Analysis and Review of Andrew Niccols Film Gattaca Essay Example for Free

Analysis and Review of Andrew Niccols Film Gattaca Essay Man has already landed on the moon, and Sputnik has enabled research on other solar planets. Lives have become healthier, longer, with modern hygiene, sanitation, medicine, and surgery, conquering more physical and mental illnesses by the month. Science has also presented a means of cloning and genetically modifying organisms and food, and shows little to slow it’s pace of evolution. I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science. Vincent Gattaca, directed by Andrew Niccol, gives a perspective of what the future of discrimination is to evolve into: no longer determined by skin color, gender, or social status, but scientific DNA. The civilization portrayed is a discriminatory one, in which status and quality of lifestyle is determined solely by a DNA profile. Children are created by DNA manipulation to produce an impeccable genetic composition, with parents able to buy whatever traits are deemed fanciable for their child. The movie hypothesizes this as a potential practice in the not too distant future, as one where technology’s influence in everyday life is at peak. True or False? It is impossible for our society to become like the one in the movie, ‘Gattaca’, because we don’t have the technology or the capacity to discriminate that way. This essay will argue false, that it is possible that our society is able to become that of Gattaca (sterile, genetically enhanced, and derogatory) although it’s morality is questionable in regards to pros and cons, due to various reasons such as the development of genetic engineering and IVF babies, as well as examples of genetic discrimination in the past presented. * * Recently scientists have made rapid advances in our knowledge of the human genome, as well as our abilities to modify genes. Nowadays, society is able to determine the gender of their child, just like that of Gattaca. An example of an advanced reproductive technique endorsed by society is the InVitro Fertilization (IVF), in which eggs are fertilized with sperm in test tubes to allow parents to reduce the chance of gen etic disorder in the child – with the world’s first IVF child Louise Brown turning 30 this Friday 25th. Parents are now able to choose the type of sperm that will fertilize an egg, which determines the gender and genes of the baby, and allow Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) to screen embryos for potential disease. â€Å"We might see a move towards artificial chromosomes and genetic cassettes that can be inserted at the embryonic stage to correct particular diseases, including Huntington’s†, wrote Prof. Trounsen in the scientific journal nature. One day we may be able to choose cosmetic or desirable characteristics and cure genetic diseases, just like we can modify embryos and undergo surgery to change eye color successfully today. * * Make the child perfect in the test tube, and save money in the future, is a testimonial presented in Gattaca. The current technology of society is quite competent, especially in regards to future development. In essence, genetic engineering may be defined as the manipulation or alteration of the genetic structure of a cell or organis m in medical, industrial, and agricultural fields. It has enabled the successful cloning of Dolly (1996 – 2003) the sheep by Ian Wilmut using a cell from a mammary gland, which is a revolutionary example of the windows opened due to genetic engineering; a hint at what the future could bring. In fact, the successful cloning of many animals (including CC the kitten, Idaho the colt, and Snuppy the dog) will most certainly one day evolve into human gene manipulation at birth; due to this the foundation of Gattaca as humans artificially perfected is theoretically possible. * * * The main character, Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is discriminated against due to his ‘in-valid’ genetic makeup; he doesn’t have a chance in the society of Gattaca because potential employees were not tested for skills or knowledge, rather, their physical and mental possibilities. This form of discrimination refers to treatment or consideration based on genetic status or category, rather than individual merit, and occurs when employers/insurance companies treat people differently because they have a gene ‘mutation’. Many examples in the past depicting this theory include a 1995 survey of people with a known genetic condition in family history found that 22% quoted being denied health insurance due to genetic status, regardless of whether they were already sick. Another case of genetic discrimination is Terri Seargent’s, who, having Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, was abruptly fired after her employer received a bill for preventive treatment, despite having consistently referred to her job performance as exemplary. Furthermore, if society didn’t have the capability to discriminate genetically, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (2008) would need not be introduced. To the question of lacking the capacity to discriminate this way, it is justifiable to conclude that society is capable of such derogatory action. * * In conclusion, the genetically modified world presented in Gattaca is possible due to competent and developing technology in the fields of genetic engineering. Scientific advances like the IVF baby and successful cloning techniques have huge implications for future human reproductive technology: genetic diseases such as Huntington’s could be corrected using artificial chromosomes, and the production of replacement organs from a person’s cells made a reality. In addition, we are also capable of genetic discrimination, as is consistent with Gattacan society.

Individuals vs. Society Essay -- essays research papers

An individual’s role in society can vary with the number themes the characters exhibit. When there are signs of fate, cruelties, weaknesses, and desires for justice and catharsis the role of an individual becomes more complicated. In Antigone, most of those themes are shown thus a single person’s influence or role on society is very small and complicated to attain. However in The Lottery the society has most of the control and there is not many signs of those characteristics so the role of a person is simplified because they are nothing compared to the society combined. Finally, in The Penalty of Death, there are signs of many of the themes but since it is the societies influence against that of an individuals, it is simplified because they have to work together. Out of the three readings, I believe that Antigone exhibits most of the characteristics that complicates an individual’s role in society. There is a considerable amount of fate shown in this story. For example, the most evident is that of our main character Antigone. Her fate is shown from the Prologue where she makes her decision to bury her brother Polyneices. â€Å"Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come?† There is a point that sort of suggests where her conflict will arise where she defies Creon’s law by saying, â€Å"Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way.† Weakness was shown on the part of Creon. His main weaknesses were his cruelty and hubris. He seems especially cruel when he is enraged with Haimon for t...

Comprehension of Prisoners Without Trial Essay

Roger Daniels’ book Prisoners without Trial is another book that describes the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This piece discusses about the background that led up to the internment, the internment itself, and what happened afterwards. The internment and relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II was an injustice prompted by political and racial motivations. The author’s purpose of this volume is to discuss the story in light of the redress and reparation legislation enacted in 1988. Even though Daniels gives first hand accounts of the internment of Japanese Americans in his book, the author is lacking adequate citations and provocative quotations. It’s unfortunate that Daniels does not provide the more substantive treatment he used in the volume he co-edited with Sandra Taylor, Japanese Americans, From Relocation to Redress. The history that led up to the internment was basically an anti-Oriental prejudice that began on the West Coast. When the Chinese immigrants started immigrating to the United States, they posed a social problem. â€Å"As the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, so did the strength of anti-Chinese sentiment among other workers in the American economy. This finally resulted in legislation that aimed to limit future immigration of Chinese workers to the United States, and threatened to sour diplomatic relations between the United States and China.†[1] As a result of this social problem, anti-Chinese prejudice movements began all over the United States and the government fixed this problem by barring the immigration of Chinese immigrants. This prejudice was basically transferred over to the Japanese and this prejudice was felt by many United States citizens, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Daniels notes that, in California, â€Å"in the early 1900’s most of the political parties, the Republicans, the Democrats, and the third party, the Populist, along with the American Federation of Labor, were all against the Japanese immigration† because they believed that Japanese immigration was going to have the same result as the Chinese immigration.[2] The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper began a series of virul ent attacks on the Japanese in America during 1905, matching some of the â€Å"worst tabloid trash-type journalism† that anyone has ever seen. The result was to further inflame public opinion which the politicians were then more than willing to use to further their own purposes. Daniels states that â€Å"politicians from different states were trying to get elected by appealing to the populace and their views. Thus, presidents such as Woodrow Wilson publicly shared his anti-Oriental views. Woodrow Wilson released a strong statement opposing Oriental immigration. What is even less known is that Wilson’s statement was not his own, but was written for him by his chief California backer, James D. Phelan of San Francisco.†[3] According to Daniels, this episode is significant for two reasons: first, it reveals the strong anti-Oriental bias of the leaders of the Wilson Democrats of California; second, it shows the degree to which an unauthentic expression of opinion can delude both the voter and the participants themselves. A very interesting thing is a breakdown of the types of businesses persons of Japanese ancestry who were involved in the city of Seattle and in different cities along the West Coast. As Japanese immigrants came to the United States, they came to the West Coast because of the economic success awaiting there. They ran hotels, grocery stores, dry cleaners, market stands, produce houses, restaurants, barbershops, laundries or gardening services. A lot of them were also involved in farming in rural communities. The Japanese went to America for more opportunities but at that time, there were only two colors that people recognized. Those two colors were white and black. The Japanese really wanted to be a U.S. citizen so they could own land. After they get the land, they could start their own business and make a lot of money. Without their own business, they had to work for whites at low wages. Japanese believed that the way out of low paying jobs was a good education. There was too much discrimination against them so the second generation of Japanese in America had to follow the footsteps of their parents to low paying jobs. The Japanese were still very determined to make it big in America. They wanted to do whatever it took but the Japanese have to overcome a lot of discrimination from the white citizens. The Japanese were very smart but they weren’t able to do what they were capable of in the United States of America. The author talks about the war in Europe and how fast Hitler’s victories were. There was a belief in American government agencies that this happened because there was a vast â€Å"fifth column† of saboteurs and subversives that helped him, which was something that was totally untrue.[4] This same type of thinking, that the military of the â€Å"good† countries could not have lost so easily unless they were betrayed, was carried over into the attack on Pearl Harbor where, for a long while, the belief was that it was not our military’s fault at all for not being ready; it was all due to a massive number of persons of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii that aided the attacking planes.[5] That, also, was totally rejected later, but was useful to the politicians for inflaming public opinion against the Japanese Americans. There was a proposal to let the Japanese Americans stay on the West Coast and just keep them away from any â€Å"sensitive† areas, but the politicians and hate-mongers were against such a limited program, wanting the â€Å"Jap problem† to be dealt with once and for all. Soon after Pearl Harbor the draft boards began classifying Japanese Americans as 4-C, which is a category reserved for enemy aliens.[6] Daniels also points out that, if it was so necessary for military reasons to remove Japanese Americans from the West Coast then that would have been even truer for the Japanese Americans in Hawaii where they formed almost a third of the population. The persons of Japanese Ancestry in California, though, only formed 2% of the population. Daniels later discusses the internment camp descriptions and places the events into four different phases: (1) Settling in (spring1942 – February 1943), (2) registration/ segregation crisis (February 1943-Janurary 1944), (3) draft crisis (January 1944- November 1945), and (4) leaving camp (summer 1946-March 1946). Overall, the book gives the reader a multi-dimensional view on the Japanese internment, which allows the reader to see the political and racial views behind the Executive Order 9066 and the internment of the Japanese. Citation: Daniel, Roger. Prisoners without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II. 1st ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993. ———————– [1] Roger Daniel, Prisoners without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1993), 41. [2] Daniel I bid., 67. [3] I bid., 53. [4] Daniel I bid., 109. [5] I bid., 91. [6] Daniel I bid., 32.

Stem Cell Classification Essay - 1326 Words

Types and Classification of Stem cells Currently, stem cells are unspecialized cells in which have the capability to differentiate into other cell types. The National Institute of health explains that these cells are special in that they serve as internal repair systems replenishing other cells and manifesting into other cells such as muscle, blood, and brain (NIH, 2016). There are embryonic, tissue-specific, mesenchymal and induced pluripotent stem cells, and can be obtained from a variety areas and methods. Embryonic stem cells come from the inner cells of blastocyst of four day old fertilized embryos. Tissue-specific stem cells also called somatic and or adult and have not been discovered to differentiate, they are more organ†¦show more content†¦Food and Drug Administration is in a position to make it impossible† (Acosta, 2016). In 2008 Obama aided in economic recovery and revoked Bush’s executive order, Obama also appointed the NIH to produce acceptable pr ocedures and to govern federal research funds for stem cell research. Currently, there are now 362 cell lines that have federal funding availability instead of the merely 21 as before. Children, adults and the elderly are fighting with many different medical issues and the answer may be right around the corner and yet people cower at the thought of something different or new as opposed to collectively coming with the proper direction to make it possible. Cures and Eradication for Diseases Stem cell research advances have led to cures and eradication of many life-threatening, chronic and debilitating diseases and conditions. Stem cells have the capability to divide and renew for long periods of time and can produce specialized cells. The ability of stem cells to produce more specialized cells is called differentiation. Cancer treatments currently result in considerable loss of healthy tissue, whereas stem cell treatment would spare normal cells while still targeting cancerous cells. Cancer currently kills 7.6 million people a year, 12.7million are diagnosed every year, and these numbers are expected to increase by 50-60 percent during the next two decades. Stem cell treatment is currently being tested on HIV patientsShow MoreRelatedAIDS/HIV Its Effects on Popular Culture Essay1194 Words   |  5 Pagestreated? Who is at higher risk for a possible infection? Are there any possible cures in the making? How may it be prevented? How does HIV/AIDS effect popular culture and society? These and many other questions will be answered in the following essay, along with other useful beneficial knowledge and history. Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a lentivirus, meaning that it takes long periods of time after the initial exposure to show symptoms. 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