A Dystopian life in a Utopian world
I like to think about the world. Especially about human behaviors and societies. How we can or cannot live with each other. The factors that influences who we will become. How science would change our lives. How the world will look like. And honestly, I am not very optimistic. A couple of weeks ago I watched Gattaca, a very thought-provoking science-fiction movie. The film placed in a not too distant future and paints a rather scary picture about how the future could be. A life in an almost perfect dystopian world; at least the way how I see it.
In the last century, technology was advanced rapidly. This has had certainly positive and negative effects on our lives and in our societies. We, humans want to "catch up" with that evolution as well. We want to be better in everything. We want to be taller, smarter, quicker than others. We always want more. It's a constant competition. Take a look at the sport world, for example. How the numbers in the world records had been changed. The desire to be the best pushing sportsmen to their limits. Or just look into our everyday lives. Since our childhood our parents and other people teach us how to think, how we should look, how to be more successful, more efficient. And we learn that - or at least we try - because we want to have a better life. But the constant force to be better than others is changing you.
To reach our goals we do things we shouldn't. Step through our fellow humans, restrain our feelings, lies! That's how Gattaca starts. With a lie, an identification scam. We don't know who this man is or why he's doing what he does, but we know, it is wrong. Lies never work out in a long term. Lies have consequences. Is it necessary sometimes? Maybe we think it is, if our life depends on it?! In the beginning of the movie the main character, Jerome starts his regular day. Having a shower meanwhile getting rid off of all his body hair, cleaning himself to perfection. Then he's putting on a fake fingertip skin, attaching a urine bag to his thigh. We know already he's hiding something, he's obviously a person who can't be himself. And we know right away, this is something he does every day. Soon we find out why. He lives is constant fear! Fear from others, who may discover who he really is, and stop him reaching out for his dream.
In a dystopian world fear and control is tightly connected. Individualism is something must be forgotten. Jerome arrives to his workplace, which looks like a very modern hospital or a research institute. Security is a major concern here. Everything is clean and looks perfect. Just like the humans working there. Men and women's dress alike and even their body language and expressions are the same. Perfection is the only acceptable option, we find out soon from a conversation. Everybody and everything is under perfect control. People are being tested, watched and reported constantly. Proof of identity is necessary to the extremes.
We have some very good example of this kind of world from our past. Just think about the Nazi Germany or the Communist systems followed later. Nazis believed they belonged to a chosen, Aryan race which - they think - was above all human race. If you were one of them, or obeyed them, they made you believe that you are somewhat superior, capable of everything. On the other hand, if you were different, less than the chosen race - like the Jews or Slavs - or you had another opinion, you were to be destroyed. Fear - based on lies - was controlling everything. Even if you were one of them and realized that, what was happening wasn't right, you had no choice. If you wanted to survive, you had to remain silent. We see this struggle in Jerome. Meanwhile he desperately tries to adopt to this perfect world, trying to belong, all he really wants is to leave everything behind, to escape. He believes there is another, different world, where he could be free. A Utopian place, where would be no discrimination, no hate, no fear. For him the Space represent that world. Which is very symbolic in my opinion. Going up to Space is like going up to Heaven, where - supposedly - everyone who enters the gate is accepted, everyone has a place, where happiness is granted. As Vincent questions it at the end of the movie, when he's about to go up. "Leaving or going home?" Space also symbolizes a higher ground, where people can look up on you. As we learn later on, Jerome was pushed down, people look down on him in his whole early life. You can't change your past, or where you come from, but you can definitely influence what will happen to you in the future with a strong will and determination. And Vincent has both. And he doesn't want to reconcile to his destiny. He's wants to be the living proof of the failure of genetic engineering.
Scientists and psychologists believe that, there is two major factors that influence who we are or who we will become. The genes and our surroundings. These two are tightly connected. Altering any of those can have serious consequences. That's why genetic engineering is a very dangerous territory.
In Gattaca the population consist of mostly genetically engineered humans. There is a scene in the beginning when the doctor - who's testing Jerome every day - has a comment about Jerome's "equipment". He says: "I don't know why my folks didn't order one like that for me?" However it sounds funny, the idea is rather scary. So is it possible in the near future, that our parents, our society or our governments decide what kind of children, human beings should born? Can we try to enhance or temper certain human qualities? Scientists, certain organizations and other people who has interest in it, see genetic research as a way to end the existence of preventable diseases; so they say humans can live longer and maybe one day become immortal. But do we really want that? Isn't that against nature? We have an amazing system already: our body and mind. It is tuned perfectly. And it works pretty well for thousands of years. It doesn't need to be altered. Nevertheless, some people have different ideas. In George J. Annas' essay The Man on the Moon, the writer mentions a scientist Joe Tsien, who used genetic engineering to create smarter mice. They had better memories and learned faster. Imagine, if they make it possible to apply that to human beings. Parents would like their kids to be smarter but how many could afford to pay for it? Obviously this kind of procedure would cost a lot of money. Some parents wouldn't do it, even if they had the money, but that would automatically lead to their child condemnation, being born with a lesser chance to fit.
We learn in the movie that, Jerome is not the person who we think he is. He took someone else's identity, he lives in another person's skin. His name is Vincent and he was conceived in a natural way. However for the society in the movie the natural way is actually the genetically engineered. As Vincent put it: "Some time ago people believed that, the child conceived in happiness has a better chance in life. 10 fingers, 10 toes, all that used to matter. But not now! 10 seconds after I was born, it's been said the time when I'll be dead." A computer analysis shows you at birth, whether you have a chance to belong to the "upper class" or not. They start to call your "Valid" or "Invalid". That segment of the movie is another scary reminder of Nazism. People became numbers and data. Jews had to wear a yellow star on their clothes so the others were able to see who they were. Later on they also got a number burned to their arms so they could easily count them in the concentration camps. But individualism was not allowed even outside of those walls. Solders had to wear uniforms as well, and greeting each other in a unified way to show where they belonged. Independent thought were not appreciated.
This subject is well displayed in Gattaca. From his early age, Vincent was seeing himself as others have been looking at him: a sick person. We learn that, he had a 99% chance of a heart failure by the time he turns 30. Do we want that? To grow up knowing when and how we will die. A constant fear in our parents' heart each time we fall or hurt ourselves. Not to be able to go to kinder garden or school, because we are considered a high risk for the insurance companies who wouldn't pay, if something happened with us. Vincent is a "damaged" person who's expiration date is already known. The closing school gate is very metaphoric for me. It's separating Vincent from the others, from having a chance for a better life. It's almost like dividing the human race in two. Vincent experienced discrimination from a very young age. As he mentions it in the movie: "We have discrimination not only by race, or color or religion any more. Now we have it down to the science!"
Now let's talk about the "Valid" people. Perfection is a tremendous burden as well, because there is no excuse to fail; as it gets mentioned in the film a couple of times. Look at Anton's struggle. He grew up being perfect, everything was easy for him, until the point when Vincent wins their swimming competition. Loosing is not what supposed to happen with Anton. He doesn't know how to deal with it and he gets confused by it. There is another part in the movie when he is shook to his core. Finding out his brother lives the life of a Valid person. How is that possible, he doesn't understand. The real Jerome is a good example as well. He was a guy who's supposed to be perfect physically and mentally. A 20-20 eye sight, a heart like a bull and a high IQ, someone who could live forever. Still he ends up in a wheelchair trying to kill himself, because he got the second place in a sport competition! Now he's just a human wreckage with no future. Doesn't sound too perfect, does it? Unfortunately, this happens too often in our every day life as well. There are a lot of expectations within families and in our societies. Let's say there is a child, who was born to a family where both parents are intellectuals and strong minded. He/she has to follow their path, there is no way he/she can even dream about a different kind of life.
Mostly what happens is that they obey. But unfortunately for those kids who cannot or do not want to live up to their parent's expectations, life can be hell. Therefore, kids can become depressed, or turn violent against people or themselves. Determination and desperation are two very strong feelings, what make us do things we never knew we were capable of.
Another characteristic of the movie that struck me was the lack of the emotions. Unhappiness is so obvious that you don't understand how these people can survive. They live in a world where life is planned, everything is in order, every minute is recorded and feelings have no place. You're almost questioning their humanness. Then Vincent meets Irene. They slowly but surely fall in love and that changes everything. It opens up their eyes, puts their whole existence in a different perspective.
I believe that where love exist, there is still hope for humans. Love has no genes, therefore it cannot be controlled.
We witness also an almost paternal love in the movie what the doctor feels for Vincent. He admits that he knew everything about Vincent from the beginning but he didn't give him up cause Vincent reminded him too much of his own son. Someone who supposed to belong to the Valid society but he didn't, because some error had occurred when he was born. Vincent almost cries when he realizes what the doctor did for him and it fills his heart with hope, happiness and warmth.
I think that was the director final message. He painted a very dark future for us but he wanted to show there is a way out of there. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. We just have to believe in ourselves. The moment when Vincent finally goes up to space suggests that everything is possible. When we really want something, the Universe is there for us, conspire to reach our destination. But that destination can not be Gattaca. It is not the place where you want to be. A world where human rights are being ignored. A place where people are products of genetic architectures. Where standards and numbers measure us. Where we can't have an individual personality. Where we have to live in fear. Do we understand that, if we're altering our brain or mind, our genetic information system will changes as well?! Thorough out the history we, humans were trying to change other nation's religion, politics or their way of living. We started wars to take someone else's land. We conquered countries and continents. "But now we have changed. We are simply trying to invade ourselves, in our own human body." as George J. Annais put it in his essay. There is a lot of sicknesses in the world but we have to find the reasons in our surroundings. We are slowly killing ourself by poisoning our nature and our own bodies with constant stress. We have to get closer to nature again. It's true, that organ transplantations makes it possible to live longer, but where will it stop? Are we gonna arrive in an age when our organs will be replaced with metal parts? Don't you think it's already happening? "We live in a World where it doesn't matter any more who you were but who you become" as Jerome says it in the movie. We can't accept a Gattacan society. We have to stop pushing ourselves or other people. We have to live in peace with each other and have to extend our responsibility for the entire planet. We should do everything in our power to preserve our dignity and other features, that makes us who we are: humans. As it written in the beginning of the movie: "Consider God's handiwork; who can straighten what He hath made crooked?" Ecclesiastes 7:13
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