Is a perfect life really perfect? The philosophical infrastructure of the film is based on the revival of this problem in the human mind.
From the late 90's to today; We know that genetic engineering, cloning and genome projects have popularly occupied the world agenda, and they have done so for very justified reasons. Because these genome projects are the only way for the idea of a superior race, which was desired by the old-time oculists to the Nazis, to come true. Although it is obvious that these projects are a fascistic idea, we will discuss their ethics and anti-humanistic structure on the scenes of the movie below.
But we must not forget that, as Vincent said, there is no gene that determines fate.
Scene 1 – Shower and preparation process before going to work
Vincent destroys his cells in the shower. He rubs it hard as if he wants to, and then sets it on fire to get rid of the remaining residue in the shower. Here we can see his anger at his own self, his obvious hatred of being a godly child. The care he takes during the preparation process before going to work is also quite remarkable. From a Freudian perspective, we can say that the mechanism he created to tie the bladder and the way he injected blood into Eugene's finger tissue showed tremendous interest in achieving his ideals. From a Freudian perspective, we can say that the only object of love he has left is his dreams.
Scene 2- Entrance to Gattaca. scene
This scene, which we see in the first minutes of the movie, attracts our attention with its futuristic architectural structure. The fact that people wear uniform-like suits and dress in black as a result of the one-world order symbolizes an existential despair, and the way they pass through the turnstiles while entering Gattaca and their postures and touches while working resemble an army of robots. We can explain this with the social learning theory of behaviorism. According to Bandura, many human behavior models are learned through observation. By observing the behavior of other individuals, individuals gain knowledge about the consequences of that behavior and adapt it to themselves. In other words, these perfect people must adapt and minimize their differences in order to exist in society. They are reducing them.
Scene 3- Vincent's desk at work
While Vincent is quickly performing the task given on the keyboard, he is simultaneously cleaning between the keys to avoid leaving any tissue residue, and at that moment his manager He comes and praises him and gives him the good news of going to Titan. Vincent expressionlessly asks only when it will happen and goes back to work. In fact, deep fears lie beneath his behavior, which seems to indicate a narcissistic personality structure, and the feeling of inferiority created by fixations from his early years also reveals itself.
Scene 4-Vincent goes back to the past and tells about his birth
He starts by reproaching his family for being born as the fruit of love, and the most important part is in the scene where he is born and blood is drawn from his heel, he is exposed to genetic racism in the first second of his life and opens his eyes to the world as a hopeless case. We can see the regret in his father's eyes as the psychological and pathological problems he could be diagnosed with are listed based on probabilities. Although his mother is happy, everything seems to be the opposite for the father figure, who is an important idol for the boy.
Scene 5 - The scene where the father measures the heights of his children
The Adler siblings' order and importance he mentions it often. But at the beginning, it gives the impression that the thesis of the importance of birth order, which this theory attaches importance to for the imperfect brother and the perfect brother, will be refuted. Factors such as Anton being taller, swimming better, his health, and his development progressing well cause the seeds of an inferiority complex to be sown in Vincent. We can also explain this situation with Erickson's model of developing a sense of inferiority in response to being successful. Anton's family's wrong guidance is one of the main sources of this conflict.
Scene 6 - Vincent and his family at the breakfast table
The brothers, who have entered adolescence, have begun to gain identity and experience identity confusion. At this point, the family again hinders Vincent. Although the statements that it was impossible for him to become an astronaut were useful in creating reverse psychology, they also caused Vincent to become isolated from his family ties. In this situation Behaviorist Watson thinks that fear, anger and love are reflexes on which all behaviors are built. It holds parents responsible for turning these emotions into positive or negative behaviors. Because of the parents' own flawed nature, Vincent was born this way. The family has developed a defense mechanism and they are trying to relieve their own consciousness by reflecting this to their children.
Scene 7- The brothers compete in the sea for the second time
Vincent, who is deeply suppressed by the pressure of his family and his inferiority complex, beats his brother while swimming this time. . Since this complex has created a huge wall in his mind, once it is broken, his motivation reaches the highest level that everything in the world is possible.
Scene 8- Starting work in Gattaca
He is here for Vincent. Even though he started working as a cleaner, a natural reinforcer was formed that caused him to be conditioned operantly. As Vincent gets one step closer to the stars and his dreams, he encounters a doctor and the perfect Eugene (Jerome) who will help him illegally. He underwent surgeries so that he could take her identity and look exactly like her. This includes a painful experience such as having his legs stretched. Doing such a thing for the sake of his ideals strengthened the trust between him and Eugene and made the two of them a whole. The name Eugene means perfect in ancient Greek and although Jerome was prevented from using it as his middle name, it still exists. It is an indication that he has a narcissistic personality organization. And the fact that he has always been second throughout his life proves that he has an inferiority complex.
Scene 9- Vincent and Eugene's dinner scene
How the duty manager explains Although it is unknown that he was killed, it is a situation that benefits Vincent, and although he tries to remain calm, his resorting to a stress-relieving substance such as cigarettes for the first time throughout the film is an indication that he is worried. And his comparison of going to space during the meal with taking shelter in the mother's womb tells us that he has not yet fully overcome his subconscious self-doubt.
Scene 10- DNA helix details
A staircase resembling the DNA helix in the house has been placed. one hour Meanwhile, Vincent looks at the real owner of the DNA he carried from the top steps to Eugene below. In a way that implies that he is the real Mr. Perfect. In addition, on the transaction screens in Gattaca, an infinity logo appears in the upper right corner for valid people, and a dagger logo appears for invalid people. He interpreted the subtext of "If you are not perfect, you are doomed to perish" well.
Scene 11- The rapprochement between Irene and Vincent
What really attracts our couple, who started flirting after the invitation they attended, is that they are both flawed, that is, they are children of God. to be. The perception of inadequacy created by being born with the birth of faith becomes perfect when the two come together. Even though Irene has started to approach Vincent with a skeptical prejudice, deep down she has a belief that they are partners in destiny. Although their first sensual union shows that the two flawed people actually have true perfection, the ecological pressures they experience reveal Vincent's hatred of his own body and his personality based on lies in the morning.
Scene 12- Detective Anton raiding the house.
The detective, who realizes that the person working under the name of Jerome in Gattaca is his brother Vincent, tries to play every trump card in order to get the facts clearly and beat his brother, who surpassed him in the last races. The number of people who support the power of his flawed brother's belief is so high that Anton's attempt at superiority here will remain unanswered. He wants to return again with various excuses, his confidence in his perfection has never been fully formed. And he asked Vincent, 'How did you do this? ' Her answer to the question 'by never leaving anything behind' was to explain in a single sentence how full of deficiencies the symbiotic relationship between them and Anton was.
Scene 14 – Reuniting with the stars
Doctor Vincent The fact that Vincent allowed him to board the space shuttle because of his passion for his dreams, even though he knew that he was flawed, and expressed his admiration for him by referring to his son, is an indication that Vincent has finally achieved his ideal self.
Vincent� With the launch of the shuttle dawn into space; With the idea that every atom in our body comes from the stars, the most crucial scene of the movie is when Vincent says that while he is going to the stars, he does not actually leave the world, but goes from the world of phenomena to the world of reality (ideas). And Anton's suicide by burning himself simultaneously with the shuttle depicts a form of suicide based on the desire of every atom, without exception, to be erased from this world and go to where we truly belong.
It is the differences that create people and humanity, describing them as flaws of each individual. It overshadows the perfection it has in a different way. As star dust, we make a kind of interstellar journey. And we call the unit of time we spend at the world station 'life'. In order to live this life, there may be people we need to adapt to, we may have experiences that we need to suppress by developing various defense mechanisms, but none of them can prevent us from knowing our true self and reaching our ideals.
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