✪ Avatars, Accomplices & Alter Egos ✪
September 20 – October 27 2017
Gattica: Thoughts & Additional Research
Monday Sept 22
The opening sequence below, which kicks off the film, is very telling:
From the start, you realize we are entering territory where nature will play second best to whatever advancements are made possible in this “not too distant future.”
The film calls into question everything we consider as “self”, which is very pertinent to our current assignment investigating “Avatars, alter egos, and accomplices”. The film revolves around the concept that in the future, our genes can, and largely are, completely controllable before birth. Meaning expecting parents are able to do their best to guaruntee their child’s success by determining everything from aesthetics to immunity. The goal is to have the strongest, smartest, healthiest child. The entire world funcitons on a system putting genetics first. No matter who you are or where you are from, if your genes don’t add up, you amount to nothing.
(I had to look it up when I got home. See the link above for festival details. The Event boasts “SOLUTIONS FOR EVERYONE.”)
All of this had me wondering about the concept of childbearing, and why we are so inclined to reproduce at all. Besides instincts to keep the species going, we are certainly self aware enough to realize there are PLENTY of humans in the world, but we still want to have our own children.
This is NOT a criticism of families seeking Fertility options. I’m just thinking, why do we go to such lengths to have our “own” children? What drives that? We know how many children are without parents in the world. Yet we still spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical treatments all in hopes that the children we raise will share our genes.
Do we see our children as our avatars?
Do we hope for their success not only because of maternal and paternal love, but because we also see them as new, supposedly improved versions of ourselves?
Do their failures feel like our failures?
Screenshot of the Fertility Festival: