Art always exists in a difficult balance between the author's intention and the public's interpretation.
This has been a prominent point of recent online discourses on the topic of “media literacy.” Think of the anti-fascist themes of “Starship Troopers” or “Helldivers II,” which can be appreciated by a casual audience who simply finds the material entertaining and doesn’t engage with the satire (or actively rejects such thematic readings).
Art does not always need to be interpreted as intended.
The dynamics and themes that exist in a film can take on new meanings over time. Whether you advocate the auteur theory or the “death of the author,” a creator’s ability to communicate ideas to their audience is always in tension with the audience itself.
At some point, even the staunchest defenders of authorial intent have to admit that audiences will interact with art as they see fit, and that it can take on new meanings.
And this was something I reflected on last weekend as I rewatched “Gattaca” for the first time in a decade. As I enjoyed this 1997 sci-fi classic, I began to realize that the premise of its film tackled one of the most difficult issues facing this election cycle: in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The themes of “Gattaca” are not difficult to discern.
Director Andrew Niccol has built an impressive career writing and directing high-concept, socially conscious sci-fi films such as “The Truman Show”, “In Time” and “Anon”, as well as the excellent anti-war drama “Lord of War”.
“Gattaca” specifically addresses the themes of racism and discrimination, showing a dystopian society where genetic engineering prevents diseases and creates almost perfect humans, perfectly adapted to the needs of society.
Set in the near future, the world of tomorrow is a world of incredible scientific advancements. Rockets explore the solar system, genetic engineering has become prophetic, and science enables miracles. Unfortunately, the world of Gattaca has become hostile to “faith births” or other types of unmanipulated human reproduction.
Although the law prevents discrimination, it is not enforced.
Humans born into the natural world are forced into unfulfilling labor jobs, while their genetically pure brethren become elite athletes and scientists. This happens unless the “invalids” can purchase the identity of an “able” person and live in their place, which our protagonist Vincent (Ethan Hawke) does in order to achieve his goal of becoming an astronaut.
The film's premise is inherently anti-eugenic, and its murder mystery elements highlight the logistical challenges of a world where undesirable castes are weeded out through frequent blood draws and DNA sequencing.
The premise of the film also addresses the problems of genetic engineering in general. The process of genetic engineering from its inception marginalizes Christians as second-class citizens. It also devalues human life in its attempt to improve it by eliminating chronic diseases.
These drugs only become tools to climb the corporate ladder and make profits, while the undesirable classes suffer for reasons beyond their control.
How far would you go to make your dreams come true?
Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law star in Gattaca. It is now available on Netflix. image.twitter.com/MhprfTmzNL
— Netflix (@netflix) March 31, 2022
In the film's lengthy prologue, we learn that Vincent was born into a Catholic family during a passionate night between young lovers, as evidenced by a rosary hanging from the rearview mirror of his car. The couple make it to the end of the pregnancy, where doctors perform a genetic analysis on the baby and discover that he will likely only live 30.2 years due to genetic defects.
This disturbs them enough to request genetic testing for their second child, and four designer embryos are successfully fertilized for the couple to implant whenever they wish. Three of them are discarded and the fourth becomes Vincent's younger brother Anton (Loren Dean), who does not have to suffer the indignity of living as a “faith birth” with limited opportunities in the genetic economy.
The horror of “Gattaca” is rooted in a progressive desire to combat dehumanization and discrimination, but the biological realities of in vitro fertilization mirror those of the processes we see in the film. The callousness of doctors who nonchalantly discard fertilized embryos or read death statistics to the mother of a newborn speaks to the antiseptic and anti-human challenges of IVF.
On February 16, the state of Alabama sparked a national debate about IVF when her state's highest court ruled in favor of a family who sued a fertility clinic after it accidentally destroyed several embryos because they qualify as human beings under the law.
The decision sparked widespread panic in the IVF industry. Supporters of the ruling feared that practitioners would be sued, as the process often results in the destruction of embryos.
The issue, which arose after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sparked intense debate. Pro-choice advocates pointed out the strange and seeming contradiction of pro-lifers opposing a medical procedure that helps families conceive children despite fertility problems.
However, IVF critics view the process as an affront to the sanctity of life by commodifying childbirth and discarding healthy fertilized embryos, fueling a conditional attitude toward the value of human life. The two largest religious denominations in the U.S., the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Conventionhave formally condemned the practice.
The Catholic Church published its official position in its 1987 document Donum vitaewarning that “the practice of keeping human embryos alive in vivo or in vitro for experimental or commercial purposes is totally contrary to human dignity.”
However, 74 percent of Americans support IVFmaking it a difficult issue for pro-life activists to address. Both the Republican and Democratic parties have been quick to assert their approval of IVF as a pro-family policy.
On August 29, President Donald Trump announced that Its administration would even make IVF treatments easier. free of charge through government or private means and provoking the ire of pro-life supporters for attempting to enforce the practice with taxpayer money.
IVF is a complicated topic for all the reasons listed above.
Secular conservatives have been quick to dismiss the criticism, with commentators such as Richard Hanania pointing “You keep using the word 'eugenics' as an insult to health. No one on Earth who does not already accept your religious views will agree with you.”
Post-Christian America is not interested in this debate, especially when Republicans are pushing pro-birth policies. The implications of IVF are irrelevant. Many religious people even have utilitarian, but otherwise understandable, views that disagree with their churches on the issue because IVF helps them live out the family values they believe in.
Ironically, though, this is something “Gattaca” gets right by accident. The antiseptic world of the near future shows us the banal horrors of a world where human life is easy to throw away from the start. The problem doesn’t stop in the womb.
The situation escalates until the secret police are chasing invalids off the streets. The same doctors who help you conceive become the same people who tell you where you can live and work. Your value as a human being is reduced to the blood that runs through your veins. The fruit of these policies bordering on eugenics is an anti-human world of casual discrimination and sterility.
Niccol almost certainly never imagined his film could tackle a subject like this, given his progressive credentials. His films deal with racism, income inequality, existentialism and the horrors of technology and media.
You probably feel mortified by the current dialogue on reproductive issues. That said, your films don’t exist in a vacuum. Unwittingly, “Gattaca’s” fear of dehumanization reflects the same fear that IVF critics feel in their activism.
At the very least, it is a valuable warning to IVF advocates: beware of potential negative outcomes.
Tyler Hummel is a Wisconsin-based freelance critic and journalist, a member of the Music City Film Critics Association, and a 2021 College Fix Fellow at Main Street Nashville.