blog 5: final draft

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. In life, we will experience criticism, because no two people are exactly alike. The film, Gattaca displays an overall dystopian society. As 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 is an inevitable occurrence that one will experience even in a utopian society. 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

2 Sujkovic

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

3 Sujkovic

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.