Courage and Vincent

Is Vincent the hero in ‘’Gattaca’’?

A typical hero is someone who is able to be admired or idealize courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities. Andrew Niccol’s film text ‘’Gattaca’’ displays Vincent Anton Freeman as a character with innumerable heroic acts and qualities but the fact that he lacks some heroic qualities brings him short of being the hero in ‘’Gattaca’’. The film furthermore portrays the fact that there is no real hero in Gattaca, just like Vincent Freeman, these other characters lack complete heroic qualities and abilities.

Vincent displays multifarious heroic qualities throughout the film ‘’Gattaca’’. Instances of such qualities comprise of courageousness, when he saves Anton’s life ‘’at the times they were playing at the water pools’’. Even though he was a well-doubted person he still proved to be valiant. This is seen when Vincent remark to Anton ‘’Incase you have forgotten I don’t need any rescuing, but you did once.’’ This remark reinforces the point that he has achieved heroic acts. Vincent shows the quality of courageousness and many others such being an inspiration to others, exceeding his potentials and executing extraordinary things. A case in point that truly demonstrates these qualities is his pursuit of his dream of going into the space. ‘’With a bad heart and ‘’one chance in a hundred’’, Vincent still managed to achieve his dreams which truly demonstrate what hero’s do everyday and that is make the impossible possible. Although Vincent posses countless number of heroic qualities he comes short of these qualities countless times as well.

Vincent Freeman is not the hero in Gattaca. Even thought he posses many hero-like qualities, equally he also posses the same amount of a non-heroic person. In certain cases the opposite. Vincent’s action of leaving home without saying bye to anyone his parents especially who both ‘‘died thinking they have outlived him’’. This shows a sense of selfishness and a complete opposite of a hero who was supposed to be admirable, caring and always welling to risk his life for others. Selfishness is a word that is never found in a hero’s dictionary and the fact that Vincent was so selfish and thought so much only about himself deducts him short of becoming a hero in Gattaca. Moreover to this he also commits ‘‘fraud’’ against the system of Gattaca. An ideal and an everyday society’s hero like Batman battle those that commit murder, frauds and other criminal acts. Vincent has equal amount of good and evil in him and this truly brings him short of a hero.

Likewise many other people like Eugene, Anton, Lamar and Irene can also be fitted in the uniform shoe as Vincent. Reason for this being that they have intrepid qualities but not completely idols in Gattaca. They have all played a role in the process of Vincent getting through his dream even if it was a risk to their life or jobs. Lamar permitting Vincent to go into Titan even though he fail the final blood test. The statement ‘‘right handed men don’t hold it with their left’’ assures the viewer that Lamar has known it all along. Lamar however, chooses to allow Vincent to go on, in his pursuit to go into the space. Lamar is seen to be someone who is a good father to his son because he wants to do what he wants done on to him. This is a famous saying that a hero would abide by and use all the time. Lamar who has a son with minimum chances of getting into Gattaca is doing fit for his son in the future even though there’s a big risk of losing his job. This is justly a heroic act and quality.

For his son to have a shot of going into space there need to be people like him in Gattaca to make that possible. However, among these characters with heroic acts, they are not exactly the complete idols. Some of their actions are influenced by the bravery and the far greater risks that Vincent takes that influence them or cause them to view the world in a different perception. Characters like Irene, who are continuously law abiding have become like Vincent and used to the idea that its ok to sometimes let things go that may be dubious, ‘‘Sorry, the wind caught it’’ shows Irene has become very much like Vincent and this is not a hero like attitude because Vincent is committing a crime and these characters like Irene and Lamar with good chances of being s hero have become criminal minded as well. This is not a hero like act and therefore it’s difficult to conclude there’s a hero in Gattaca that the viewer is able to witness or identify in the film.