Gattaca Questions

Respond in complete sentences

1. Compare Jerome and Vincent. What were their strengths and their weaknesses? In what ways were
they the mirror image of each other?
Jerome is physically perfect but is in a wheelchair, Vincent has disease but is extremely smart, they are
both seen a inferior to the people who are genetically modified
2. Is Jerome mentally ill?
No, he had an accident out of the country and broke his back but no one knows about it so it's not on the
record, he was a big time swimming start and had an IQ that was off the charts
3. Compare Anton and Vincent, the two brothers. How was Vincent able to beat Anton at swimming
despite Vincent's weak heart?
Anton was modified to be perfect and deserves his father's name but Vincent is the unmodified and
imperfect version of him, Anton was the stronger swimmer but got scared to continue and Vincent didn’t,
Anton almost drown and Vincent had to save him so they never swam together again, Their father never
believed in Vincent and thought he wasn’t gonna go anywhere because of his possible heart condition
4. Why is there such resistance to the new order imposed by this society? (Examples: Vincent's
girlfriend and the test technician.)
Because even if they have the possibility of having something wrong with them or they have something
wrong with them even if it doesn't effect anything with their capability to do their job they are restricted
from doing certain things or considered a real member of society
5. What do you think is wrong with the society portrayed in Gattaca?
There is so much pressure on being genetically perfect they don’t look at the capability from people who
arent even if people can achieve the same if not more without those genetically modified genes “best test
score in the world won’t matter if i dont have the blood test to go with it”
6. Wouldn't every parent want to ensure that their child was perfect and had the attributes of physical
attractiveness, intelligence and athletic prowess to be able to do whatever he or she wanted in life?
If so, why is the society portrayed in this film so devoid of happiness, vitality and fun?
As a parent all I would want for my child is to be happy and confident in who they are. Personally I
wouldn't care if they have flaws because it is natural to have flaws, it is what makes people unique and
who they are. As long as they can be successful and content with their life it doesn't matter what their
physical qualities are or their genetic make up.
7. What makes Vincent able to qualify for the Saturn mission despite his physical infirmities and lack
of genetic perfection?
He uses jerome's hair and skin and blood and everything samples to fake being jerome and the mission
director was killed so he can't reveal Vincent for who he really is
8. If you were the president of a corporation that could hire genetically enhanced individuals, would
you do so? If you didn't, how could you compete with corporations that did hire only the genetically
improved? What are the implications of this for our future?
If I were the president of a company I would hire anyone, I wouldn’t base my staff only on being
physically perfect but who would do the job the best. That may be flawed people or it may be perfect
people but all would be treated equally. The implications of this for our future is that genetically
enhanced humans will be our future and soon enough all humans will be genetically advanced.
9. Most parents will tell you that children are born with their own peculiar personality. This can be
 affected by events in the child's life, but there is definitely a strong, if not overriding, genetic
component. We may, in the future, be able to modify these characteristics, just as physical
characteristics and intelligence could be modified. What are the implications of this?
This would create a world with no variety, everyone has a basic way they want to be, liked, funny, social,
intelligent, if we were able to alter the way a person gets these characteristics the world would become
boring. We need differences and different types of people, it would take away the beauty of individuals
being unique.
10. Some people have countered the vision of this film by saying that our strengths are inextricably
combined with our weaknesses. Do you agree with this?
Yes I agree with this because by having an overriding strength it is also an overriding weakness because
it takes away from other things one could have a strength in.
11. Soon, life insurance companies, health insurance companies, employers, and the government will
have the tools to predict our future health. Is this too much information for them to have? Is there
any way to stop it?
I think this is a good thing to have because it helps you plan ahead and understand a child's needs at a
young age and maybe even prevent bad things from happening to their health.
12. The character of the Director (the murderer) tells the investigators that there is no indication of
violence in his genetic make-up. What are the screenwriters trying to tell us by this scene?
They are trying to tell us that someone who is genetically perfect couldn’t be the murderer and the people
who are flawed or not genetically enhanced are the ones capable of committing such a crime. What we
find out is that it is not only about the genes because the director was genetically perfect, his want to kill
canceled out his genes.
13. What are the screenwriters trying to tell us through the episode of the 12 fingered pianist? What is
wrong with engineering children to have 12 fingers if, as a result, they will be able to make
extraordinarily beautiful music?
Because it is unnatural, humans aren't supposed to be capable of that, it shows how far people are willing
to go to decide the fate of their child, it also shows that people will consider anything perfect if it has been
genetically modified to be that way, if an invalid had 12 fingers it would be considered a weakness but
since this pianist has been modified as perfect it is considered a strong suit
14. What limits should be placed on genetic engineering? Should it be allowed at all? Should it be
limited to the elimination of disease and physical imperfections?
Genetic engineering should not be able to alter the personality of a person or the mental capability, these
things are developed naturally over time to the extent they need to be for that specific person. It should
be allowed to predict and maybe lessen chances of disease or major physical disadvantages but not
eliminate them entirely.
15. Should we permit people to make human clones of themselves? What about someone who cannot
have a child?
I don't think cloning should be allowed period because similar to a point made in the book Frankenstein
you have no idea if the clone will turn out kind or even an exact clone of the person being cloned.
Experiences make a person and this clone could have and will have totally different experiences.
16. Should we permit people to make human clones of other people?
No cloning may be good for scientific research such as cloning a kidney for a sick person or maybe even
animals if the dog has perfect genes but not humans because a human have much more physical and
mental capability than an organ or an animal there for becoming something potentially dangerous.
 17. If you would permit human cloning, would the clones have all the rights of "natural" people?
If there was cloning than I think they would have the same rights because they are still technically people.
18. Is Vincent justified in brutally beating the police officer outside of the nightclub?
Yes because it could have ruined everything he had worked for and jeopardized him getting to space,
even though it is never okay to harm another it is understandable.