Gattaca and the Truman show

Gattaca

Gattaca is a city specializing in aerospace research and technology. This research center only hire genetically superior employees. Anyone who is born without genetic perfection will work only as cleaners, janitors or jobs for the average person. When an employee arrives at work, they must place their finger over a DNA analysis for verification that they belong there. Parents have the ability of choosing what their child will look like and even deleting the possibilities of diseases. Natural children are classified as invalid in this society of the genetically perfect. These naturally, born people will be segregated and forced to live in poverty with low-end jobs. To ensure parents have the best children they buy sperm and shop for egg donors.

Vincent is a naturally born child with imperfect genes has dreams of flying into space. In order for Vincent to work at the research facility, he must be aided by Jerome. Jerome is handicapped and must supply Vincent with his DNA like blood samples and urine. Vincent also has to increase his height by surgery in order to as tall as Jerome does.

Vincent cleans himself often to avoid detection of leaving the wrong or invalid DNA behind .If Vincent were to be detected as an invalid he would no longer be able to go to spaceor have a job at the research center.This is one of the shots in the film that stands out as far as lighting. This scene has a neon blue light that he uses inside this chamber to rid as much of his  DNA of the world.

This film demonstrates that a life of perfection does not include happiness. Vincent’s brother is the genetically superior brother and yet he struggles as a detective. He has nothing to prove and has nothing to show to a perfect society that gives out jobs just for being perfect genetically speaking.

As children, Vincent and his brother would swim in the ocean as far as they could until one of them gave up. Vincent would always lose until one day his brother lost his strength and almost drowned in the ocean. Vincent swam him back to shore and after that day, things were never the same between the two brothers.

This sequence has a unique hint of color to it compared to the indoor and night scenes in this movie. The colors look warmer as if the sun is much hotter in Gattaca. During the racing in the ocean scene the camera is at some points in the ocean as if you are in the ocean with the brothers. This gives the scene a more dramatic appearance and adds desperation to the overwhelming power of the ocean.

Gattaca tells a story of perfection vs. imperfection, love and happiness. Vincent proves that he does not need to be genetically superior to others to be successful or rise above the odds. I like this scene in particular when Vincent escaped the police into the shadows of an alley. You can see the fence shadowing on their faces as if they are prisoners.

           

The Truman show

Truman Burbank lives in a seemingly perfect town called Seahaven. In this perfect world, he has a wife and a desk job. Every morning his next-door neighbors greet him as he goes to work. He has a perfect life; the weather is always bright and sunny and everyone seems to be happy and friendly all the time.

This scene of Truman leaving his house in the morning has vignetting around the edges to make it look like a hidden camera. He has no idea that 5,000 hidden cameras are all around him.

Truman is the only one who does not know he is on a live television show. He has been the star of this show since he was a child. The producers of this show actually adopted him, as he was an unwanted child. Seahaven is actually a very large studio and everything in the studio is manmade including the sun and the moon. All of his friends and family are actors and he believes they are real genuine people.

When Truman was young, he went out at sea with his father in a small sailboat and a storm hit and his father drowned at sea. Little did Truman know that that man was an actor and this was supposed to be traumatic for Truman so he would have a fear of the ocean so he would not try to leave by boat.

There is also product placement marketed to pay this show to run 24/7. Truman has no idea that his friends, family and people everywhere in Seahaven are marketing items right before his eyes. In this shot, Marlon holds the beer in a commercial pose in conversation with Truman. With all the hidden cameras available, commercials happen often without Truman ever knowing.

Out of the millions of viewers of the Truman show only a few people have tried reveal what is really going on. Sylvia is one of the few people who actually want Truman to know the truth about his life. Truman does not question his life until Sylvia reveals to him by the ocean what is really happening. She tells him that he must find her and that everyone is pretending. Truman starts to question his existence in Seahaven. He becomes paranoid and asks his best friend what he should believe. Christof watches Truman hidden in the moon and tells him he is the creator of a television show where Truman is the star. This scene displays Christof as a god or the creator of life. Millions of people take comfort and security watching Truman sleep at night and watching his life develop 24/7. When Truman finally leaves the studio, the show is over and he finally has a chance at real life for the first time ever. As he walks out of the studio, Sylvia runs out of her house leaving you with the idea that they will again reunite.

                                                A world at risk by Monica Martin
Its not a surprise on how many similarities dystopian films have in comparison to our standards of living. Dystopian films often have some type of propaganda beating away at everyone's heads telling them what to think and what to eat and what to wear and everything else. I think the film makers want you to see these dystopian worlds and realize that these imaginary worlds of horrror famine and disaster can very well happen to us. I think we will continue to see more fear mongering in media broadcasting in this world and dystopian worlds.