Blog 12: Gattaca response

The concept that human’s which would have been genetically engineered ending in the result of them being classified as the “Other” has been represented numerous times within our history. We can see evidence of this during Hitler’s rein of terror as he found Jewish people to different; this difference would make them into the “Other”. His belief was so strong he decided to exterminate all the Jewish men, women, and children. Another point in time could be when black slaves where taking and thought to be inferior by slave owners. White slave owners saw these black slaves as their own property and nothing more. To them the slaves had no rights and were not equal to them making these black slaves into the “Other”. During the times of exploration by Christopher Columbus and the Conquistadors, Indian’s that were native to the land were thought as savages and weren’t accepted as equal beings. With Christianity being such an important part of these explorer’s they felt the need to bestow their religion on this savage society to turn these “Others” into just another. Gattaca demonstrates a world based on perfection or at least trying to achieve perfection. The society was developed under a genetic principal. Those humans genetically born where presumed as perfect specimens whereas those born as how god intended where labeled as invalid. Similar to our history with slaves or Indians the views of the invalid humans were negative ones. As an invalid in Gattaca you were limited to what you could do within this society. Vincent the main role in the movie is labeled as invalid and is told all his life that because he is invalid he isn’t capable of as much. He could never believe this though he wanted more for himself and to him it just didn’t make any sense as to why people would stop him from progressing. He was the “Other” in this story the outcast the black sheep. Even though with the odds stacked against him by what people told him all his life he felt like it was wrong and inaccurate. Currently in our society we can see this still being depicted. Whether is it against someone’s sexual, preference, their race and ethnicity, and the level of education they posses. The end result is the role of the “Other” remains and will always remain society.