Excellent work discussing important themes from the movie Gattaca! I thoroughly enjoyed reading each post! Thanks!
Compare and contrast Jerome (Jude Law) with Vincent (Ethan Hawke). How are they similar and how are they different? What does the movie want us to understand from seeing these two characters and their stories side by side?
Lastly, what is the movie's overall message? How is it relevant to society? Is it relevant to society? Explain.
Good work!
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Jerome and Vincent have some similarities. Before Jerome had his accident, he was successful and hard working. Vincent has the same characteristics except he has to work harder than Jerome to achieve his goal since he is an “invalid”. There are differences between them as well. Vincent strives to live even though according to the doctors, he was supposed to die a long time ago. Jerome is suicidal. He didn’t appreciate his talent even before the accident. According to the movie it wasn’t even an accident, he intentionally walked in the car’s way. I think the movie wants us to see the differences between these two characters. Even though they are portraying the same person, you can’t change your personality.
I think the movie’s overall message is that if you have the willpower, you can achieve whatever you want. This is relevant to society to motivate people who don’t have enough money to go to college or are limited in achieving their dream.
Jerome is supposed to be an elite, a perfect person, where as Vincent is a "God Child," but it seems although Vincent has poor sight and doesn't have to physical ability that Jerome once had before his accident, Vincent has the drive to do what ever he wants and he would do anything to do it, like flying in space, he had to use someone elses identity, but he still competed and was considered to be one of the finest.
I believe the movie's message is that anything in life is possible, even if you have something holding you back you can push your way through it and achieve what you want out of life. I believe it is relevant to society in many ways, one being, if you come from a family that doesn't have much money, it doesn't mean that you are going to be stuck with those kind of finances, if you do well in school you can recieve scholarships, you can even take out federal loans to go to school, you just have to put in the time and work hard, just like Vincent did.
-Michael Hillery
I believe that Jerome and Vincent a like in some ways. The main way is that they both are stuck in a body that they do not want. Vincent is an “unnatural child” who wants can never be better than the test tube children, and Jerome has the genetic makeup but doesn’t want to do anything with life. Although Jerome is superior in the fact that his genetic make up is better than Vincent’s, he can not pursue anything because of his accident. A big difference between them is the passion they have. Vincent does everything he can to become a Gattaca employee and make a trip around the sun, where Jerome actually said in the movie that he was trying to kill himself. He saw the car coming and stepped out in front of it. I think they put these characters together because they were so different at the beginning, but became so much of the same in the end. They really became the same person, wanting the same thing. We all have something that keeps us going for the day and these two had each other. They both had passion for keeping it a secret of who Vincent really was. The overall message I believe is that even though our genetic make up can be better than others, we are all just the same people who can do the same things. I think this is relevant to society because it deals with discrimination. To the blind eye in society discrimination is not that big of deal. But it really is everywhere. In the movie only elite people are allowed in Gattaca. Today, think who works at Hooters. I know it’s a small thing and many people wouldn’t even apply for it, but there is definite discrimination when hiring. Althought our discrimination doesn’t come from the genetic makeup of people, maybe someday it will.
Jerome and Vincent are both very similar. They were both unhappy with who they were. Vincent wished he wasn't born a degenerate. Jerome wasn't happy living up to the standards of his superior birth. They both wanted to leave the world behind. This movie showed us that you can overcome any predetermined possible defect by striving and working hard for what you want. It's not a matter of who you are, or what you were born into. It's a matter of what you want and what you are willing to do to accomlish your goal.
This movie is very relevent to society. Everyone is striving to be perfect, but it really comes down to what makes you happy. We are striving to make life easier for everyone. However, I believe it is our falls that rounds us out as much as our accomplishments. People need to understant that no amount of the "right genes" is going to make you succeed better in life unless you have the personality for it.
Jude Law(Jerome)had genetics that could take him anywhere, but his body could not. Ethan Hawke(Vincent), however had a body that could do anything and genetics that could take him nowhere. Both characters had dreams, and could only reach them by helping eachother. The message that I recieved from the movie was to always follow your dream. I think that it is relevant to our society. The only person standing between you and a dream is yourself. Anything can be achieved if you want it badly enough, and work hard enough to get it. In our society, that idea drives many people who have nothing, to get something.
Jude Law's character, Jerome, is the polar opposite of Ethan Hawke's character, Vincent. Jerome was given everything in his life, right down to his perfect genetics. He could do anything, he was a superman. In contrast Vincent was not given any of this, he was actually a lower class citizen than Jerome, but he was able to achieve more than most of the superbeings. There are some similarities between the two however. Jerome finally felt what it was like to be Vincent when he lost his legs and was no longer a god. Vincent also was able to slip right into Jerome's life quite well and see exactly how the other half lived. I think the movie's overall message is the triumph of the human spirit idea. Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Another possible message is that no matter how much you try to keep something secret, someone is going to find out. That was awesome that the doctor knew the whole time. And, finally is it relevant to society. The first message would have to be a resounding no. We live in reality, not fantasy and there are certain things that are just not possible. The second message is definitely relevant to society, because that's just a fact. You can't hide your true self forever, especially when people get close to you.
Jerome and Vincent are the main characters of Gattaca and are the complete opposites of each other. Jerome, played by Jude Law is 'perfect' genetically, he was a great athlete and is considered to superior because of his genes. Vincent is imperfect because he was created out of love, delivered in a normal birth, and lacks the genes that could give him an advantage. Apart from their conception, Jerome and Vincent differ in the way they chose to live their lives. Jerome, who is 'perfect' genetically becomes depressed, tries to commit suicide by walking in front of a car, and is an alcoholic. Vincent, who is genetically imperfect is more ambitious and goes after his dream of being out of space by any means possible. Vincent's ambition to overcome the label put by the world on him is a key message in the movie.
The movie is relevant to society in that is shows the dangers of the advancements in Science. It prophecies the challenges these advancements may place on the human race especially in terms of moral values (ie. creating 'perfect' babies).
Discrimination by Genes could become a factor in the future due to the advancements in technology. The scary part is that this form of discrimination could be justified just like the movie.
Jerome and Vincent are the same because they both have all these hopes and dreams that they want to accomplish. One that thing that Jerome can’t accomplish that Vincent can is to make those dreams come true. Vincent is different from Jerome because he doesn’t have the perfect genes that he needs to be recognized and Jerome does have those perfect genes. The movie wants us to understand with having these two characters side by side is that with the help of other people and the determination you can accomplish anything. They also want us to see that even if some people are different and are not considered perfect they can still do the same things as the other person can.
The movies over all message I think, is that no matter what a person’s chemical make-up is they can still do the things that other people do too. They think that every person should be treated equally and not be shown discrimination just because they are said to not have the perfect genes. For example, all the doctors said that Vincent would only live so long but after all he lived way past what they told him. That shows even though they thought that he is said to live a certain period of time that if he puts his mind to it he could really manage it. Also when Vincent went in to get tested as himself they gave him multiple tests and told him that he wasn’t good enough but, when he went in as Vincent they gave him one little test and that was good enough to get him in.
Vincent wants to achieve his dream and Jerome has already done what he wanted to achieve, but wanted to pursue on. They both want something and in order to achieve it they work together. In the end they both leave the earth, Jerome being forever and Vincent for only a year. Side by side the two main characters both had secrets and life long goals. Jerome and Vincent were more alike and dislike even if they had to work to keep their secret. Jerome is leaving only to make life on Vincent easier giving him every opportunity to live his life to the fullest. Leaving Vincent in the past to have just vanished into thin air and Jerome coming back only to find that he is all of Jerome and non of Vincent.
The movie’s overall message to me was to keep goals in mind. No matter how out of reach that goal may be. Just like when Vincent couldn’t beat his brother when he was younger to when he became Jerome beating his long lost older brother for a second time. It really is relevant to society being the fact that in-valid and valid were the two main social groups. The in-valid were a lower class and valid were the higher class. This is the future that we think may come in years from now, where we know when we will die and what our problems are before they effect us in anyway possible. Society discriminates greatly and in this life time it happens to be degeneratives.
--Angela Patzner
Jerome and Vincent both play a similar role in Gattaca, Vincent has a heart condition where he won't be able to travel into space and he becomes Jerome so he can tracel in space. They become the same person and identity. They both had tragedies, Jerome had a accident where it crippled him and Vincent had a severe heart condition where they thought that he wouldn't live past 30. This really does relate to society since Vincent has a heart condition he gets discriminated by his genes and not by his race and color. In our society we won't let people do certain things by there race or color.
I think that Jerome and Vincent are very similar in that they both had dreams of being a part of something bigger than themselves and becoming a person who makes a difference in that area. One difference in their dreams was that Jerome wanted recognition for what he knew he could have done; that is winning a gold medal. Vincent also wanted to be noticed for what he knew he was capable of accomplishing but even more I think that he wanted to just be able to fulfill his dream of going into space. The message that comes across the strongest to me does not come until the very end when the man who has been taking blood and urine samples the whole time actually finds out that Vincent is not Jerome and does not act surprised or turn him in but simply lets him go and continues on with his work wishing Vincent to not be late for his mission. To me this finishes off the message that anyone can do anything if they only put their mind to it and that with hard work and perseverance you can accomplish your goals no matter how beg they might be. That seems to come across to me as the strongest message that the movie has. I do think that this message is very applicable to society today and that we should pay close attention so as not to deprive anyone of fulfilling dreams that they are fully capable of fulfilling.
They are similar in their ideas and beliefs. They are different in their dreams. They are physically different too. With both of these characters, I believe, were trying to get different aspects of normalcy to come out in the movie. From what I got there are hopes for the future was both the same. Society shouldn’t play god because they can hold people down from what they could achieve. This superhuman is not real and will only make the world unjust. -mark L-
I think that the characters played by Jude Law and Ethan Hawke are similar in a few different ways. First of all, both characters feel very strong about the cause. They both feel like they have gotten something good out of the whole thing. Jerome (Jude Law) says towards the end of the film that he feels as though he got the better end of the bargain because although Vincent (Ethan Hawke) now has Jerome’s body, Jerome has Vincent’s dream. Vincent was willing to give that up to become perfect in order to achieve his goal. This is where their differences also come into play. Vincent was willing to do what ever it took to achieve his goal and work hard to make up for his loss, and Jerome was willing to do anything it took to help him with that. Jerome was more into “serving others” while Vincent has his eye on his destination.
I think that the movie portrays these two characters as different types of people in today’s world. There are always those who think the grass is greener on the other side, and those who are willing to do whatever it takes to help others. These two characters are completely different people although their similarities helped them out big time in the long run. I believe that in some aspects this movie is relevant to society in that the world is like a bucket of crabs. People will do what ever it takes to pull others down. But then there are the strong ones that will succeed and go beyond expectations. It is also relevant to society because of the whole “gene phenomenon”. People are becoming too obsessed with finding a man with what we like to think of as “perfect” genes in order to make the perfect baby. In many cases, it no longer seems natural. People are going to crazy extremes to make this world “perfect” by making “perfect people”.
-Brooke O. Kvach
Vincent wasn't anything like Jerome instill he had to be. He changed his looks,his hair, how he talked,and learned to be a neat freak so not to leave any trace of genetics behind. The only similarity that I could see is Jerome was successful, was perfect instill his was injured. He then became an invalid like Vincent. Jerome who knows what it was like to be perfect and now an invalid seems to want to help Vincent succeed and overcome the set back that society has stereo typed the imperfect
The message I got was money talks .If you have enough resources It can take you places where the average person can only think of. Steve
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