Vincent's True Identity example essay topic

"Vincent is not a hero" Discuss Andrew Niccol has created a character that is portrayed as being a struggler from the moment he was born, he was destined to play this role as soon as he was conceived naturally as he was to wear the label of "God child" for the rest of his life, this label determines they life style and quality of life he will lead and the prospects are not good -"They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don't say that anymore". Niccol leads us to believe that Vincent is a man who has overcome the odds in order to achieve his dream in a society where individuality is an unrequited trait and the ability to conform plus right DNA is all a person needs to succeed. What can easily be missed is the reality that in order to achieve his dreams he had to become a criminal which raises the question, is this man who is seen as a hero defiant of his opposition, worthy for our admiration considering the un-admirable form he had to take on to gain it?

The measures Vincent goes to, to achieve his dream of becoming an make him seem less of a hero than he is portrayed as, The idea of changing your identity from an "invalid" with problems that prevent one from leading a normal life, to taking on the identity of a "Valid" with a physical make-up so perfect that "you could go anywhere" with his "helix tucked under your arm", again lowers the opinion of his character and makes it difficult to separate his true identity to the false one he has taken on, Throughout the film Niccol makes it hard to distinguish which parts of Vincent's personality actually are, we see many instances where Vincent shows admirable qualities such as him romantically letting go of a strand of Irene's hair and saying "the wind caught it". But this incident could also psychologically be a way of ensuring if Irene ever had a piece of him, that she would do the same and his identity would be protected. His personality as we knew it before he took on Eugene's identity portrayed him as lonely dreamer. He was the stereotypical outcast down to finest detail. He sat by himself, ate by himself, dreamt of great things and in true Hollywood style left home and took on the job that all people take when they have nothing left, a cleaner. It is up until this point that we know him as Vincent Freeman and not as Jerome Morrow, and up until this point he is no different to most people and does not deserve the status of hero based purely on the traits and characteristics he shows.

The process Vincent undertook in order to pass himself off as a superior being, a "Borrowed ladder" and a person worthy of working at Gattaca shows us that this whole time he has been holding these dreams of becoming an and leaving earth, he has build up such determination and such will to achieve it that he would go to extreme measures such as abandoning his identity, his family who believe he is dead and his former life. Is this a characteristic that we look upon respectably or is it this kind of behaviour that if happened off the big screen would make us wonder where this man's pride and dignity has gone? Niccol uses the murder to disguise the flaws of Vincent's personality by evoking sympathy from us every time Vincent comes close to being caught. As we watch we say " no, he's not the murderer" and hope Anton realise's this in time but symbolically as he gets closer and closer to being discovered as a murder, her becomes closer and closer to being discovered as the fraud he is. He carries his identity's with him, he is either known as Jerome Morrow a 9.3 or simply as "Invalid", a legal blood test or any part of lose skin, hair or saliva can determine whether he is a hero or a criminal-"We shed 500 million cells a day" it only takes one to show Vincent's true identity.

Whether or not Vincent had been discovered to be the murderer or not would not have changed the way we perceive him or if we qualify him as a hero. He is a "borrowed ladder" and just like many people in Gattaca, he has something to hide. At the Cavendish bar we see Anton and detective Hugo come in and preform a raid, everyone quickly scurries away. They do not know exactly who or what the police are looking for, yet they leave regardless because they also are hiding things and they fear the police are after them, This indicates that most people have something to hide and in the society of Gattaca people must always be alert or else they risk being found out. In Vincent hiding his identity he becomes a criminal, he assumes the position of another man who he illegally brought off the black market and from then he is just like all the other "Borrowed Ladders" out there. "Just remember, Lamar, I could have gone up and back and nobody would have been the wiser" Vincent says this to Lamar just after Lamar reveals that he has known the secret of Vincent's identity all along, This raises the question of how many people just like Vincent have illegally assumed the identity of another in order to realize their dream, or maybe even to escape earth.

What makes them any different from Vincent, they both have committed crimes but's far as being called a hero, the only thing they have achieved is that they successfully got away with it.