The ultimate success and satisfaction one may achieve in life may be attributed to any number of singular environmental or genetic endowment or a combination of such endowments. Success may be linked to one’s personality, which leads to in groups or grouping of friends that a person creates as relationships over the course of their life. Therefore, relationships which stem from environmental vectors such as school and play will yield either beneficial or unbeneficial relationships with respect to success. Personality aside, In the film Gattaca and the Diane Ackerman article, ‘The Face of Beauty’ delves into and argues the importance of physical appearance as the modus to achieve success.
Environment is part of the theory of nature vs. nurture, or the idea that the environment one is in either is a nurturing environment, conducive to success, or a nature approach, which is fending for oneself against the odds. There are success stories in each the nature and the nurture approach. Additionally, the article ‘The Face of Beauty’, notes Aristotle’s observation (Ackerman, 1997) of observable beauty as not the end all or be all of what is considered to be definable beauty. Therefore, the personality of a person attributes to their attraction, and hence their success. One’s inner personality may directly correlate to success in specific endeavors.
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"Ultimate Success – Cause & Effect".
The movie Gattaca essentially provides the same synopsis of cause and effect with regard to internal beauty exhibited with cunning and determination which led to eventual success for protagonist Vincent Freeman. Genes and genetics play a major role in defining the main obstacle in the film as the idea of eugenics and gene manipulation to create a better more attractive breed of human is the theme. By checking for the genotype of a person, employment may be provided or denied to an individual applicant, which was the problem for the protagonist. In Gattaca, Aristotle’s definition of beauty takes on the more comprehensive form incorporating genetic discrimination that perhaps he never intended. “The used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don’t say that anymore.” (Gattaca, 1997)
The effect of determination or being strong willed, along with a supportive nurturing environment have enabled success. However, according to the article ‘The Face of Beauty’, such attributes are contradictory to success. For example, “In fairy tales, the first stories most of us hear, the heroes are handsome, the heroines are beautiful, and the wicked are ugly. Children learn implicitly that good people are beautiful and bad people are ugly, and society restates that massage in many subtle ways as they grow older.” (Ackerman 1997)
Family background and culture, which reflect personality and determination as drivers of success, are essentially important in Gattaca as the genetic manipulation is to empirically change these characteristics of human quality by controlling and manipulating human DNA. Thus, DNA which essentially enables either attractive or unattractive tangible & intangible characteristics is the focus of the ‘The Face of Beauty’ article and is characteristically inherent to the underlying theme of human conditioning regarding the eugenics movement in Gattaca. The DNA mix is the critical element for success in each case. Good DNA will provide strong personality qualities, which in creating success, all else being equal, will create the disparity between those with good internal qualities and the ‘homely’, or those without such qualities. Character and daily choices are essentially secondary characteristics with beauty as the primary enabler. If one is beautiful, then character and daily choices will have more impact than if one is homely. A homely individual may be of terrific character and make excellent daily choices, whereas a beautiful person may drink all day and have an overall unattractive character, yet if applying for the same job, the more attractive person will receive the job offer.
- Ackerman, D. (1997). “The Face of Beauty” Connections: A Multicultural Reader for Writers. Editor Judith A. Stanford. California: Mayfield.
- Niccol, A. (1997) “Gattaca” Columbia Pictures
