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In this article, I argue that the art nouveau and art deco design elements deployed in the bioethical film Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1997) frame it within the era of the eugenics movement. These designs, which reference the natural or organic world and are an abstraction thereof, draw the viewer into thinking about human evolution and the role that contemporary biomedicine plays in the (re)design of genetic information.
This emphasis upon design is first shown in the computer-animated pre-credits se- quence that accentuates the DNA base letters GATC by highlighting them in the film's title as well as in the actors' names. The acronym Gattaca stands for a genetic sequence found on chromosome 4 and is composed of the letters of the four DNA bases: Guanos- ine, Adenosine, Thymine and Cytosine, which are usual- ly found in various combina- tions (that is, TAGC- CATT- TAFF-GAGT) to form a DNA sequence.1 This early accent on design through the let- ters extracted from the ac- tors' names establishes that the characters in this drama have been defined by and reduced to the language and the meaning of code.
The film is set in the future and presents individuals who have or have not been genetically 'enhanced'. Genetic enhancement includes the 'improvement' of physical and behavioural characteristics, and is hotly debated because it requires not only the selection and removal of genetic information from a fertilized embryo, but It also involves gene therapy that will 'enhance' the individual and possibly affect their offspring. Gattaca raises pertinent questions that surround current advances in biotechnology at the beginning of the twenty-first century, such as in vitro fertilization, cloning, pre-implantation diagnosis, gene therapy, and the possible consequences of these biotechnologies. It invites the audience to consider the expectations placed on an individual who has been genetically enhanced - and those who have not. It directly addresses issues such as disability and how it has been extended to include those who are considered genetically inferior. Apparently futuristic, the film mirrors present-day society, as Marcy Darnovsky has noted, in that both employers and Insurance companies have used information from DNA to 'discriminate against those labelled genetically 'defective'.2
Gattaca, unlike other science fiction films, does not rely on high-tech special effects. Instead, it includes...