The film Gattaca, by Andrew Niccol presents a story centered on the future prospects of genetic engineering and its controversial affects on human society. The film depicts a future, in which wealthy families can create perfected children, a factor that has divided Gattaca's society into different classes based on genetic traits. At first, everything is shown through a golden lit lens which provides the necessary imagery to depict a utopian society. However, as the viewer interprets the larger image, he or she concludes that Gattaca's cold and emotionless futuristic world is characterized by isolation. The film has avoided the typical Hollywood style sexuality and violence embedded in blockbuster films, obviously to expose a serious scientific issue that is currently unfolding before us in the "not so distant future". The theories presented by the field of sociology, specifically the functionalist and conflict theory, can be directly applied in explaining the society in which Gattaca is based upon. .
Gattaca, a space exploration company, would only allow the most genetically advanced members of the public to join its team of explorers and employees. Firstly, from a functionalist perspective, we could state that the biologically stratified society serves a distinct function: to elevate the genetically superior to the most demanding occupations of society, explicitly, as employees of Gattaca corporation.
Secondly, the conflict theory can also clarify the reasons behind the social rigidity expressed in the film. Through the conflict perspective, we could state that the society in the film is characterized by conflict between the upper and lower class. The upper class has the ability to access genetic alteration, which in turn allows for purification of the genotype and acceptance into the prime sectors of society. In contrast, the lower class is unable to provide for genetic modification and thus is excluded from prestigious segments of civilization.
They hope to identify the 30,000 genes in human DNA, determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues that may arise from the project. ... The movie Gattaca focused on people who part of the genetic elite. ...
