blog # 5

Shaniel Done

ENGL 101 – 0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay # 1

10/01/12

                                                           What is a real Utopia?

            Every improvement made in the history of the human race take us one step closer to what we call a Utopia, a place where everything is perfect, I mean nothing and again nothing goes wrong, where diseases are a myth and everyone is equal, we are moving away from a dystopia, a place with many mistakes and imperfections, but this does not mean we are there yet.  In this essay I will demonstrate how the world presented in the movie Gattaca is not a Utopia but a Dystopia by providing evidence and details of skill discrimination and others that support my point of view from the movie Gattaca, the views Annas offers in his essay, and examples from human history as well as the present.

            In the movie Gattaca from the beginning to the end of the movie one topic is always present and that topic is skills discrimination, is more than clear that the new ideal human, the genetically engineered human are in the top of the pyramid and the “normal” human are beneath. When a society or community separate two groups and call them different, that’s when one of the groups will feel discriminated by the other and the time will lead to confrontations, fights, and unhappiness, finally both groups will see the other as the enemy.  In this movie being normal is not a fortune, being normal means that you are not going to be eligible for many type of work, you will be limited.  Now is this a Utopia? –no—this is not something that I will call perfect, African American versus the white man, Dominican versus Haitian, poor people versus the rich… this fights goes on and on it doesn’t stop, this is something that is keeping us away from a Utopia dream.

            George j. Annas mention the novella “Animal farm” by George Orwell where “all animal are equal, but some are more equal than others” George j. Annas is trying to demonstrate how the perfect human will see themselves as more equal than the other and how better does not mean perfect.  George j. annas essay shows all the negative sides of the movie Gattaca it explain that such future is not a utopia and that to become one it most have several changes.  For example is all humans were able to live more than nineties years or so than wont we have problem with overpopulation or will all the natural reassures be enough for such amount of people?  Of course the eradication of terminal illnesses, the environmentally safe means of transportation the advances in technology etc… are really good thing for the word and we want to get there, but all of that does not mean we are in utopia yet, no into all problems are solved.

            In Gattaca Vincent face many struggles and he find himself skill discriminated because he is normal, his goal is to travel to space, but for been normal the closer to a spaceship he gets is to clean the office of the company.  In his world you have a job according to your genes, skill and if you are a genetically engineered human, the better you are the better your job.  This clearly demonstrates the discrimination over normal humans and how their skills are what represent each one.

Lest think about phones, almost every year about five to six new phones are made and each more and more expensive, people buy them because “they are better than the old ones”, but is this really truth.  Well many people prefer the old because the battery holds more, are more indestructible for the material is made, are less expensive and does its job.  Now the new phone does not look so better, this is a example from today and also a metaphor to compare a genetically engineered human and the normal human in terms of skills for example in Gattaca Anton the younger brother the perfect one “the new” surpasses his older brother in many aspects including in the game call “chicken” where they swing as far as they can and the first to give up and swing back to the shore is the loser, Anton used to win, hi was good at that game but Vincent the normal brother he finally prove that he is not imperfect by defeating his younger brother twice.

            Is more than clear that the word presented in Gattaca is not a utopia because still have negatives sides and a utopia for all we know shouldn’t have such problems or mistakes it should be perfect in every sense of the word, Gattaca is a better dystopia than today for all the advances in the fields of technology, medicine et.. but upon anything the human survival.