Confronting Unreality: The Unthinkable in Gattaca

Detective Anton Freeman’s assistant detective, Nick, is the epitome of normal in his eugenics-centered society. Conceived through artificial reproductive methods, Nick is a “valid” who was made to have what his society deems a perfect genetic profile. He is the same age as Anton’s older “invalid” brother, Vincent. “Invalids” are considered genetically inferior since they were conceived through traditional means. Nick has never personally known an invalid in his life. Their continued existence has almost never crossed his mind.

It is a conversation with Anton that reminds him that invalids still persist. They are sharing family stories during a late night at the office when Anton offhandedly mentions his invalid runaway brother. Nick can only let out an incredulous “Seriously?” as Anton describes Vincent’s conception, childhood, and how he ran from home to chase his “hopeless, foolish” dreams of working at the esteemed Gattaca Aerospace Corporation as an invalid. Nick can’t believe what he’s hearing. To him, invalids are relics of the past, people whose ghosts are their only presence left on Earth.

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For an invalid to exist and dare to dream of earning a spot on a Gattaca space mission, of all things? He accuses Anton of lying, but Anton assures him that, as unthinkable as it seems, it is the truth. Nick privately wonders what could have been wrong with Anton’s parents. Anton answers, as if reading Nick’s mind, that he doesn’t know what they were thinking, but that his genes serve as proof that they had eventually come to understand reality.

Nick’s disbelief is rooted in a denial of Vincent’s co-evalness. Denial of co-evalness is a concept that describes the idea that certain peoples do not exist at the same historical time as other peoples, even though they are physically alive simultaneously. Vincent was conceived through natural sexual intercourse. In Vincent and Nick’s society, having children in this “traditional” way is considered old-fashioned. Thus, Vincent’s conception is like a historical event. Eugenics is the foundation of Vincent’s and Nick’s world. The way Nick was conceived and born is the culturally “modern” way. Since Vincent was not conceived through eugenics, he is also not culturally modern. In fact, Vincent’s conception makes Nick believe that, though Vincent lives in the same world, his existence is at a whole different time in history.

From Nick’s perspective, Vincent is a walking relic of the past while Nick himself is modern. This means that Nick finds Vincent’s very coexistence “unthinkable.” This denial of co-evalness is often associated with a linear theory of evolution. According to this theory, history can be represented as a line, demonstrating the passage of time. If different peoples can exist at different points of history, the peoples existing in the modern day can be considered more evolved than less modern peoples. Therefore, peoples considered modern are superior to peoples existing in the past, and a hierarchy is thus formed. Because invalids exist at an earlier point in time than the valids, according to this linear theory of evolution, the invalid Vincent is a “less evolved” and “incomplete” person compared to the “complete” and “fully evolved” valid Nick.

Thus, because Nick finds it “unthinkable” that Vincent exists at the same point in time, Nick believes that Vincent must have inferior abilities to valids and is inherently less capable than valids. Anton, also a valid, has a similar outlook, which is why he describes Vincent’s dreams of working at Gattaca as hopeless and foolish. In their minds, the prestigious Gattaca Aerospace, where only the best valids work, would never take on an invalid who inherently lacks their ability. It is beyond their epistemological capacity to even imagine that Vincent can exist as an invalid in their current historical era. Neither have the tools to comprehend the possibility that Vincent is not innately inferior or less qualified than them; such a notion is outside of what they know to be reality.

Assistant Detective Nick continues to carry these hierarchical ideas with him into the near future, during an investigation of a murder at Gattaca. In the process of determining Gattaca’s mission director as the culprit, they happen upon Vincent’s elaborate infiltration scheme, and Nick’s disbelief regarding the situation intensifies. There was evidence of the human samples he used from a valid to pass Gattaca’s genetic screens. With the samples, under the alias “Jerome,” he had held a position at Gattaca and had somehow been considered among the best. Nick finds ways to rationalize this occurrence; the valid must have been the mastermind behind the scheme, expertly manipulating Vincent, who was all too happy to be used as a puppet.

Anton is furious at the discovery and, after the investigation, he challenges Vincent to a swimming competition they call “chicken.” Nick finds himself watching Anton lose to Vincent. In fact, Anton nearly drowns before Vincent rescues him. Nick finds himself unable to explain what he has witnessed. He is more confused and fascinated than ever; an invalid’s only place at Gattaca should be as a janitor, and an invalid besting a valid is absolutely unthinkable! Nick knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that everyone, invalid or valid, has this much common sense, if nothing else. Yet… somehow, it has happened in Gattaca. Somehow, it has happened now, in spite of the reality Nick had always known to be true, before Nick’s very eyes.

What Nick is so captivated by is Vincent’s continued (and rather successful) rejection of hegemonic notions of invalids’ inferiority. According to a linear theory of evolution, as an invalid, Vincent is supposed to be genetically inferior to the valids working at Gattaca and to Anton. Therefore, excelling at Gattaca and beating Anton at “chicken” should be impossible for Vincent. The hegemony in their eugenics-based society further upholds this notion. Hegemony is a concept that details how subordinate groups often allow themselves to be subordinate to dominant groups because it is their own interest or of more benefit to be subordinate. Within Nick’s society’s hegemony, invalids are allowed to remain a part of their society and even in Gattaca. Under hegemony, this is known as consensus, or what the subordinate group (invalids) gains from being subordinate to the dominant group (valids).

The privilege to participate in society is, however, limited to certain roles, such as a janitor; invalids are not allowed to live as valids are. Under hegemony, this is known as coercion, or the terms that a dominant group sets that subordinate groups agree to live by. Thus, invalids in their society willingly agree to exist under hegemony, leading life by the terms valids have set for invalids. Despite this, Nick still sees Vincent defy their hegemony’s coercion, participating as an invalid in Gattaca. Nick cannot reconcile the reality he has grown up believing in with the literal events he has just witnessed. He lacks the epistemological tools to recognize that these hegemonic notions are unfounded. As a result, he cannot believe that Vincent would choose to struggle against the “common sense” that is his inferiority. Moreover, an invalid being more capable and outperforming valids is an almost unreal phenomenon to Nick.

This is why, at first, Nick attempts to make the “unthinkable” into something familiar by upholding hegemonic notions of valids’ superiority. He concludes that the donor was the brains behind Vincent’s infiltration, and that Vincent himself had no authority in the matter. However, when Vincent beats Anton at “chicken,” Nick sees that Vincent is a living contradiction to the hierarchal, hegemonic reality he has grown up to believe in. He is still left unable to acknowledge that Vincent is as capable as any valid member of society, but can recognize that it is Vincent himself that tries to refuse the hegemonic consensus. Nevertheless, even though Nick has had his reality challenged, he remains unable to understand what he has witnessed outside of his epistemology.