Documentation for the Presentation

Name: Nermin Vejzovic Teacher: Miss Beer

Subject: English Date of Presentation: 29.06.2017

The possibilities of genetic engineering and its influence on humans a utopian or dystopian
Task vision?

1. The Structure of
the Presentation 1. Definition of Genetic Engineering
1. How Genetic Engineering works
2. Gattaca
1. Summary
2. Ending scene
3. Genetic Engineering in Gattaca
4. Effects onto the Characters
3. Utopian or Dystopia?
1. Utopian/Dystopian facts
2. Conclusion
4. Sources

1. Definition of Genetic Engineering

Genetic Engineering is when the genetic code of an organism is altered to produce a desired
trait. This is done by taking a gene from one organism and inserting it into the DNA of
another organism to get the wanted end result. The result is also called a genetically modified
organism (GMO). This works in animals, plants and microorganisms

1.1 How Genetic Engineering works

At first, we want to find an orgasims that naturally contains the desired trait we want to have.
Secondly, the DNA from that one organism which naturally contains the desired trait gets
distracted from that organism and this new gene is called a transgene and it gets delivered into
the cells of the recipient organism. This process of delivering the transgene into the cells of
the recipient organism is called transformation.

The most common transformation technique uses bacteria that naturally genetically engineer
plants with its own DNA. The transgene is inserted into the bacteria, which then delivers it
into the cells of the organism that is being engineered.
Another technique, called the gene gun coated with copies of the trasngene into the cells of
the recepient organism, with either technique, genetic engineers have no control over where
or if the trasngene inserts into the genome as a result, it takes hundreds of attempts to achieve
just a few transgenic organisms.

2.1 Gattaca (Summary)

Vincent Freeman is the main protagonist of Gattaca and has one big dream he wants to fulfill.
He wants to travel to outer space and be an astronaut. In order to be an astronaut he has to join
Gattaca. Gattaca is a research center specialized in aerospace research but has some
significant characteristics. They only hire people who poses perfect genes. Vincent however is
a invalid he was born of natural causes unlike his brother Anton who is a valid since he
was genetically engineered. Anton also always got preferred by his parents and Vincent
decided one day to leave home and work as a janitor at Gattaca.
In order to join Gattaca he started to trick the entire security system by taking the identity of
Jerome Murrows. Jerome has perfect genes and is a swimming superstar. However, he got
second place at a swim contest and got depressed because of it. It is also the reason why he
tried to kill himself but failed doing so but he got paralyzed and needs to sit in a wheelchair.
Vincent takes the looks of Jerome and with the DNA samples of Jerome he got into Gattaca
but one day a mission administrator got killed and Vincent dropped an eyelash at the crime
place and so he becomes the main suspect. He also meets Irene Casini which he falls in love
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with and she admires Vincent and wants to help him in achieving his dream. The killer was
found and it was a mission director and the person who solved the case was Vincents brother
Anton. He challenges Anton to a final swim contest which Vincent won. At the day of flight
Vincent said goodbye to Irene and Jerome gave Vincent enough DNA samples to last for 2
lifetimes.

2.2 Gattaca (Ending scene)

Before Vincent goes into the space rocket he needs to do a final genetic test by Dr. Lamar.
Vincent is unprepared and gives a DNA sample of himself to the doctor. He then sees that
Vincent is a invalid but he doesn't seem surprised. He instead admires Vincent for all the
things he went through and says that his son is sitting in the same shoes as Vincent. So the
doctor does not say a word and lets Vincent through.
Now there will be a constant switch of scenes between the two characters Vincent and
Jerome. Vincent goes into the rocket and the rocket door gets closed while in the meantime
Jerome enters the incinerator and closes the incinerator door. Afterwards the rocket starts off
and we see all the flames coming out while Jerome starts the incinerator and we see all the
flames inside of it. We then see a closeup shot of all the members that are inside of the rocket
and Jerome while we see afterwards a closeup shot of Jerome and how he puts on his second
place medal which in the fire turns into a first place medal and this could mean that even
though Jeromes depression got the better end of him he still was able to give his life a whole
meaning and in the end he managed to help Vincent fulfill his dream. In the meantime Vincent
sees the look of hair that Jerome gave him and this could mean that even though Jerome is not
able to fly with him he is still able to be at Vincents side and be there when he is going to
achieve his dream.

2.3 Genetic Engineering in Gattaca

Genetic Engineering is used in Gattaca to produce babies that poses perfect genes. And those
babies that poses genes that are called perfect those are the so known valids. Valids are
the higher class society while the people who are born of natural causes are in the lower class
of society the so called invalids. Meaning that your career path gets chosen and is set in
stone as soon as you are born. Genetic Engineering however causes a big gap between the
valids and invalids. The invalids just get discriminated and are not able to choose what
they want to do and have no freedom of their life. The best example is Vincent who wants to
become an astronaut but he can not since he is a invalid.
But Vincent was able to trick the system with the identity and DNA samples of Jerome
Murrows and he was able to hide his imperfection and achieve his dream of becoming an
astronaut and fly to outer space.

2.4 Effects onto the Characters

Vincent Freeman:
Is an invalid and is born out of natural causes which leads into him getting discriminated by
not only his family but also by the society. His family prefers his brother Anton who is
genetically engineered and a valid. He wants to fulfill his dream to fly to outer space but he
can not since he is a invalid and Gattaca only accepts valids. So he tricks the whole
security system of Gattaca by getting the identity and DNA samples of Jerome Murrows. He
needs to hide his imperfection since he gets discriminated by being an invalid Thanks to the
existence of genetic engineering he gets hold back and discriminated and is only able to
achieve his dream by tricking the whole system.

Irene Cassini:
Irene is the big love interest of Vincent and he really supports him and admires for the things
he is doing and she also accepts him even though he is not perfect since even though she is a
vaild she also got her own problem with her heart disease with which she is not able to
accompany Vincent on his flight to Titan.

Anton Freeman:
He was the more successful child due to being the one who was genetically engineered. Once
he saw that Vincent was successful in what he was doing he started to get jealous since Anton
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was always the more dominant child and the one who always won. In the final swim contest
he lost to Vincent even though he has perfect genes.

Jerome Eugene Morrow:

He has optimal genes and could become anything he wants to. He was a swimming star but
often he came second in a high profile competition he though that he failed and attempted to
commit suicide by jumping in front of a car. He didn't die but he got paralyzed and needs to
sit in a wheelchair. Jerome really wants to be perfect but he doesn't want to realize that there
will always be flaws which he does not want to understand. Because of Genetic Engineering
he really wants to be perfect but since he is not he starts to fall into depression and eventually
kills himself. But he still gave his life a meaning by supporting Vincent to fulfill his dream.

3.1 Utopia or Dystopia (Facts)

Most people are born with little to no disabilities which indeed is a utopian factor. However, it
is only a perfect world for those people who are genetically gifted. For people that are born
out of natural causes it is definitely not a Utopian world since they get discriminated and have
a huge lack of individuality. They can not decide what they want to be. Their career path is set
in stone as soon as they were born. On top of that, there is strict surveilance and numerous
identity checks which is a dystopian sign. The uniforms of the police and detectives are all in
gray trench coat and it really brings back memories of a dark and secret police organization
such as the SS in the Nazi regime for example. In addition, the story of Gattaca is set in a
futuristic world which also speaks for a dystopia. The main protagonist Vincent Freeman
opposes the views of the world he lives in which is something that the main protagonists of a
dystopian story have in common. When you think about a utopian world then you would think
about equality but this equality is not existent in the world of Gattaca because of their
oppressive system where everything depends on your DNA and you get put into a specific
group where you have no chance of climbing out of it.

3.2 Utopia or Dystopia (Conclusion)

The idea behind the Genetic Engineering in humans is to create some sort of so
calledsuperbabys that have perfect genes and can not get diseases so easily which is a good
thing. But there are of course to the people that are not genetically engineered and the
discrimination that we saw in Gattaca could also happen to us in the real world one day and
genetic engineering could cause segregation. Genetic engineering does not support the
2. The Answer to individuality as well since everything is predestined since you can decide what traits your
the Task baby should have and which not and maybe one day there will be such a world in which
science takes over and people only look at your DNA. Genetic Engineering in humans would
make a perfect world but only for the people that are genetically gifted. But there are also the
people that are born out of natural causes and those people will be the losers and will be the
ones who get discriminated. In a Utopian world a person must be able to find his own purpose
in life and in my opinion this is not possible when your baby is genetically engineering and
everything is already predestined.
For the research I used mostly the internet since there is a lot of Information about not only
the movie Gattaca but also about the topic Genetic Engineering. I filtered out the most
useful information about the film Gattaca, about the characters and about Genetic
Engineering that I needed for my Presentation and erased all the unnecessary information I
3. Methods and the had. I also informed myself a lot about the book Brave New World since there are a lot of
Process similarities between the Gattaca and Brave New World. I also knew a lot about the film
Gattaca and the theme of the movie which deals with genetic engineering is also something
I am really interested in since it is not only a topic which deals with science but it is also a
topic which deals with religion and philosophy which I really like.

To present my presentation I will use PowerPoint since it is great to visualize my researches

and pictures. I will not only have a lot of pictures but I will also have a lot of information
aswell which can be perfectly displayed with PowerPoint. I am also able to put some
4. Media Keywords and notes onto a PowerPoint and this makes it easier for me to present it since
there will be a lot of information. To add on that, I also already developed skills for
PowerPoint and I am able to use it really well.
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5. List of Sources

Ich versichere, dass die Prsentation von mir selbststndig erarbeitet

wurde und ich
6. Explanation keine anderen als die angegebenen Hilfsmittel benutzt habe. Diejenigen
Teile der Prsentation, die anderen Werken im Wortlaut oder dem Sinn
nach entnommen wurden, sind als solche kenntlich gemacht.

20.03.2017
Date:
Signature of the Student