Practice paragraph – Gattaca

“Describe at least one idea that changed your perspective in the film”  

“We are more than our genetics”

In the film ‘Gattaca’ by Andrew Niccol the idea that your genetics define what your life will hold is prominent and in this futuristic dystopia, genetic selection rules society to a point where you are more socially elite if you are a “valid”. Right from birth, your genetics are chosen and your identity is your genetic makeup, a sequence of letters that predict your life. Using this idea, Andrew Niccol creates a character that right from the time of conception,  is battling against his own genes to achieve his dreams for the future. The idea that we are nothing more than what our genetics tell us, is forced upon Vincent, who is an invalid and disadvantaged in the society run by eugenics. He has to hide behind Jerome, a genetically engineered humans DNA to achieve his dreams. Niccol uses symbolism in the form of a helix spiral staircase that is at the core of their modernist apartment to show how Vincent and Jerome’s lives are built around DNA but more notably, that we are more than our genes. 

he idea that we are more than our genetics is found nowhere more clearly than in the scene when Jerome climbs up the Helix staircase in order to maintain Vincent’s dream to get to Titan.

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