Friday, February 15, 2008

GATTACA and Vas

The flatland society in Vas is very similar to that in the 1997 film, GATTACA. In the film, designer babies are the norm, and Vincent, the last remaining naturally born child, sees himself at a disadvantage. He has no chance at his dream career or love. A new form of discrimination has arisen: genetic discrimination. The people are very similar, all beautiful, intelligent and healthy.

Genetic engineering has obviously not taken over as much in Square’s world as it has in Vincent’s , but it is still a part of his life. Square speaks of designer children as not out of the ordinary, though perhaps not something he wants for his own family. However, he and Circle had no problem aborting their imperfect fetus, something that is ethically questionable in our society and in the flatland that Mother grew up in.

Mother would never morally agree with the genetic engineering that goes on just before her death. She constantly reminisces about life when she was younger and how much better and simpler is was. I believe the society of Mother’s youth is very similar to our contemporary society which makes me wonder what life will be like when we’re 70 plus. Will the designer children of GATTACA be soon to come?

3 comments:

Kyle Caffey said...

It is scary to imagine the possibility of such control among humans. It is almost like playing the role of God. And knowing the tendencies of human action, this level of control would surely be exploited.
It doesn't seem like our society is far from these possibilities.

Ian B said...

Whe I read the book, I see it as being set in our present. Birth control is hardly taboo anymore, but in the Mother's time it was not the norm. This seems very similar to the dynamic that we have today. If you think about it, our modern day ideal is very similar in alot of ways to the upper classes of Gattaca.

Mike said...

I just saw this at Blockbuster the other day. I thought about renting because it seemed like a good tie in to the class, but I ended up getting Harold & Kumar instead.