Symbolism in Andrew Niccols "Gattaca"

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Analysis of the ending sequence

3. Conclusion

4. Bibliography

1. Introduction

Gattaca is a film by director Andrew Niccol. It is set in the not too distant future and is about a man, Vincent Freeman, living in a society where the fate of its citizens is already influenced before their birth. By prenatal preselection the so called “Valids”, people who are genetically superior to those who have been conceived the common way, are destined to have privileged jobs and build the elite of society. Vincent, a “faith birth”, whose genes are flawed, has the dream to become an astronaut. To achieve this apparently hopeless goal he takes the identity of Jerome Morrow, a “Valid” with perfect genes, who is disabled and tied to a wheelchair after a suicide attempt. Equipped with great ambition, Vincent manages to overcome the obstacles on his way to become an astronaut at Gattaca, a corporation that organizes space missions. Finally he takes a spaceship to Saturn moon Titan.

Although Gattaca has an exciting plot, Andrew Niccol puts the focus on questions of moral and humanity. Prominent issues in Gattaca, that are repeatedly treated with representation by subtle symbolism, are life and especially birth, loss of individuality, competition, and discrimination.

The position taken by the film is that the origin of people is not important.

Niccol uses imagery and symbolism to develop a language that works particularly on the connotative level. An attempt to read the film only by its denotations will without doubt be unsuccessful. Especially the ending sequence is full of images that are crucial for the comprehension of Niccol’s point. Some of them can be read for themselves, others need comparison with other scenes from the film. By a step-by-step analysis of the last 24 shots of the film I will show how the use of symbols and images works in Gattaca.

2. Analysis of the ending sequence

The ending sequence of Gattaca is marked by the use of continuous music. It begins with a fade in of the main theme when Vincent (played by Ethan Hawke) realizes that he will be able to go on his space mission, although his fraud has been discovered. After the doctor (Xander Berkeley) has manipulated Vincent’s urine test to his favor he says: “You are going to miss your flight Vincent.” After that we see a close up of Vincent looking at the doctor and the music is introduced. After a short long shot showing the two protagonists of the scene and several astronauts heading for the spaceship in the background there is another close up of the doctor smiling and nodding at Vincent and then a medium close up of Vincent again who then turns around and heads for the entrance to the gangway leading to the spaceship that will take him to Titan. Except for slight pans and tilts the camera keeps static and focused on Vincent so that his movement turns the medium close up of his upper body into a long shot as he enters the entrance. The entrance is illuminated with green light. Colors are an important stylistic device in Gattaca. Often filters are used. In an interview director Andrew Niccol says about his director of photography Slawomir Idziak:

"He was a great part of the collaboration for me, because we couldn't reconstruct the world, so we sort of painted it: we heavily filtered the film and put this yellow cast over a lot of the exteriors to give it, you could say a 'jaundiced look', or you could say a 'golden look.' But it just changed the look of any contemporary features that strayed in front of the camera."^[1]

Certainly budget limitations were one reason to use colors to create a futuristic atmosphere, but in Gattaca different colors often serve as certain codes and thus are not only used to save money. When we look at several different scenes we can find out that green for example represents life and birth. The car in which Vincent is conceived is green and so are the dresses of the nurses present at his birth. The monitor on which the eggs that are potential candidates for Anton are displayed has the background color green as well as the water of the sea where the brothers swim.

As Gattaca is a film full of highly symbolic images, we have to assume that an association with life and birth as we see the gangway is intended by Niccol. The gangway is of a perfect circular shape. Two shots show Vincent on his walk to the spaceship. These two shots have a combined length of 23 seconds and are a major part of the ending sequence. The lighting in the round tunnel changes from the initial green to a very light pinkish color, when we see it from the inside, and is bright and smooth. This set design and Vincent’s slow and steady walk create a calm and peaceful atmosphere. The light and the shape evoke the impression of a walk through the birth canal. This assumption is supported by Vincent’s final statement from the off which also constitutes the closing lines of the film. He says: “Of course they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I’m not leaving. Maybe I’m going home.”

These hints towards a second birth of Vincent allow two possible interpretations: They could point to his life that has not really begun until now, when he is finally able to make his dream come true. Going on this space mission is what he always wanted. To accomplish his goal he has taken burdens like doing jobs he did not want and even pretend to be another person. Outer space his true identity does not matter anymore and he is thus able to begin his real life without compromises. The other possible meaning is a reversal of his birth. His final statement has an air of ultimateness that suggests that he probably does not have the intention to return to earth. As a predestined outsider of society he has never been able to display his true personality, but was always forced to adapt. His fascination for space was also a longing for a place where he could find equality.

Parallel to Vincent’s journey from earth to space we see Jerome (Jude Law) make his way into a shower cabin and burning himself by the use of its self-cleaning mechanism. Because this function is the decisive feature of the shower for the scene, I will refer to it as an incinerator. By the use of parallel editing or cross cutting we see the two main characters make their way to their individual final destinations. Knut Hickethier says about cross cutting:

„Die Parallelmontage […] zielt auf ein Zusammentreffen der beiden Stränge in einem Punkt und ist gerade durch diese Finalität spannungserzeugend.”^[2]

In this case there is not an encounter of the two levels of action, but more a symbolic one. In Gattaca’s ending sequence the technique is used to demonstrate the final step of the two characters’ development to becoming one person actually. The best traits of both are combined to result in one flawless person. Jerome’s identity and Vincent’s personality merge.

[...]

^[1] Eby, Douglas. http://talentdevelop.com/aniccol.html. 2006-09-04.

^[2] Hickethier, Knut. Film- und Fernsehanalyse. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 2001, 139 f.