Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later • Hacker News Board

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#41

Post by mixmastamyk » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:50 PM UTC

bequanna wrote: post #35

beebmam wrote: post #25

I found it really hard to relate to any of the characters in the film, to the point where they were barely recognizable as humans. Does it make sense, in a world like the one in Gattaca, for a person that is part of a discriminated class, to go into space, instead of trying to change the society around him to be less discriminatory? It seemed to me like the whole effort was a self-motivated, flaccid revenge fantasy t…

> Does it make sense, in a world like the one in Gattaca, for a person that is part of a discriminated class, to go into space, instead of trying to change the society around him to be less discriminatory? I think this is a little naive. Why should every member of an underclass have to fight the good fight vs improve their own personal position? IMO, the latter is much more likely.

And when the news gets out a underclass achieved something great it may change things.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#42

Post by RedShift1 » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:50 PM UTC

beebmam wrote: post #25

I found it really hard to relate to any of the characters in the film, to the point where they were barely recognizable as humans. Does it make sense, in a world like the one in Gattaca, for a person that is part of a discriminated class, to go into space, instead of trying to change the society around him to be less discriminatory? It seemed to me like the whole effort was a self-motivated, flaccid revenge fantasy t…

Why can't things be self-motivated? Not every story has to be about changing society...

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#43

Post by mixmastamyk » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:52 PM UTC

ericmcer wrote: post #16

DoctorDabadedoo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mike Judge with his Idiocracy and Office Space is almost like someone had a crystal ball for early 21st century.

How did he get away with Idiocracy? I thought it was a good movie and somewhat prescient, but if you peel back the layers it is basically advocating some kind of population control or eugenics policy. Or it is just a comedy, but I hear it frequently cited as a dramatized version of a plausible future.

Didn’t get away with it, company tried to bury the film.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#44

Post by Vecr » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:52 PM UTC

One thing I don't understand about the movie, even after reading the screenplay etc. is why does Vincent claim the doctors knew the exact time of his death just seconds after he was born? They clearly don't and can't, given the entire rest of the movie. Are the doctors just reading out the exact middle of the probability distribution (or the time with the absolute highest probability), to way more precision than actually makes sense? On another note, I'm not sure the probability curve would actually only have one peak in Vincent's case, one peak from his heart condition and another from old age would make sense. The doctors/his parents should have explained the nature of the probability distribution in much more detail.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#45

Post by Bayart » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:52 PM UTC

anonporridge wrote: post #8

The great thing about Gattaca is that the cinematography ages incredibly well on top of the amazing plot. A lot of great sci-fi is marred by cheap effects that look incredibly dated only a decade later. Gattaca chose to focus on the story and create a minimalist future environment that still looks beautiful 25 years later.

Your point can be extended to other sci-fi movies that rely on practical effects and sober aesthetics, 2001 comes to mind.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#46

Post by naasking » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:52 PM UTC

chordalkeyboard wrote: post #37

beebmam wrote: post #25

I found it really hard to relate to any of the characters in the film, to the point where they were barely recognizable as humans. Does it make sense, in a world like the one in Gattaca, for a person that is part of a discriminated class, to go into space, instead of trying to change the society around him to be less discriminatory? It seemed to me like the whole effort was a self-motivated, flaccid revenge fantasy t…

> Does it make sense, in a world like the one in Gattaca, for a person that is part of a discriminated class, to go into space, instead of trying to change the society around him to be less discriminatory? Yes, it absolutely makes sense for one lone individual to pursue self-actualization against the odds rather than embark on a crusade to remake the world around him against even greater odds.

Moreover, systemic change results from lots of stories like this piling up, proving that the underlying narrative driving the discrimination was always false.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#47

Post by mb7733 » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:52 PM UTC

apples_oranges wrote: post #18

I believe advances in AI will make the core plot idea of the film obsolete. It is a good movie, but even the most genetically perfect human will probably not have a fraction of the intelligence of AI. He will be, relatively speaking, a mere dummy like the rest of us. Thus the future as shown in this film will not happen. However, good sci-fi is actually always about the present. And the movie has a lot of interesting…

From what I remember the film didn't focus on intelligence. The main character suffers from genetic disorders that affect his health and lifespan, plus discrimination based on his 'invalid' status. All of that is still very relevant regardless of any progress with AGI.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#48

Post by fallingknife » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:53 PM UTC

chordalkeyboard wrote: post #39

fallingknife wrote: post #33

I guess I never thought it was much more than a good movie. I mean what is the message supposed to be? For one thing the main character has a heart condition and absolutely should be weeded out of the space mission he is trying to get on. As a larger point about a dystopian future with discrimination based on genetic characteristics I don't think it works either. We discriminate like that based on genetics now. It's…

> We discriminate like that based on genetics now. It's just that it comes from random chance at birth rather than human modification, but really what's the difference? What are you alluding to here?

We explicitly discriminate by intelligence, which is mostly genetic. How is that different than Gattaca? One must assume that the genetically enhanced in the movie are actually enhanced after all.

And we implicitly discriminate by height, which shows a strong correlation with income. That one doesn't even have utility like discrimination based on intelligence does.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#49

Post by pfortuny » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:54 PM UTC

beebmam wrote: post #25

I found it really hard to relate to any of the characters in the film, to the point where they were barely recognizable as humans. Does it make sense, in a world like the one in Gattaca, for a person that is part of a discriminated class, to go into space, instead of trying to change the society around him to be less discriminatory? It seemed to me like the whole effort was a self-motivated, flaccid revenge fantasy t…

One is not obliged to do the best thing possible, or even to choose the “better” thing, as long as one does good.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#50

Post by naasking » Sun, Feb 05, 2023, 6:54 PM UTC

fallingknife wrote: post #33

I guess I never thought it was much more than a good movie. I mean what is the message supposed to be? For one thing the main character has a heart condition and absolutely should be weeded out of the space mission he is trying to get on. As a larger point about a dystopian future with discrimination based on genetic characteristics I don't think it works either. We discriminate like that based on genetics now. It's…

> I mean what is the message supposed to be? For one thing the main character has a heart condition and absolutely should be weeded out of the space mission he is trying to get on.

Why? Their discriminatory predictions were incorrect. Space travel is clearly quite routine in this future, so to put it in today's terms, would you forbid people with heart conditions from driving cars or trucks?