Gattaca

“They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don’t say that anymore.” The sci-fi, thriller Gattaca was written and directed by Andrew Niccolin in 1997. The name, Gattaca, is composed of the letters used to label the nucleotide bases of DNA. Overall, the movie is about a genetically inferior man, or invalid, who buys the identity of a superior one, or valid, in order to pursue his life long dream of working at Gattaca and going into space. According to the movie, Gattaca, genetic engineering should not be used because it leads to sibling rivalry, the burden of perfection, and genetic determinism.

Gattaca argues that science should not be the way to reproduce in the future because it leads to sibling rivalry. First, signs of sibling rivalry occur when a family has two sons and only one of them is born through genetic engineering. “That's how my brother, Anton, came into the world - a son my father considered worthy of his name.” The father favors his genetically engineered son because he was given more advantages than the naturally born son. This makes the naturally born son hate his brother for receiving more love than him and being thought better of. The next example of sibling rivalry is seen when the two brothers challenge each other to a swimming race. The naturally born brother wins when his brother starts to drown. His father blames him and believes it was he who was drowning and that the genetically engineered brother almost died from having to save him. Neither of them argued what the father had said and once again