The Not too Distant Future
A screenplay based on a powerpoint file based on a lesson based on the film Gattaca, in the form of a blog.
INT: ROOM 40
On the screen is a slide saying:
New partner!
Different major
Different nationality
← English speaking
Japanese speaking →
← English speaking
Japanese speaking →
ME (To self)
I'm starting to get the hang of this class, but it's difficult to know how much of a movie we can get through in one lesson, and how long they need to discuss things. I think I was a bit unprepared for the first lesson, which meant showing too much of the movie, and not giving them enough time to talk before and after the scenes. I did manage to show each scene twice, and tended to show a little bit more the second time, so that's going well.
It's always so hard choosing scenes. Gattaca was a bit easier to prepare because I've already used it in class before, and in fact have a well developed file.
I seem to do a lot of this internal dialogue. Is it normal.
Yes I've noticed that too, and I'm a bit worried about it.
Who are you?
Yes who are you? I thought this was just supposed to be a dialogue. Why are there more than two of us?
Dialogues can be more than two voices. You're just getting confused because a monologue is one voice. That doesn't mean a trialogue is three voices. It's "dia" from the Greek word for "across", not "di" meaning "two".
Oh. Thank you. Can we get on with the lesson now?
ME (Back in the classroom)
I'm going to start showing the movie and I want you to tell your partner what you see?
INT: DVD PLAYER. GATTACA FROM BEGINNING.
Looks like logs falling, elephant tusks, snow flakes then Ethan Hawke in the shower.
Until the electric Studebaker leaves home.
INT: ROOM 40
ME
What kind of car was that?
STUDENT
Electric.
ME (Aside)
Yes. This movie has electric cars. Space travel. Giant solar farms.
Wonder if Elon Musk saw it.
Am I doing a dialogue again?
ME AND MY SLIDES
What is genetics?
How can the study of genetics help us?
Are there any dangers?
Please discuss.
STUDENTS discuss.
More of the movie, with the esperanto as they go into the building.
INT: ROOM 40
ME
What language was that?
ANOTHER STUDENT
Esperanto
ME AND MY SLIDES (showing picture of finger prick blood sample machine thingy)
What's this?
Why is it there?
Complete the phrase: Cleanliness is next to__________.
Who are they? (Picture of Jerome and Irene) Jerome, Irene, Vincent
… is on the right … is on the left
What does Jerome put on the comb?
What does Jerome put on the keyboard?
Why?
INT: DVD PLAYER
The last scene again, then some more of the movie up to the bit before the rocking car on the riviera.
INT: ROOM 40
Where is Jerome going?
When is he leaving?
How long will it take to get there?
Around how many flights go in a day?
How did Irene know that Jerome really wanted to go on the flight?
INT: DVD PLAYER
Scene talking about the voyage again
INT: ROOM 40
ME
What do you think?
Should parents change their children's DNA?
Should parents choose DNA for their children?
Should parents be allowed to find if their children have genetic diseases?
STUDENTS discuss
ME AND MY SLIDES
How about…
Manic depression, Attention deficit disorder, Heart disorder, Life expectancy, Skin colour, Myopia, Baldness.
Complete the phrase:
"A child conceived in love has a greater chance of _________."
What do they do straight after a child is born?
What is the baby's name?
Anton Vincent Jerome
INT: DVD PLAYER
The scene when they meet the doctor, who smiles at them when he talks about a white baby with no baldness.
INT: ROOM 40
ME AND MY SLIDES
What was the result of the DNA tests for Vincent?
What was Vincent's life expectancy?
How did that affect his childhood?
How did this affect his parents' choice about their second child?
If you could choose DNA
What genes would you NOT want for your children?
What conditions would you try to avoid?
What would you choose for your children?
What genes would you want to add?
In this movie, what is the "natural" way to have children?
What choices does the [bald, dark skinned] doctor make?
What do the parents choose for their second child?
ME (V.O)
I can't exactly remember how much of the movie I showed now. I was going to ask them about brothers and sisters before showing the Vincent and his brother Anton.
Do you have a brother or sister?
How are you different?
In what ways are you stronger?
In what ways are you weaker?
Who is older, Anton or Vincent?
Who is taller, Anton or Vincent?
Who is stronger, Anton or Vincent?
What game do Vincent and Anton play?
And if I'd had time I would have asked them about their dreams and ambitions, before asking them about Vincent's
Where do you want to go?
Where does Vincent want to go?
How does his father think Vincent can see inside a space ship?
Discrimination
What is discrimination?
What is "Genoism"?
Is Genoism legal or illegal?
What can employers get from a door handle, a handshake or an envelope?
Employment ethics
Can employers ask for DNA tests?
Can employers ask for a drugs test?
What can employers find from a drugs test?
In this film, how do employers usually decide who will get the job?
I had these great discussion questions, but there was no time for the class to discuss them:
What human rights have disappeared in the society we see in this film?
Is this world possible in the future?
What will happen with DNA research in the next twenty years?
How will this affect our society, our world and ourselves?
What should we do?
JAMES WATSON (Flashback)
We used to think our future was in the stars. Now we know it is in our genes."
CODA
I had a whole lot more questions ready for several scenes of the movie that I didn't have time to show. Here they are:
If I'd had time, or another lesson on this movie, I could have asked more questions and shown more scenes.
Chicken
Who is going to win?
Work
What job does Vincent get?
Why does the light turn red when Vincent touches the machine?
What book is he reading?
What is in the glass vials?
Fill in the missing words:
"There is no ____ for fate"
"____ has no nationality"
Who's this?
What is the significance of the staircase?
How tall are you?
How tall are you in feet and inches?
(12 inches = 1 foot = 30 cm.)
For example, Mark is 5 foot 11.
How tall is Jerome?
How tall is Vincent?
What are they going to do?
What colour is Jerome's medal?
Jerome says "call me Eugene".
Why? (There are three answers, one in the story, one related to the story telling and one symbolic.)
The interview
What is the problem with Eugene's urine samples?
How did Vincent succeed in the interview?
What do these mean?
In-valid
Utero
Faith birth
Valid
Vitro
Made man
Borrowed ladder
De-generate
What is Gattaca?
What is the significance of the name?
What are the differences between Jerome and Vincent? List them.
What do they do to make Vincent the same as Jerome?
Who knows that Jerome is not really Jerome?
How?
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