Show How the Author of a Prescribed Text Uses Foreshadowing and Symbolism to Explore Ideas

“Show how the author of a prescribed text uses foreshadowing and symbolism to explore ideas”

Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol released in 1997 is a science-fiction film about a dystopian future where individuals are discriminated against based upon their genetics, due to the normality of parents picking and choosing what they want in their children’s DNA before they are even born. The plot focuses on the two main characters, Vincent Freeman and Jerome Eugene Morrow. Seconds after Vincent was born, he was already deemed genetically disabled and his parents were informed that he would only live until thirty years of age and suffer from a variety of illnesses and disease. The film tells the story of Vincent who goes undercover as his new found friend Eugene; all in aim to make his dreams of laughing into space come true. There is a variety of foreshadowing and symbolism throughout the movie, some parts more obvious than others.

It is in the very opening scene where we first get a clue of what may happen throughout the film. This is where we first see Vincent scrubbing off as much of his skin, hair, and nails as he possibly can in order to try and leave the least amount of traces of his real self throughout Gattaca as possible. It shows that after he finishes showering, the shower burns whatever was scrubbed off. This foreshadows that he is trying to act as someone he is not, and that he is aiming for nobody to find out by getting rid of as much of his own person DNA. This follows through as exactly what he is doing, as he is in fact using Jerome’s DNA instead of his own, and trying to get rid of the evidence so nobody finds out and he can continue to be treated as a ‘valid’ human being.

One of the least obvious symbols in the film is the word Gattaca itself. The title is based upon the beginning four letters of each of the four DNA nitrogenous bases (guanine, cytosine, thymine, and adenine). The letters G, C, T, and A are all highlighted in blue throughout the credits of the film. Once Vincent has officially started using Jerome’s identity, Jerome requests to be called by his middle name Eugene. In Greek, the name/word Eugene means ‘well-born’. The whole concept of the film is ‘Eugenics’, which is the study or belief in improving the quality of humans by discouraging the reproduction by people who carry genetic defects and/or undesirable inheritable traits. Vincent’s ‘valid’ brother is named Anton, which is an abbreviation of Anthony which means ‘praise-worthy’.

Another symbol is the stairs in Jerome’s apartment, which have a spiral form just like the double helix of DNA. In the scene where Jerome has to hoist himself up the staircase using his arms to prevent the secret of Vincent taking his identity unfolding, this is a symbol of Jerome now somewhat becoming Vincent as he has to fight to the top of the DNA strand. This is because until he had no leg, he was at the top of the genetic food chain, but he now had to overcome his physical limitations just as Vincent has to do daily.

Throughout the film water is a symbol of self-cleansing, which is shown multiple times when Vincent is in the shower scrubbing off as much of his ‘invalid’