The Themes of Dystopian World in Gattaca and 1984

Orwell and Niccol both explore their views of a dystopian totalitaristic worlds where Orwel shows a society that is ruled by a party whose ideals are to create a perfect human race that totally obeys Big brother and Niccol shows a perfect society where every human genes are viewed as valid or invalid.In 1984, Winston hates the reduced circumstances of his life; he is afraid of the Party but takes the risky move of writing in his diary ‘Down with Big Brother’ which is the beginning of his struggle to rebel against the Party. He questions the existing social and political system and helps readers recognize the negative aspects of the dystopian world through his perspective.

While in gattaca, born an Invalid Vincent’s struggle, is to fly to Titan, Saturn’s moon as a First Class Navigator working for Gattaca Aerospace Corporation but he must change his identity and borrow the DNA of a Valid to achieve his dream. Vincent is a determined and courageous protagonist who refuses to accept his limitations. Vincent the protagonist, is born genetically inferior as an Invalid with a heart defect, he could not keep up with his Valid brother Anton and was set to die at the age of 30. In order to achieve his dream of becoming a navigator at Gattaca he becomes a ‘borrowed ladder’ and uses a Valid man’s DNA to circumvent the genetic system. Winson, a late 30’s, an unhealthy man is a lowly placed worker in the Outer Party. He is afraid of the consequences of standing up to authority but rebels in a political act that results in his torture and destruction of any resistance to the Party.

In Gattaca, the major themes tat occur are control, oppression & discrimination in a dystopian society where individuality versus society, where technology versus fate/natural order in search of perfection, where courage & heroism determination, morality & ethics, where science versus religion, where human flaws/imperfections versus genetic engineering, facets of identity, the notion of an imposter and lack of individuality in a world of uniformity. In 1984, the major themes are similar which includes control, oppression and discrimination in a dystopian society, language & communication, language as mind control, philosophical viewpoints, political power, dangers of totalitarianism, warfare, violence, torture, technology, psychological manipulation, physical control, repression, rebellion, control of memory and the past, control of information and history. In the end, orwell and niccol were able to demonstrate total control, totalitarianism, a dystopian future, a future of perfect humans