School of Social Sciences and Education

GED104 Cluster – Science, Technology and Society

Instructions and Guide Questions for Film Analysis 1 (FA 1)

Name: Sta. Maria, Jian Karlo R. Date: 11/4/2020

Section: A13 Course: CHE

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
      
BEFORE DO NOT
COMPLETING THIS REVIEW PLAGIARIZE!
ASSESSMENT, RESPOND TO THE ANSWER IN YOUR WORK
FOLLOW THE TYPE YOUR
PLEASE READ ALL OF REQUIREMENTS ESSAY BEFORE PLAGIARISM IS A
INSTRUCTIONS. ANSWERS WELL.
THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE TASK. FORM. SUBMITTING MAJOR OFFENSE
THOROUGHLY AND IT. THAT LEADS TO
CAREFULLY. EXPULSION.

Instructions: In a film analysis, you systematically evaluate a film’s effectiveness including

what it does well and what it does poorly. It can be used to discuss a science and technology
documentary film. You must review the film carefully and may need to look up terms or
concepts you are unfamiliar with or research related reading prior to writing your analysis.
Watch the film Gattaca found on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzG3I7nMEks.
Then, answer the following guide questions as concisely as possible.

Guide Questions:

1. If we were able to exclude the eccentric, the different, the misfits, and the weak, what would
happen to society?

2. Compare Jerome and Vincent. What were their strengths and their weaknesses? In what ways
were they the mirror image of each other?

3. Why is there such resistance to the new order imposed by this society, i.e., Vincent's girlfriend
- the test technician?

4. What do you think is wrong with the society portrayed in "Gattaca"?

5. Wouldn't parents want to ensure that their child were 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?

6. Some critiques have countered the vision of this film by saying that our strengths are
inextricably combined with our weaknesses. Do you agree with this?

7. 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? Why or why not?
8. Should we permit people to make human clones of themselves? What about someone who
cannot have a child? Should we permit people to make human clones of other people?

9. If you would permit human cloning, would the clones have all the rights of "natural" people?

10. Did this society, with its rigid requirements of genetic perfection, foster the ethical value of
respect for the differences among people?

In the movie it portrayed a society that has very high expectations in DNA, strong DNA
discrimination is present. I believe that society would be in a bad condition because of the way
society is built in this movie. We all have flaws and not everything should always be perfect.
Certain flaws are required for us to maintain our humanity. In the movie it introduced us to two
similar characters, Jerome and Vincent, individuals with aspiring dreams, but have hindrances in
their lives, Vincent suffers from the heart disease that he has, and Jerome however is genetically
superior but goes through an incident, which leads him to be paralyzed. They were passionate
and aspiring individuals, with the world against them. There is resistance to the new order by the
society because some people want others to prosper even if these people are different, they want
these people to achieve what they dream of and experience certain things despite being a misfit
in society. DNA is what makes us all unique, however in the movie, it is what separates us from
one another in a bad way, in the movie’s society there are certain expectations towards these
DNAs. If you do not meet the expectation, you are pretty much not accepted and will not be
treated equally. Since Vincent is Genetically weak, he will not be able to apply for jobs that he
desires, he might only be applicable for a janitor job. However, Vincent is a passionate and
strong-willed person, that was able to find his way through the struggles of life. We already have
enough problems with the discrimination of the color of our skin, the movie takes this issue to
the next level. Society in this movie is stressful, there are very high expectations from you from
the first day you are welcomed to the world. I think the lack of happiness, vitality and fun in this
movie is realistic, because who would want to live in a world where we could be treated different
because of our weaknesses and differences. I agree with statement that our strengths are
inextricably combined with our weakness, they are one and one would not exist without the
other. Our strength comes from being aware with our weakness and knowing the truth that in our
fragility. Genetic engineering would play a huge role in this society; however, I believe that it
should be limited only to the elimination of problems like diseases or physical imperfections. In
the movie it showed how parents were able to choose the gender of their child, for me this is too
much, as there would be an imbalance in our society. There is also the problem with cloning, I
think there are benefits to it, but it can become disastrous, like technology and AI, I think there
should be a limit in these scientific advancement, just to keep it under control, since cloning
would bring political problems like if these clones would have rights, I believe they should
because they are living organisms. I think the worst part about this type of society is the fact that
everyone wants to be genetically superior, everyone wants to fit in, in a world with high
expectations, this could mean them giving away their values and traits that make them unique
and different. Overall, this movie showed a sad world (in my opinion), I think this would be a
great theme for a black mirror episode. This movie has now become reality today, with the recent
Nobel prize for chemistry winners, Jennifer A. Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, First All-
Female Team for CRISPR Gene Editing. I think this movie does a great job in being realistic,
and wasn’t too far from being completely fiction.