Gattaca writer and director Andrew Niccol (pictured left) intended to critique the use of genetic engineering to modify human beings with the 1997 film. Niccol said in an interview with Ryan Lambie that though genetic modification technology has the potential to "'cure genetic disease'" and "'enhance a person,'" but he believes in doing so, you are "'losing something of their essence'" [1]. He says"'you've tampered with ... what they were going to be'" [1]. If a genetically modified person were born naturally, would they have had the same thoughts and interests in both lives? Niccol wanted to show that even people born at a "disadvantage" are not limited to the role or rank in which society sees them.  

Niccol also wanted to analyze how introducing genetic engineering technology would open the door for new types of discrimination based on genes. Gattaca producer Stacey Sher has said that the film represents how humans "'come to live with the scientific powers we are currently discovering today," depicting a  "future based on genetic testing'" [2]. The film explores how humans will integrate new technology into society, as a mode for oppression and exploitation. The film depicts a world where one's social status is entirely based on genetic makeup, and Niccol warns against using computing technology capable of molding such a society.