Gattaca - S14 E108

Gattaca - S14 E108

From Shoot The Hostage by Shoot The Hostage Podcast

March 9, 2026 · 1h 7m · Episode 152

About this episode

The episode discusses the 1997 film Gattaca, exploring its themes of identity and genetic engineering.

Welcome back to our Identity season, where Dan continues to force his personal favourites onto the show. This week, we’re here to discuss Andrew Niccol’s 1997 directorial debut, Gattaca (1997). We dive in to see if this 90s sci-fi classic still holds up or if it’s just a sterile nightmare of brutalist architecture and electric cars. We’re examining the character identities in a world where your career path is determined by a vial of pee strapped to your leg and where the “trash man” himself, Danny DeVito, is lurking in the producer credits. If you’re looking for movies about genetic engineering that feature 12-fingered pianists and a suspicious lack of clutter, this is the episode for you. We discuss the iconic cast, featuring Ethan Hawke as a “God birth” infiltrating the elite, Uma Thurman being generally flawless and a “smug-faced” Jude Law who is legally perfect but shattered emotionally. We also unpack the heavy themes of capitalism and how these films about gene manipulation often predict a terrifyingly white future. What to expect from this episode: Fond recollection of 1997 VHS rentals and the surprising emergence of the “slightly smaller” video cases Sarah questions the…

People in this episode

Host: Dan

Topics covered

  • identity
  • genetic engineering
  • 90s sci-fi
  • character analysis
  • capitalism
  • production design

Keywords

  • Gattaca
  • Andrew Niccol
  • Ethan Hawke
  • Uma Thurman
  • Jude Law
  • genetic engineering
  • 90s sci-fi
  • capitalism
  • character identities

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Gattaca

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