Blog 60 - GATTACA

So in my last blog I referenced this really amazing movie called GATTACA. In the movie, society is advanced enough to let people have the "best possible baby." This is accomplished by a doctor, who will look at a mother's eggs before her baby is born and look at their genes. The doctor will pick out which eggs are going to develop the smartest and most physically fit baby, and so then the mother will have a genetically superior child while still maintaining a "naturally" developed baby. 


Anyway, what happens is that society slowly starts to have these genetically superior babies and eventually the normally born babies, those who didn't undergo the process of choosing the best baby possible, end up being kind of the lowlife at the bottom of the pyramid. They get given low paid jobs like janitors.


Specifically, the story looks at a family where one child is born normal and the other child is born genetically superior. The one who is genetically superior is younger than the normal kid by two years, but the better child is smarter, taller, better looking, and overall just more "perfect" than the first son. Eventually, the parents start to favor their younger son while the older son is left feeling inferior. The thing is, the younger son wants to become an astronaut, but in this society becoming an astronaut is really "high class" and only those who are the MOST genetically superior can make it. So, this boy goes on to take another person's identity to be able to have the chance go fly out to space. The person's identity he stole actually works with him, and provides blood and pee samples because in this world your genes are your form of identity everywhere you go. Before you get into the office, they prick your finger to make sure of who you are. Any single hair or skin follicle that falls can be used to identify your genes.


Anyway, I'm going to stop rambling about this movie because it's starting to fall into this kind of "let me tell you about this and then there-- OH WAIT THERES THIS PART and then -- oh wait let me get back to my first thing" kind of conversation. And...that gets confusing. Anyway, go watch GATTACA.


(Did you notice that GATTACA is only spelled with the letters that represent genes? G-C and T-A? Neat huh?)