Monday, November 12, 2007

Gattaca-Katrena Uelese

Gattaca Review

Gattaca displayed ideology throughout the film. The ideology of the workplace was that men were suited best to go to space. The men were dominant in the workplace and the women were viewed as the caretakers of the office. People assumed that everyone was ‘valid’ and that everyone went about their day in their small cubicles and stayed very conformed. It seemed there were unwritten rules about how to complete the day, stay silent, do your work, pass the identity test, etc. We definitely saw that power can change people. The director was murdered so someone else could take his place and run the project. We saw that genetics also gave people more power over others, for example, the main character obtains power from having such perfect genetics. The ideology of genetic superiority is that those who were pre-determined genetically are to be better than those who weren’t. It definitely can invade you life, for example, Anton’s life was changed when he found out his life span was to his 30’s and that his heart problem would prohibit him from ever going to space. The same disadvantage applies to the women character; she had a similar heart problem that left her unable to make it to space as well. It is life altering to control the genetics of your children before they are even born, then to have one child who is genetically perfect and one who is not.
We definitely saw two of the four frames from chapter seven displayed in the film. The first, gender differences at work, was very prevalent. The workplace was mainly men, while there were few women present. The main character that was in the film was not genetically perfect, nor did she have a chance at going into space. She was also the person in charge of getting records together during the investigation, while the men did the research and questioning, more hands on detective work. We also saw men doing physical strength exercises to prove their abilities, while the women character never participates. This works closely with the second frame, gender identity as organization performance. There were several gender norms in this film. The men wore suits and were very strict and stern. The women were few but proper and more sensitive and emotional. The men were very competitive, especially making it to space, being the head director and winning at a swimming challenge.
We also saw the differences of how genetics can separate people. Those with pre-determined genetics are superior to those who were not genetically pre- determined. They were viewed as less valuable and not worthy of living long lives with fewer achievements. Gender and genetic discrimination are very similar. You are treated differently for the way you are made and not what you are capable of and the person you are. The children who were not genetically determined did not choose to be different that the majority and the same goes for gender. People don’t necessarily want to be different from the most, but when you are dealt a hand of cards, you have to go with it and make the best of it. The main character of Gattaca does a good job surpassing the unexpected and showing people that he is capable of the un-imaginable. Overall, this film definitely touches on gender, power, and identity and a different look at the work life.

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