Gattaca is, by far, my favorite movie. It was released in 1997 to critical acclaim but little commercial success. Ethan Hawke was the lead, with Jude Law & Uma Thurmas as two important supporting characters. It quite possibly is one the most beautiful films I have ever had the privilege of watching. The characters, the acting & the music are hauntingly mesmerizing.
The movie opens with a society that has been reorganized around liberal eugenics. Society is based on genetic determinism in the sense that your genetic sequence will determine your place in society. The young Ethan Hawk, named Vincent, was born via simple sex. His younger brother, Anton, was born via genetic enhancement. Vincent was weak from a young age and Anton was clearly & assuredly guaranteed success. The two brothers would play a game called “Chicken” in which they would swim as far as they could out into the ocean, the first one to give up lost. One day, Vincent actually beat his brother – and this moment made Vincent’s life possible.
Vincent left his family and became a “borrowed ladder” in the sense he falsely assumed the identity of a genetic superior in order to achieve his dreams. Jude Law, named Jerome Morrow, was a genetic superior who was crippled by his own hand. His genetically-fueled narcissism was dashed when he got a silver at an Olympic diving competition. Unable to come to grips with his second-class finish, he threw himself in front a moving vehicle.
Vincent takes on the life of Jerome and enrolls in Gattaca, an academy based on space travel. It has been Vincent’s dream to be an astronaut, a life he was denied via his genetics. Clearly, this is his desire to flee world that denies the real abilities of its people. The drama of the movie unfolds beside this arc of Vincent’s life, but understand a homicide investigation threatens the outing of Vincent. In this time, he meets & seduces Uma Thurman, named Irene in the movie.
It so happens the lead investigator is Vincent’s long lost brother, Anton. When Anton figures out Vincent is his brother, he confronts him telling him he has exceeded his biological rank. Vincent challenges him to a final game of “Chicken;” if Vincent fails, then Anton can out him. It is emotionally charged and Vincent wins outright. Anton asks him how he achieved any of his success. Vincent replies saying, “He never saved anything for the swim back.”
Vincent arrives on the day of his launch in space, about to fulfill his dreams. Jerome had just committed suicide, as he is unable to reconcile the reality of life with what is was promised to be, while Vincent is confronted with a final obstacle – a final urine test to determine genetic identify. Vincent had no urine of Jerome on hand and thinks he is finished. The urine tester, a long-time friend, reveals he knew Vincent was faking his identify all along. The tester fakes his genetic profile, saying Vincent has a flight to catch.
Vincent is seen, at the end, in the spaceship opening the parting gift Jerome gave him. It is simply a lock of Jerome’s hair. A tearful Vincent looks up at the stars and remarks,
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For a man not meant for this world, I must confess I am having a tough time leaving it. They say every atom of our bodies was once a part of the stars. Maybe I am not leaving, maybe I am going home.
As beautiful as this movie is, it has so many ways to dissect it. I could talk about transhumanism, the allegory of genetic discrimination to view racism, the future of society as science advances, etc.
What I want to discuss is the character of Vincent and how he overcomes the most impossible of odds.
In many ways, Vincent represents the red-pill man. He rejects the social script handed to him by society and instead seeks to define his own reality. He has to come to grips with the reality of society and how it oppresses him. Instead of playing the victim card, he took his life into his own hands and pressed forward as hard as he could.
When playing "Chicken" with his more privileged brother, he knew the only way he could win is to be more reckless, to be more aggressive. Often times in modern society we see privileged folk - often white women - whine about aggressive men. What they don't understand is that many people - often men - have to ruthlessly press forward if they want to succeed. Society gives them no advantages and their ace in their pocket is they often have nothing to lose, so they bet it all on pressing forward with no regards to their own ability balance that.
When Vincent talks about "saving nothing for the swim back," he is talking about the genetic privilege afforded to Anton in the sense Anton can hedge his life in a way Vincent cannot because Anton can always fall back on his genetic privilege.
The day of his launch, we see a telling exchange between Vincent & Jerome. Jerome tells Vincent to not thank him because Jerome just lent Vincent his body, but Vincent lent Jerome his dream.
What is seen here is the correct idea that all the privilege in the world will not result in anything if you do not have the fire to make it happen. Jerome was born into supreme privilege from all aspects; the narcissism that developed from that upbringing lead to his self-inflicted crippling. Vincent's own dis-privilege lit a fire under him that resulted him in achieving his wildest dreams.
The idea that humanity can be reorganized along biological lines is foolish. It doesn't matter all that much if society is constituted of the genetically firm, what matters is if they have a desire to use that privilege appropriately.
Jerome knew he was superior to the rest of society, so he treated them as such. His crippling - ushering him into that inferior class society - was completely unbearable for him. So, he sold his genetics to a man who could & did use them to his benefit. In that act, Jerome lived out his perceived birthright through Vincent.
As for Vincent, he showed how supremely important willpower is to a person's success. We see this with female comedians - they refuse to take criticism from viewers and appreciate the supportive comments from female viewers. In that situation, she does not grow. With male comedians, we see criticism from both men & women. If they choose to learn from it, they grow.
They can take the Jerome route & ignore it or they can take the Vincent route & internalize it and become a better man because of it.
Willpower is what defines a man from a boy. I will openly acknowledge our society does not cultivate this trait in boys, but it is central to a boy's development into a man.
Success in life is never assured. You could put in the hours every day, put in the effort & dedicate your life to one cause but you may never matter as much as you think you should. What matters isn't your success, but your desire to be that man. What matters is that you are/were the man you always saw yourself to be.
If that means ripping down social structures, like in "Gattaca," then more power to you. Stand them down. Face them with every last fiber of your being. Stop at nothing.
However, you have to be 100% committed. The weak perish here. There is no room for 50% or 95% committed. You have to put all your chips in in order to qualify here. Anton's can & will change the world, but if you want to cash in on your willpower, you have to be willing to risk it all. Even Anton's have to draw on more than privilege.
Nothing great was ever achieved without the rolling of the dice. You can bet it all - your money, status, intelligence, etc. - but, at the end of the day, it still is a crap-shoot.
You have to commit to whatever your end goal is. You must recognize you might fail. However, you also have to recognize that in your effort, you aren't just becoming a man, but have become one.
With stated goals that are based on what you want out of life, you have formally recognized your autonomy as a man & started out on a path to become the best man you can be. That, in & of itself, is more than the vast majority of man can claim.
Do you think the vast majority of men could be Vincent? The man pissed all over by society, only to use this willpower & unrecognized strength to achieve the heights of human achievement. To a man like Vincent, his work is never done. He goes to sleep thinking of his next move, only to wake thinking of the one after that. He doesn't get days off, he gets days to think about days that matter.
Vincent, to me, is an inspiration. While Ethan Hawke's acting plays a big role, Vincent is one of the few real characters I have seen in a movie in my life. He is honest when confronted about his real identity when Irene badgers him - despite all the bullshit in his life about his genetics, he still is honest with a woman that loves him.
Vincent, in many ways, is a man that belongs in past times as he thinks modern society values truth. A common theme in the movie is the use of old-school vehicles/architecture to reinforce temporal issues. Anyway, Vincent realizes that modern society values fake observations based on social expectations.
He represents a dying breed of male based on his own seizure of his life, rather than suborning his life to authority figures who will decide his masculinity for him. Vincent, to them, is little more than an annoying fly in the ointment that needs to get washed out.
"Gattaca" is my favorite movie of all time. I always watch it when I feel my confidence flagging. It is beautifully acted, the musical score is amazing & the plot is incredible. It truly is a movie you cannot look away from.
Someday, I may go home as well. . .