FILM

THE WARNING

science fiction is telling us to be scared

By Jiwon Lee 

The future is coming

Science fiction films aren’t just “science fiction” anymore. They are now becoming documentary films of how we live today, or, maybe, how we will live soon. They deal with issues such as DNA manipulation, duplication of organs, and high-tech artificial intelligence, radical technologies that are influencing our lives. In a way, these films function as danger signs of the possible ethical and moral issues that we are about to face. And so like Gattaca, The Island, and Ex Machina are a form of criticism and a warning that the decisions coming our way will be difficult and complex.

Andrew Nicole’s Gattaca was released in 1997. It’s about a future society where innate genetic predisposition determines social status. Although Gattaca falls under the science-fiction genre, it is really about oppression. The title Gattaca is an acronym standing for guanine (G), adenine (A), thymine (T), and cytosine (C) that makeup DNA. The idea is that your DNA determines your destiny.

Are you the chosen brother?

With the development of artificial insemination and eugenics, the movie depicts a future in which human beings will have superior children free from diseases and disorders. However, in the world of Gattaca, genetic manipulation is also protecting the status of the well-off and connected and is certainly not benefiting the entire human race. Even if you don't see Nichole’s class critique, see genetic discrimination at the heart of the film in the central relationship between Vincent and his brother Anton.

Vincent's parents named their son Anton before Vincent was born. However, when a son who isn’t genetically engineered is born, his father spontaneously decides to call him Vincent, and his younger brother, who is later genetically engineered, inherits the name, Anton. The film talks about the attitude we should have in this situation. For instance, in the swimming match between Vincent and Anton, Anton loses twice, showing that nothing is ever absolute even in the rigged world of genetic manipulation.

Vincent (Ethan Hawke) has always fantasized about traveling into outer space but is grounded by because of his status as a genetically inferior "in-valid." He decides to fight his fate by purchasing the genes of Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a laboratory-engineered "valid," who can’t walk due to an accident. He assumes Jerome's DNA identity and joins the Gattaca space program, where he falls in love with Irene (Uma Thurman). Unfortunately, an investigation into the death of a Gattaca officer (Gore Vidal) complicates Vincent's plans.

All murders reveal some kind of truth

Due to the development of artificial insemination and eugenics, human beings are having children free from congenital diseases and disorders. Soon, it will be possible to manipulate genes to create an individual who inherits the genetic properties of two-man or women. In the end, the science fiction of Gattaca will simply be science and that science will put us in a number of thorny ethical dilemmas.

The Island was released in 2005 when cell replication was a hot topic. Michael Bay, the hitmaker behind The Rock, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor, directed and the movie seemed poised for box office success. But The Island was a bomb. The production cost 126 million USD, but only made a quarter of its budget back. However, it was a hit in South Korea, where stem-cell research is a growing concern and made this popcorn film seem more like a documentary.

These are the stars

The plot is simple. In the middle of the 21st century; an environmental disaster has decimated the planet. However, some people live in facilities without the threat of death. Their greatest wish is to go to Earth's only remaining clean utopia. When they wake up in the morning, their general health is automatically checked, and they live by exercising regularly and eating.

Lincoln 6-Eco (Ewan McGregor) has a recurring nightmare. One day he discovers an insect that is supposedly extinct due to global pollution. Unlike his fellow camp dwellers, he begins to question the authorities and engage in prohibited acts; secretly exploring the facility late at night. Lincoln sees one of the lucky lottery winners who supposedly went to the Island. He understands that they are all clones and his destiny is to be farmed for his organs.

The secret truth

The Island shows the way governments might adopt and use these new scientific discoveries far from humanitarian measures. That the film ends with the liberation of the clones shouldn’t cause us to celebrate–it’s just a Michael Bay movie–but to think of how close we are to the reality of such a world.

In this movie, it appeared as Lincoln's dream, and the original human memory was left in Lincoln; the idea of freedom comes from Lincoln’s dreams. Still, dreams (subconscious), memories, souls, etc, which are fields that science cannot explain more perfectly, are presented as scientific errors. The ruled revolution usually begins with awareness, but these errors that appear in humans trigger Lincoln's awareness. The most noticeable scene on the island is that clone customers are wealthy or influential people who have vested interests. It is a tool that combines the desire of vested interests represented by eternity and immortality with the abuse and abuse of science to exploit and suppress the ruled people represented by clones.

This is reminiscent of Hawking's final warning, but Hawking warns that "genetically engineered superhumans will be born and the rest of humans will be weeded out." If this prophecy is realized, the human being most likely to become this superhuman will have a vested interest in the first access to science and technology with just money and power. Human beings weeded out as superhumans are capable of having intelligence in humans and ten clothes resembling clones' dominance. This kind of fictional environment is presented because of the arrogance of humans like Dr. Medic, who entered the realm of God with the power of science. That arrogance is combined with human desires to abuse and abuse that power, often leading to errors in the process. This is interesting because dreams is the realm that science hasn’t quite figured out how to control.

A Strange Trio

Alex Garland’s Ex Machina is a science fiction movie whose title abbreviates the Latin phrase ‘deus ex machina’ or ‘god from the machine’. One could say that’s the entire question of the film: where is God? The film was released in 2015 delivering clear warnings about the rapid development of artificial intelligence and intentionally making the audience question the difference between the robot and human being.

Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer at a huge Internet company, wins a contest that enables him to spend a week at the private estate of Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), his firm's brilliant CEO. When he arrives, Caleb learns that he has been chosen to help Bateman administer the Turing test to determine the capabilities and consciousness of Ava (Alicia Vikander), a beautiful robot. However, it soon becomes evident that Ava is far more self-aware and deceptive than either man imagined. Which, of course, complicates the question of whether God is in the machine or the machine is God.

In the movie, it seems that AI has already surpassed the Turing test. For example, the main character has already determined that Kyoko experiences doubts about her behaviors, and mistakes, and even becomes angry and depressed. Ava is way past consciousness, as she seduces and manipulates both Smith and Bateman. It turns out that the test was] not a Turing test but a test to measure how intelligent Ava is, and the answer is quite.

Who is alive?

As the movie progresses, Garland forces us to answer some tough questions or at least contemplate. The first question is what it means to be human. In general, our society tends to follow and respect savvy people. Ava has a massive amount of data and so in many ways, she is much savvier than her human counterparts. But are human standards limited to the intellectual side? Is Bateman’s creation of Ava more akin to a piece of art? But if she is art, is she capable of creating art? Maybe the mark of a human is to be created and then to create yourself. It’s a tricky problem that Garland addresses when Ava draws an image of an exhibition hall.

These questions are directly linked to the ethical issues of our society. Is Ava a human or a tool? We all tend to treat mechanical devices as tools. No one falls in love with a rice cooker or feels bad breaking it and throwing it in the trash. But Ava looks human and acts human and that’s the problem or our first ethical dilemma. When does a tool become human? Garland never answers that, but he shows us that it is possible and that we should be concerned. As we should with all the problems in all these so-called science fiction films.

©Jiwon Lee and the CCA Arts Review