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Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

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Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#161

Post by tialaramex »

Filligree wrote: post #123
whatshisface wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always took it as implied that, although the 99% chance was their real knowledge of the distribution, this was a story about the one guy that ended up flying to space.

He does not actually fly to space in-movie, and from what I recall, it seems entirely plausible that he'll have a heart attack and die during the first flight. With all the implications that has for the rest of the team.

The movie features the moment of ignition, as a counter-point to Jerome incinerating himself, so we see Vincent is going into space, I guess it's conceivable that for some reason his heart fails shortly after the movie ends but you could say that about any movie. Maybe right after he leaves, Truman drops dead of a heart attack in The Truman Show?

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#162

Post by imachine1980_ »

thrown_43 wrote: post #158
cm2187 wrote: post #147

Eugenism is inevitable. You can't stop parents trying to get the best life for their children, that's pretty much their top priority. We don't like to frame it that way but we are already there with pre-natal tests. Even the selection of mating partner is a form of eugenics. College graduates only marrying college graduates, repeat that for many generations and it is bound to have an effect.

Eugenics is a comforting story the middle classes tell themselves feel better about being ruled by liars and swindlers. If you want the best life for your children teach them to be selectively sociopathic without a shred of decency. One day they can be the next Obama or Trump. Or Gates. Or Musk.

Three of the four people(I think Obama wanst) are white sons of millioneirs, I don't think smart is the important part of the equation.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#163

Post by IngoBlechschmid »

Vecr wrote: post #148
IngoBlechschmid wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Greg Egan's _Diaspora_ (1997) and _Oceanic_ (1998) come to my mind. Of course not really predating, with what we now recognize as gender fluidity existing for thousands of years, but in any case early texts long before the notion rose to be widely known in our culture.

Those are probably written too late, I'd say they would need to be written in 1990 or before to really count as predicting anything. Though actually, if they predict it with more accuracy and say how common it is (so it's not just the one weird character being weird, but also not being anywhere close to everyone) that might be something as well.

Fair. (In _Diaspora_ many people are; in _Oceanic_, all.)

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#164

Post by the_af »

lancesells wrote: post #154
the_af wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally, 100% agree. Gattaca is amazing, and my all time favorite Blade Runner also has outstanding practical effects (flawed, sure, but you stop noticing soon enough). One of my favorites that, while very cool in general, suffers from some dodgy effects is Aliens. In general I wouldn't change a bit from it, but some of the dropship scenes are terrible and were pretty bad even back then. Then again, be careful what…

I noticed those dropship scenes on a rewatch a couple of years ago. I think when I watched it as a kid it was on a CRT on cable television and you couldn't see the details as much. Plus, I was a kid. On that note, I just rewatched the original Alien and there's really only one or two shots that looks kind of bad or goofy. Holds up so well for a film from 1979 with what would be a lower range budget in today's money (…

Yes, and also: imagine Alien in the hands of a director with access to today's budget and CGI: it would completely ditch any ambience, pace and characterizations in favor of showing one -- nay, thousands -- of monsters and chase scenes.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#165

Post by allenu »

whatshisface wrote: post #69
curiousgal wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol how exactly do you expect him to change things if he stayed? Once he's back he'll be able to actually make a difference with the status/resources he got by leaving.

It tells you something about HN that there are like ten replies arguing that he should have the right to be selfish, and only one that recognizes that he was doing exactly what people from minorities did in the past to overturn the belief that they couldn't do anything.

I mean, it's fair to be selfish and to recognize that people are allowed to be selfish. It's a big expectation that discriminated peoples should devote their life to changing the system that was unfair to them. We're all human and still want to achieve personal goals in our lifetime, many of which don't necessarily have to do with social justice.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#166

Post by mhb »

losvedir wrote: post #77
snissn wrote: post #28

this line lives so deep in my brain: "You want to know how I did it? I never saved anything for the swim back"

I never understood that. I don't think the movie is clear exactly what happens, but he... does swim back, right? Or does he just flounder and rely on his brother bringing him back?

The one I didn't really understand was "It's too late for that. We're closer to the other side."

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#168

Post by cm2187 »

flavius29663 wrote: post #160
cm2187 wrote: post #147

Eugenism is inevitable. You can't stop parents trying to get the best life for their children, that's pretty much their top priority. We don't like to frame it that way but we are already there with pre-natal tests. Even the selection of mating partner is a form of eugenics. College graduates only marrying college graduates, repeat that for many generations and it is bound to have an effect.

I keep thinking about eugenics, how can we have eugenics without resorting to genocide or ending up with a dystopia, like in Gattaca? Should we even strive to get eugenics, why bother? Where does diversity become detrimental to success for an individual? The clone of a perfect individual will always perform better than the peers, except when we need adaptation and flexibility. Will we get to a society where just some…

I am not sure why you would associate eugenics with genocide. As the article mentions, today you can promote or suppress a gene by simply patching the genome.

And frankly I am not sure which is more dystopian: a future where none of the kids are born with genetic diseases, predisposition to be obese, or simply stupid or ugly, vs the present where a kid has to live with those things he can do nothing about.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#169

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

buildbot wrote: post #139
Barrin92 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's why I think the Farscape puppets were absolutely genius. They look so timeless compared to a lot of the heavy CGI use during that era of TV sci-fi.

Farscape is criminally under rated/known! It’s also amusing that SG1 ended up with two of the leads from it too for a bit.

Leading to the best joke in the Episode 200.

Re: Gattaca is still pertinent 25 years later

#170

Post by the_af »

forgotpwd16 wrote: post #151
the_af wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched the cinema version and found it outstanding. What are the changes in the director's cut?

The main reason director's cut is recommended for first-time viewers is theatrical version having an intro that reveals many elements. That said the list of all the differences is quite extensive: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118929/alternateversions/ .

Interesting. Will definitely watch the director's cut.

I must say though that I don't think the opening monologue reveals too much. It reveals something but the city still feels weird, you don't truly understand the strangers' goals at the beginning, and there are still plot twists. If you don't even know about the strangers at the beginning, I wonder how the movie would play... a pity I cannot wipe my own memories and re-experience it ;)

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