Gattaca/Fridge

• Fridge Logic: Why does Gattaca (the facility) keep testing its employees' genetic material once they've been certified as genetically pure? This wouldn't be a problem if they did it to catch Vincent, but they've never had this problem before.
  • They're actually drug tests, but the movie's Applied Phlebotinum is ubiquitous instant genetic screening - the computers analyze genetics at the same time just as a matter of fact.
  • There's also the drop of blood employees have to give via finger prick upon entering the building, which replaces photo IDs.
    • Exactly: In the world GATTACA sets up, genetic material is used as the primary form of identification. That's why Vincent is INVALID (that is, he's not in the database of Gattaca babies, so his identification is "not valid") but Eugene is VALID despite being an invalid. (Invalid- n. 1. an infirm or sickly person. 2. a person who is too sick or weak to care for himself or herself.) The daily drops of blood are equivalent to the access cards used by some secure buildings, while the more intrusive blood and saliva testing seems roughly equivalent to looking at a driver's license. But see also Did Not Do the Research below.
      • Not exactly- the word used in the movie is pronounced in-val'-id, which means not legitimate. The word you are using is pronounced in'-val-id. As for the DNA testing, when you submit to a drug test in real life, you submit your ID to verify that you are who you say you are, so that they can match the sample to the sample-giver. Also, given people's tendency to use other people's DNA for identity fraud, it's reasonable to keep checking for identity fraud.
  • Jerome must have been quite famous in his time. So how come nobody seems to know that he ended up in a wheelchair after his suicide attempt, and it's absolutely okay and not questionable to see him (or Vincent, actually) walk?
    • Think of the last Olympic swimming race you watched. Do you remember who the second place guy was?
      • No, but I bet his competitors and others in the swimming community did. On the other hand, it does seem likely that he could quietly announce he was tired of swimming and would be pursuing something else, and be done with the matter without much question.
  • On a completely different note, that the correct pronunciation of the name of this film is not "gat-tah-cah" but "gee-aye-tee-tee-aye-cee-aye" and that it is spelled in all capitals because GATTACA is an amino acid chain, which is part of a DNA helix.
    • Actually, no. While the four amino acids, G-A-C-T, do combine in pairs they don't pair with themselves meaning that T-T is not part of a helix. And it is one letter short, but G-A T-A C-A would work, and would still be pronounced gat-tah-cah.
    • Actually, G, A, C, T are abbreviations for the nucleotide bases - the monomers of DNA, or more simply the 4 letters in the language of genetics. The name GATTACA from a scientific perspective most likely represents a sequence in one chain of the helix (the complementary chain would be CTAATGT).
• Fridge Logic (Again): The 'Geneticists' would eventually put themselves out of business because the 'Valid' children would produce 'optimum' children thus removing the need for them.
  • But the valids could have even better kids with more genetic playing.
  • Even if you could perfectly screen everyone's DNA sequence at birth, new mutations in one's germ line could still pop up spontaneously. Unless science has gotten to the point where they can completely eliminate all new mutations, there's still potential work for geneticists to do.
  • Not to mention reccesive alleles. Unless science has gotten to the point where they can get around THEM, too.
  • The advertising would be pushing "Better safe than sorry!"