Gattaca, Movie Blog

Gattaca

For the movie blog and choose the movie Gattaca, this movie had many examples that linked it to what we have learned in sociology thus far in class. The main aspect I will be discussing that ties this movie to sociology is groups and organizations and also social class. This movie was all about groups and social class, if you were not in the high class then you could not get any good jobs; you could only clean if you were in the lower class. This movie was very interesting to watch and throughout the entire movie I was finding different examples of sociological views in it.

In the movie there are two types of people: “Valid” and “Invalid” people. Because most people have their children genetically made to make sure they are perfect, a lot of the people are valid. The ones who are made and born naturally usually came out with problems and were rarely perfect, which made them invalids. The main character in the movie is an invalid person and has a valid brother, during their childhood Vincent (invalid) and his brother Anton (valid) are always playing chicken and swimming out into the ocean as far as they can until one gets scared and quits, Vincent is always getting beat by his brother. Until one day Vincent finally beats Anton, after that incident Vincent decides to leave home and get a job.

Vincent starts to work cleaning the Gattaca, which is a huge place where only valid people get inside and work at. Vincent has always had the dream to work there and go into space. When he finally gets the opportunity to fake his identity and pretend to be a valid person he takes the offer. A man named Jerome is crippled in an accident leaving him unable to use his legs, Vincent is able to get Jerome’s blood and urine and use it as his own and gets a job working at the Gattaca pretending to be Jerome. However, after a murder in the Gattaca and an eyelash from an invalid person is found police are on a high pursuit to find the possible invalid person working in the Gattaca.

This movie showed huge examples of groups and social classes. In this movie the groups where the invalid people and the valid people, and your social class which was decided on based on your genetics puts you in one of the groups. Unlike most modern classes in this society it is impossible to move up in classes. Vincent was only able to pretend to be a valid person because he had the blood of a willing person. In the end of the movie Vincent makes it to space and gets to live out his dream.

Structural Functionalism thinkers would not have liked this movie; they try to explain everything as working out perfectly. When Vincent beats his brother Anton despite not have been made genetically perfect, it interrupts the way things were supposed to turn out.