Gattaca is a science fiction film on genetic engineering that portrays the merits and demerits of genetics in a comprehensive manner. The movie evokes certain questions, such as whether the process of genetic engineering is socially right. With so many opinions on the matter, this field can be considered as a source of controversy. Nevertheless, there exist a number of specific occasions when it can be considered.
The 1997 film analyzes the future of the mentioned scientific sphere. Genetically inferior individuals are discriminated based on their genetic composition. Despite the movie focuses on a broad spectrum of sociological topics like ethics and discrimination based on genetics, it also offers a projection of technological advances in this field achievable in the future. Through a comprehensive comparison of the present technology and the science portrayed in the film, it is apparent that the advances depicted could become a reality.
The slow pace at which DNA is examined and time are taken to create a highly developed database for everyone’s DNA is the major setback for the planned progress. In the film, it is convincing that in the near future, science and technology at the back of genetic engineering shall be developed up to the level which makes the film a reality. This movie reflects what the future of genetic engineering will become and allows viewers to critique this progress based on its ramifications.
In the society depicted in Gattaca, it is apparent that genetic engineering has some advantages. The movie reveals that genetically engineered people are disposed to perform well in specific domains. In such a scenario, with the help of the discussed scientific field all diseases, defects, and illnesses can be eliminated. This process also mitigates rates of crime through deletion of genes responsible for aggression and other bad behavioral traits.
Genetic engineering is also believed to have certain disadvantages. In the analyzed film, Vincent was unacceptable because he was not a result of genetic engineering. His dream of going to space had never come true until he deceivingly posed suitable genetic profile to the whole society. In spite of his attempt to show people that he was capable of achieving his big dreams, they would not let him do that.
Vincent’s DNA sequence is all that mattered in the eyes of the Gattaca society. Genetic engineering locks out people with disabilities notwithstanding that such people have unique talents and great capabilities that can be of help to other people. Excluding the unusual, the different, the feeble, and the misfits would make everyone equal in a society, thus eradicating individualism and crazy multiplicity. This would translate into a life full of fun for everyone.
Genetic engineering tends to make people grow and comprehend things through their own wrong deeds and struggles. The community of Gattaca believes that genetic engineering would make many people abandon their own lives to the dominion of possibility, instead of taking the responsibility of molding their destinies.
With cons overshadowing the pros of genetic engineering, the process should not be used to eliminate human shortcomings. The limits to be set on the process should cover only the defects, which threaten life and health. Concisely, human beings lack the capacity to fix all the flaws present in the society. In addition, the movie has biblical connotations that question human efforts to change what God has created. However, such doctrines are a source of impediments to the genetic engineers to continue their goals of human perfection.