Inhuman
Perfection
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Who is the best example of human frailty in
Gattaca? How is it shown?
Who is the best example of inhuman perfection?
How is it shown?
How is the way this theme is shown ironic?
Vincent spends his life trying to hide his frailty.
Eugene ends his life as a result of not being able
to cope with his imperfection.
•What is the
symbolism of the
ladder?
•“Borrowed ladder”
•DNA Double Helix
•Social status