Line #24 YMMV/Gattaca


1	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is Director Josef really a smug believer in the genetic engineering system or is he just telling the detectives what he thinks they want to hear? [[spoiler:Despite claiming he was engineered to be nonviolent, he knows he is capable of murder. Also, some fans suspect that he may know Vincent is In-Valid but is willing to let him go on the mission anyway, and that that is why the original director wanted to cancel the mission and Josef killed him to keep the mission going]].
2	* {{Anvilicious}}:
3	** Oh, yeah; "[[TagLine There is no gene for the human soul]]." Basically, "You can't predict greatness" - Vincent didn't cheat at anything except the gene tests, yet excelled as an astronaut anyway. However, Gattaca refuses to look at ''anything'' save gene tests - Both Vincent and Jerome's.
4	--->'''Vincent''': ''No matter how much I trained or how much I studied, the best test score in the world wasn't gonna matter unless it had the blood test to go with it.''
5	** The [[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gattaca#Coda Coda]] hits you like a bagful of wet sand behind your left ear.
6	--->In a few short years, scientists will have completed the Human Genome Project, the mapping of all the genes that make up a human being. We have now evolved to the point where we can direct our own evolution.\
7	Had we acquired this knowledge sooner, the following people may never have been born;\
8	UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln — Marfan Syndrome\
9	Creator/EmilyDickinson — Manic Depression\
10	Creator/VincentVanGogh — Epilepsy\
11	UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein — Dyslexia\
12	UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy — Addison's Disease\
13	Creator/RitaHayworth — Alzheimer's Disease\
14	Music/RayCharles — Primary Glaucoma\
15	Creator/StephenHawking — Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis\
16	[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Joyner-Kersee Jackie Joyner-Kersee]] — Asthma\
17	Of course, the other birth that may never have taken place [[ThisLoserIsYou is your own]]...
18	** It's also very Anvilicious about how ableism - discrimination against disabled people - actually functions in real life. As well as the active contempt that Eugene experiences from people and the list detailed above (which can be summarised as "eugenics is bad okay"), people are often discriminated against with regards to employment despite what the law says; it's incredibly difficult to prove that an employer didn't hire you because of your disability and a lot of people with invisible disabilities won't disclose their disabilities in an interview for that reason.
19	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcReFK4mLHQ The Departure]], which is what happens you combine this trope with TearJerker.
20	* BrokenBase: The film's theme and implications about bioethics are still discussed today in all sorts of contexts, even in universities and highschool philosophy classes, and has been used by both detractors and defenders of eugenetics. Just almost everything in the film can serve to open a debate, starting with the inevitable question about whether Vincent was in the right for wanting to control a dangerous space mission when he's overdue for a heart attack.
21	* FanPreferredCutContent: The deleted scenes which make the doctor at the beginning creepier and give Vincent more {{Secret Keeper}}s have a BrokenBase reaction. Some fans think they affect the pacing and undermine the only theatrical SecretKeeper reveal, but others find them powerful and wish they had stayed.
22	* HilariousInHindsight: The writers make a ''lot'' of fun of the police's obsession with DNA evidence - dubbing them "Hoovers" who ignore everything save what whatever scraps of human detritus they can vacuum up - and the real criminal is located through "[[GoodOldWays good old fashioned police work]]." Nowadays, every form of forensics ''except'' DNA evidence is under fire; The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innocence_Project Innocence Project]] has blown gaping holes in the validity of computer-enhanced photographic evidence, witness testimonies, and even ''fingerprints.''
23	* HoYay:
24	** Vincent and Eugene. That scene after Eugene gets drunk, anyone?
25	** [[spoiler:Eugene leaves him a lock of his hair.]]
26	** When ''Franchise/FamilyGuy'' adds a bit where after singing "We're here, we're queer, get used to it!" Peter yells "Gattaca! Gattaca! Gattaca!" you have to admit the movie has at least a smidge of HoYay. Possibly more.
27	* IronWoobie: Both Jeromes qualify.
28	* OneSceneWonder:
29	** Creator/TonyShalhoub has a few minutes as the underground contact who brings Vincent and Jerome together, helping and lending the equipment necessary for the fraud, and is brilliant as a genetic profile "used car salesman".
30	** Creator/XanderBerkeley as Lamar, the doctor for the space program who learns that Vincent is invalid but lets him fly at the end anyway, believing Vincent has earned the chance to show what he's capable of.
31	* ParanoiaFuel: You can be rejected from a job interview the moment your fingerprint hits the door handle of the interviewer's office. And something innocuous as a lock of hair could give away your identity to someone.
32	* RetroactiveRecognition:
33	** [[Series/BreakingBad Hank Scrader]] can't stray far from law enforcement.
34	** On any given Website/YouTube clip of the scene involving the twelve-fingered pianist, expect to find multiple comments that involve the phrase [[WebAnimation/RatboyGenius "Nark Nark"]]. Ryan Dorin is in fact a professional concert pianist, among other things.
35	* RetroactiveRecognition:
36	** Creator/MayaRudolph also makes one of her first film appearances as the nurse in Vincent's birth who asks his mother for his name.
37	** Vincent and Anton's mother Marie might be recognizable to modern-day sci-fi fans as Admiral Katrina Cornwell on ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''.
38	* StrawmanHasAPoint: The point about DesignerBabies having decreased chances of inheritable diseases isn't necessarily bad. It's not that they wouldn't have been born, they just might not have those conditions which in many cases worsened their lives. Many other genetic conditions are fatal, so those without them would have a chance at life. True, it's possible having them in some cases is a trade-off, or merely through strengthening character, but one can't achieve much if they've died young from, say, progeria. And of course, many would agree that if you have a heart condition, it's a bad idea to become an astronaut.

Context YMMV / Gattaca