Gattaca

1. What does the text say about journeys?

GENETICS: THE FINAL FRONTIER

(contains spoilers)

"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

It is the near future, and Vincent/Jerome Morrow has a problem. A genetic problem. He is an imperfect man in a perfect world.

Every day it seems as if people are discovering new uses for the human genetic code. Hardly a day passes when there isn't a researcher who claims to have found another miracle gene. One for obesity, for cancer, for asthma, for manic-depression, and so forth. Gene therapy is on the rise, already some people have been used for the first leading forms of treatments, using recombinant DNA, injected by genetically-altered viruses. There is even talk (and perhaps an attempt) to clone a human. Ever since the decryption of the human genetic code, a burst of new research in the field of genetics has occurred, and certainly, as our ability to manipulate our DNA increases, so too will the debate over designer babies escalate.

Vincent/Jerome Morrow lives in such a future. It is one where science, and not religion, has taken over society. He is one born of a new subclass, one determined not by race or colour or political standing or even economic position, but of genetics. It is a world where a new form of discrimination has arisen, called genoism, discrimination according to one's genetic purity. He is one known as an invalid, a person born by normal means, whose genes have not been altered -- contrary to the valids who are people whose genes have been altered to give them "the best of their parents". When he is born a reading is taken from his blood, and the probabilities of certain afflictions and genetic diseases are read off, one after another, to his dumbstruck parents. His probable life expectancy? A mere 33 years.

Soon after his parents get a child conceived of 'natural birth', one genetically altered to have the best characteristics of its parents, and none of the ancient predispositions towards genetic diseases. The younger brother soon exceeds his elder, physically. Young Vincent, who has myopia and a predisposition towards heart problems, cannot keep up with his designer baby brother, and this leads to intense sibling rivalry. The two brothers are distant, unaffectionate towards each other, challenging one another to games of 'chicken' - a contest to find out who can swim furthest without floundering. Usually his enhanced brother beats him, but one time it was different. Young invalid Vincent saves Anton from drowning, and this sets the stage for a future encounter. Swimming and water become well-used motifs in this excellent film.

But Vincent has a dream, a dream of space, yet this avenue of life is exclusively off-limits to invalids -- when he gets a job at the GATTACA space corporation, he becomes a janitor.

"No matter how much I trained or how

much I studied, the best test score in the

world wasn't gonna matter unless it had

the blood test to go with it. I made up my

mind to resort to more extreme

measures."

But Vincent is not content with such a life, lived in the shadow of the valids. He arranges a secret meeting with a doctor who specializes in identity change, to change him into a Valid. The man to provide the genetic material for Vincent is an extremely healthy person, with all the correct genes, and an IQ to match -- in other words: a perfect person -- except for the fact that he had an incident which left him disabled from the waist down. This man is Jerome Eugene Morrow (Interestingly enough, the word "Eugene" comes from the Greek word which means "well born". Eugenics, the science of improving the hereditary qualities of a race or breed, is the central theme of the film). Jerome Morrow was an athletic swimmer, yet despite his excellent genetics, he failed to win the Olympic gold medal.

He then was crippled by a car accident, and from then on, suffered from depression alleviated by heavy drinking. It is this habit which forces him to allow his identity to be used, so that he could pay for his alcoholism.

Together they form a form of symbiosis, Vincent (in lieu of Jerome) works at GATTACA in pursuit of his dream to travel to the stars, paying for Jerome's style of life. Jerome stays at home and provides the bodily fluids and other genetic material to keep up the guise, and they perform a daily act in fooling the numerous genetic checks in the world. However a murder occurs at the GATTACA center and Vincent accidentally leaves a bit of his own genetic material near the crime scene. This is jumped upon by the police, called "Hoovers" or "J. Edgars" (After J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, no doubt, yet also after the vacuum cleaner brand), as they comb the scene for clues, and they suspect that this Invalid (Vincent) was the killer. Their only hope: to evade the police until the space launch to Titan, one of Saturn's moons, which then Vincent will be safe, at least, until he returns from the long space voyage.

Yet it is not easy to run or hide from the eyes of the law of this pseudofascist world, especially when it is your own cells that betray you. For example, every time he works at his desk Vincent/Jerome must carefully vacuum the ergonomically designed workspace with a tiny vacuum cleaner, then sprinkle the place with Jerome Morrow's bodily samples such as hairs, skin flakes and nail pieces. In the regular substance tests he uses a special pouch filled with Jerome's valid urine, and has a special skin packet placed over his thumb filled with Jerome's valid blood for the DNA-reader at the entrance to the GATTACA center.

"Jerome, I had you sequenced. I read your profile. I'm sorry. It seems you're everything they say you are and more."

Irene

Things become more complicated when Jerome goes on a date with Irene, the beautiful GATTACA worker whose