GATTACA film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GATTACA film - Essay ExampleSpecifically, Socrates writes the following He who has experience of the manner in which we order judge and administer the State, and still remains, has entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command him. He claims that those who do not obey commands atomic number 18 unjust because they name reliable parental training and education from the state. If they fail to convince the state otherwise, disobedience itself is a kind of crime against the state. Taking this definition on its surface, the eccentric of Vincent Anton Freeman in GATTACA can be shown to violate his contract with the state by trying to rise above his genetically prescribed circumstances. There are many different examples available to show that Vincent refuses to accept his lot in the society of GATTACA. Three such examples will be shown here. First, from his early childhood, Vincent competes against his brother Anton in swimming contests. They swim out to sea and see whi ch one gives up first and swims back. In these early contests, Vincent loses to his brother due to his brothers superb genetic make-up. However, he continues trying to beat his brother rather than accepting this outcome. In the end, he learns to beat his brother by using all his position to swim out, not saving anything for the swim back. In this example, he learns that his will can overcome his genetic destiny. Exercising this, he violates his supposed understanding with the state. Second, Vincent decides he wants to become an elite astronaut. In this choice, he also violates his implied contract, which should require him to accept a menial job not afforded those without superior genetics. In the mere ending to attempt to become more than is available to him, Vincent goes against the deterministic direction the state tells him he should accept. While one could make the argument that by attempting to leave flat coat and go to the stars, Vincent is in fact leaving the state, the fact that he uses state space programs in order to achieve his dreams of becoming more indicates that he has accepted the states material conditions without accepting its moral dictates. Third, and finally, the fact that Vincent uses deception to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut shows that he violates his contract. He steals DNA from a person with a superior profile and uses this to impersonate a different identity. He even undergoes surgery to make himself taller, so that he wont be detected. In doing this, he shows that, on one hand, he is willing to live within the states expectations, but on the other he does not accept its ultimate ordering of justice. He deceives the state while accepting the benefits that it affords him as he lives under that deception. GATTACA, in the end, poses questions about the justice of a state that is formed on genetic determinism. However, it is also an example of a citizen acting within such a state in a charge that is, contractually spea king, unjust. By using the state for his own private ends, Vincent can be said to be unjust, in view of Socrates definition. The fact that we pull for him forces us to ask questions about this social contract and about the nature of justice generally. Second Prompt In her poem, Ethics Linda Pastan defines a situation in which a person must choose between saving a classic painting and another, older human being. She considers this question in light