Ethical Issues In The Movie Gattaca

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The movie GATTACA focuses on human potential and how your genes determine it. Genetic engineering is a main topic in the movie, and viewed as something completely normal. The movie follows the main character, Vincent. As soon as you are born in the world of this movie, they are able to tell you the age and cause of your death. Vincent was to die in his 30’s because of a heart condition. Knowing this information, Vincent was seen as chronically ill. Vincent’s brother, Anton, was genetically engineered. His parents were able to eliminate the possibility of diseases, and create the perfect offspring that they would not have been able to the natural way. All of Vincent’s life he wanted to be an astronaut at GATTACA, but because of his genetic…show more content…
If you had a good genetic profile, you were categorized as a valid in the system. If you had a bad genetic profile, then you were categorized as an invalid. It is discriminating to believe that people who are born the natural way are seen as inferior because they are more susceptible to disease and cannot reach maximum potential. While, those that are genetically engineered have reached their potential and are elites because they have higher cognitive abilities. This created a new set of classes, which was not based on gender, race, or ethnicity. These classes were based on your genes, you were either genetically inferior or elite. If you were genetically inferior you would be stuck at the bottom with no way to work up, and you would be in the janitorial field. When Vincent applied for a job at GATTACA, he was immediately denied, but when he applied as Jerome, he did not even have to go through the interview process because his genes were perfect and that is all they needed to see. There were legislations to not genetically discriminate, but no one listened to them, the same way in today’s society the legislation about equal pay is also not
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