Given the glaringly obvious social and ethical implications of these practices, the whole of Gattaca is one long point about the dangers of turning artificial tampering with the human being into a regular thing (although bear in mind that Gattaca was made at a time before selfies or Gangnam style were invented). But no more of the movie’s details are necessary, because right from the beginning Gattaca makes it most poignant point in the easiest of ways: Through an extremely clever use of language.
Gattaca takes words that we use on an every-day basis and simply alters the emphasis to draw attention to certain aspects of its theme. The best example is the pair of words used to describe the two classes: Valid and Invalid. Rather than the pronunciation of ‘invalid’ being the one that we would usually use, the word is broken up into two suddenly (and creepily) obvious parts – ‘in’, and ‘valid’, as in literally, in-valid. Not valid.
This word emphasizing device is also used when Vincent describes himself as a “degenerate”; the word as we generally use it refers to someone who is debauched or corrupt in some way. In Gattaca, however, the emphasis is placed on the four letters in the centre of the word, instead making the pronunciation de-gene-erate.
In both cases, the changes in pronunciation reinforce the idea that someone could be ‘less than what a human being is expected to be,’ and the most disturbing thing is how subtle the changes are; immediately it feels as though the ideas that underpin Gattaca have been there all along – it has just taken some time before their real meaning can be properly understood. There are actual horror movies that don’t achieve this sort of chill.
This idea – about how perhaps those words were meant to have a different meaning all along – leads straight on to the next reason for which Gattaca is an especially valuable transhumanist movie, which is that some of the reproductive technologies we see in the movie have actually now become a fully functioning reality.
The genetic screening of foetuses for genetic abnormality isn’t yet done as a matter of course; it is generally only used in situations where there is already known to be a high risk. But the technology is here, and the list of what can be screened for is growing all the time. The term ‘eugenics’ is usually only associated with ghastly events such as the holocaust (it is no accident that Gattaca’s brief shots of the faith-birth population, held behind wired fences, strongly resemble images from concentration camps), and on that basis it is perfectly reasonable for anyone and everyone working in the genetic industry to deny that what they are doing is anything like those practices – which a lot of them do, ferociously.
But at the end of the day (permission to shoot me, by the way, if ever I use that phrase again), eugenics has a very simple meaning: The ‘eu’ means good, and the ‘genics’ refers to beginnings – or births. A “good birth” – this is what is aimed for in Gattaca, and this is what is aimed for in modern day real life.
Of course, making sure that an embryo develops without cystic fibrosis is completely different to the mass intentional eradication of millions of grown humans, but the list of what can be looked for in a developing human is steadily growing….eye colour, hair colour, height, sex. How long before it become more acceptable to choose these things and the human population starts to resemble one continuous episode of Next Top Model is anyone’s guess. It is one of the most common fears of the anti-H+ movement that the achievement of transhumanist genetic goals will result in a genetic underclass, and Gattaca handles the vision of what that might look like perfectly.
But Gattaca also has one last statement to make, which is different to the rest of its warnings and messages. This is a comment on the extent to which genetics really are the final destiny of a human being. Vincent was calculated to live little more than 30.2 years, something that he has surpassed through nothing other than sheer will and determination to achieve his dream of going into space.
This little message is often missed among the more obvious horror of what it would be like to live in a giant version of Barbie and Ken’s Funhouse, but ultimately it is Gattaca’s main point: however ‘utopic’ or ‘dystopic’ the future of humanity might become, if we can retain just a fraction of the human characteristics that cannot be screened in or out – such as courage and dedication – all of us will still be in with a pretty good chance.
