Gattaca - S14 E108
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
More episodes of Shoot The Hostage
- Season Fourteen Wrap Show Preview
- Total Recall - S14 E114
- American Psycho - S14 E113
- Black Swan - S14 E112
- Friendship (2024) - S14 E111
- The Substance - S14 E110
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