Gattaca Opening Scenes

‘Gattaca’ is a 1999 futuristic thriller directed by New Zealander Andrew Niccol. In it, Andrew Niccol explores the themes of genetic modification and its possible future use in human engineering. The opening scenes are stylishly designed and subtly introduce the themes and main character of the film.

As mentioned, genetics plays a very large role in the film ‘Gattaca’ and is introduced in several ways in the opening scenes. The very first images the viewer sees after starting the film is a quote juxtaposed onto a black background, followed by another quote. These two quotes, one a biblical reference and the other from William Gaylin, provide contrasting views on tampering with nature and immediately provide the reader with an insight into the film. Immediately after this we are shown extreme close-ups of body parts such as hairs, dead skin and nail clippings falling, although we do not realize what they are immediately. This also gives the impressions that body parts are going to play a large part in ‘Gattaca’. During the opening credits, in all the names the letters A, C, T, and G are highlighted. The relevance of this is that these four letters make up all the possible DNA combinations.

Another recurring theme throughout the film is that of Vincent’s personal struggle against his genetic “fate” as a de-gene-erate.

The main character of Vincent is introduced slowly in ‘Gattaca’. Viewers are initially shown a shot of Vincent, crouched in an incinerator, religiously scrubbing his skin, cleaning himself of any loose body particles. This is not normal behaviour, obviously, and we immediately know something is up. When we next see him, he is preparing for work. This involves attaching small satchels of blood inside fake finger pads to his fingers, and several vials of urine packs to his inside thigh. Viewers are given the impression that he is