Gattaca Supports the Belief that Nature, Despite Its Flaws, Is Preferable to an Error-Free Genetically Engineered Existence

"Consider God's handiwork: who can straighten what he hath made crooked?" (Ecclesiastes 7:13). Such is the opening quote and the thesis of director Andrew Nichol's film Gattaca (1997). Although the film is based on the lives of genetically engineered human beings and the effects that such have on the "invalids", that is those who are "God-children", it deeply criticises the values of a society of "valids" through its satirical tone and the use of film noir techniques. Gattaca not only supports the belief that nature, despite its flaws, is preferable to a supposed error-free genetically engineered existence, but it also advocates that nobody should "tamper with" what "[God] has made crooked." Through the medium of the film, director Nichols attempts to encourage viewers that humanism can defeat genetics and that science has simply gone too far.…