Problems of Eugenics and Posthumanism in the Film Gattaca

Abstract

Eugenics is the science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. There have been many studies in eugenics on pure bloodline or good bloodline. Since the late 20th century, it has been developed into ‘new eugenics’ in its collaborative efforts with biotechnology. Whereas old eugenics, if we can call it that way, tried to make better people of a nation or the whole humankind by removing inferior elements, new eugenics is expected to make humankind free from virus and serious diseases by research on gene therapy and genetic engineering. This is related to the notion of posthumanism, which aims at far better human beings, or post human beings, by artificially renovating human beings. Both new eugenics and posthumanism, however, produce great anxiety. Whether old or new, eugenics is based on human desire to seek better things to its extreme. It is evident that it will produce severe conflicts between superior groups and inferior groups and many unanticipated problems in its implementation in society. Ultimately, research on genetic engineering will deeply affect the essence of life in nature. Furthermore, there have been criticisms on posthumanism in that it lacks accountability with regard to future human beings. The film "Gattaca" is about these concerns and is regarded as one of the best SF films. This paper tries to link eugenics, posthumanism, and the film "Gattaca". The core issue found in all these is the ‘quality of life’. We can also find violation of human dignity in the social system and policies when they try to divide the superior and the inferior and eradicate the perceived inferiority. This paper approaches this issue from the perspective of cultural contents and shows why eugenics and posthumanism appeal to human beings and why they can cause problems. In particular, this paper examines the film "Gattaca" from the perspective of social cultural criticism and original source analysis and shows critical voices found in the film about genetic engineering as new eugenics and posthumanism.