Define utopia, Gattaca

Beware: This blog is long…

After watching Gattaca, I do not think that this is anything like I would define as a utopia. I only make my own definition based on what I have seen and read about in this class. When I think of a utopia I think of a world in which a group of people live as a community, which is isolated from another community in itself. I think that these people can either be chosen/forced to be a part of this utopia or they can go to this utopia willingly. It depends on the type of utopia that it is. I also think that these people live in the utopia and stay there, obeying the rules and laws that are enforced by a leader. The people who are living in the utopia are told they have capabilities to live freely, but they are always closely monitored by the authority. In some cases the community sees the authority, and in other cases they do not. The people who are a part of the utopia community work together to produce products that benefit themselves and keep them living in their utopia.

 My personal definition of utopia is much different. I think that anyone can imagine a perfect place where needs are met, comforts are prioritized, and luxuries are abundant. I think that utopia is a place where peace remains constant. There are always endless pits to every indulgence or necessity an individual could ever imagine. I also think that even within this place of satisfaction that there will inevitably become a desire for more. This is a common thread in all of the novels, excerpts, and films we have tried to understand so far. Even when a utopia is created and people are thriving, there will be a natural desire, perhaps even a natural need, to want more. This is something the human race cannot escape. If we look at those who have won the lottery for example, there is so many that win millions of dollars only to lose it a few years later. We think “oh how could they be so greedy?” or “how could they lose track of all the money they were spending?” but the thing is; they just wanted more. At what point can you have enough of anything? At what point do you think to yourself, “I’ve had enough of this life, now I want more of this kind of life?” People in their forties and fifties do it too. We have all heard of a mid-life crisis. These are the people that look at their life and think, “I don’t like where I am at. I like this other lifestyle better. I want more. I want change.” Even looking at the community of Twin Oaks, there were people who left the community. These people could not stay in their utopia forever. Maybe they didn’t agree with the rules or beliefs any longer, or maybe they needed to feel more independent.  So, with that I think that even though I have a definition of what a utopia would be like, I know that my definition of utopia cannot exist. This is because of the natural desire for humans to want more to life, even when they have anything they could want, need, or desire. We are creatures of habit, but we also are creatures that like to develop new ideas and make life easier for ourselves.

Now that I have rambled on about my ideas of utopia, I will get back to Gattaca and why I do not think that this is a utopian film. To me this movie showed a situation that could happen. I do not think a utopia is a possible place to live in and be a part of forever, if at all. This is a place that is advanced from where we are now. They are selecting gender of embryos, and hair color, as well as health conditions. This is not too far from where we are headed. People can already pick what eggs are placed with what sperm, and in some cases, I think they can try to pick gender. People go undercover all the time and pretend to be people they are not. I do not think they go to extremes that Jerome went to, both real Jerome and pretending Jerome. However, I do not know this for a fact. They could rub their skin off and use the blood of the person they are posing as. Anyway, I think that there are workplaces where someone would need a fingerprint identification to go into. People could come and go from Gattaca. There were rules here, but it wasn’t where they lived it was where they worked. There were also rules outside of Gattaca in the community. I think that Gattaca seems like a normal way of life to me. People get up, go to work, work hard every day to succeed at work, try to fulfill their dreams,  go home, go out with friends, sometimes break the rules, and eventually look for better opportunities. I guess I have a firm belief of what utopia means to me. When I think of it all I can think of is a place where people are given limitations and rules under careful surveillance. It is a place where people have no free will and appear to be stupid. In Gattaca, Jerome the pretender as I’ll call him was very smart. He did what he had to do to reach his dream. He was the one who was fooling the rest of society. Even though it appeared that he followed the rules, he did not. He was breaking the rules the moment he went in for the interview as Jerome and continued that way as he launched into space. He was a higher part of society because of who he was pretending to be and the job qualifications he had. The question is… if to some this is considered a utopia, then when will Jerome ever feel the desire that this place is not giving him enough? When he returns to earth after having fulfilled his dream, will he still pretend to be Jerome? I think he will continue to be Jerome because he has become Jerome, he loves Jerome. He has the supplies in order to live as Jerome for a while. What happens when that runs out? This perfect life that he was living will be gone. Then he will have to search for more. If there was such a thing as a utopia then it will be gone.

Gattaca reminded me of one of my favorite new shows, Revenge. This is a story about a girl who trades identities with a friend in order to get revenge on the people who led to her father being killed. When I watch this show, I also do not think it is a utopian setting that I would have used to define utopia. It was just about a person who does everything they can to get their one desire in life accomplished. Just when you think she has gotten revenge, she targets another person. If you were to say this is her utopia, then you could also realize that she constantly finds the desire to want more. This place of utopia is constantly revised, and to me that is not what a utopia is.

Although we have seen in our readings that there is commonly one person who has a desire to want more in a utopia, I think that a true utopian community never has that option. Like I said earlier, my definition of utopia is a place where all needs and wants are met, and there is peace. However, because there is commonly a desire to want more, utopia can never be achieved based on my definition.

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