Samira Sujkovic
ENGL-101-0768
Dr. Vasileiou
Essay 1
10/6/12
A Utopian Society is less than perfect
We all dream to live
in a Utopian society but is it really a perfect society after all? As perfect
as a utopian society looks, it shares similarities with a dystopian society as
well. I believe no society can be perfect; this is what makes us unique human beings.
When I watched the film Gattaca, I
came to realize that the director portrays a utopian society but adds
subliminal messages throughout the scenes of the film. What do these subliminal
messages symbolize throughout, the movie? Science isn’t always accurate, their
may occur a malfunction at any given time. In the society Gattaca, parents have the opportunity to genetically engineer a
child when given birth to. Every parent wants a healthy child, but knowing what
the life expectancy is can be heart breaking. Science is slowly taking away all
of our natural habits, without our realization. Overall, I believe the film Gattaca is a dystopian society. In
Gattaca, the director created a
society where mainly all of the human beings were genetically engineered with
perfect genes. When given birth, the doctor’s would inform the parents of the
child what the life expectancy was. If the child was genetically engineered
they would have been considered as valid and had the ability to do anything
they wanted in life. On the other hand, the non- genetically engineered
children, also known as the invalids had a hard time growing up. Illness has
been spread throughout Gattaca, to
valid and invalid human beings. An example, from the film showing a dystopian
society would be when Irene informed Vincent that she had a heart condition.
Irene was genetically engineered and grew to have a heart condition, and
Vincent who wasn’t genetically engineered also had a heart condition. Even
being genetically engineered to become a “perfect child”, led to an inevitable
illness that science couldn’t even prevent. As stated by Susan Schneider in her
article “The man on the moon”, she discussed the illness that the industrial
revolution brought us. The advancement in technology that science created, just
led to a decreasing population. When
I think of a Utopian society, I think of no crime or harm. Gattaca itself just describes a dystopian society. Committing a
crime is a motive that someone believes in; it is something that cannot be
genetically engineered to never occur. In the film Gattaca, a man was brutally murdered with a keyboard. The mission
director committed this crime; he was genetically engineered to not have a
violent bone in his body. As stated in the article “The man on the moon”,
Pizzaro a conquistador of Peru committed a crime of killing a man by the name
of Atahuallpa. He claimed it was for his god, but in reality it was for the
gold. Pizzaro had a motive and he did everything he could in achieving it. These
situation’s show that science cannot prevent such a crime from occurring, it is
just apart of a dystopian society. Throughout
Gattaca, it shows the hardships and
struggles one has to go through. Living in an dystopian society, nothing comes
easy. Eugene a valid person in this society had the perfect life, and health;
what led him to commit suicide? Eugene was a genetically engineered swimmer,
where he would continuously compete. At a swim meet one day, he won second
place but being genetically engineered he should have been coming in first. This
drove him off the edge, and he tried getting hit by a car, but instead he
became paralyzed in conclusion. Science
could only get you so far in life; it’s all about the effort you put in a goal
you wish to accomplish. Living in a Utopian society, is like living in a
fantasy world. Illness, stress, and crime are all inevitable situations that
cannot be prevented by science. All these situations create a dystopian
society, such as Gattaca. No matter
what world we live in we have to accept the circumstances in which we are
given.
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