The Crucible and Gattaca the Disgraceful Story of Discrimination & Persecution

Gattaca and The Crucible portrayed discrimination and persecution throughout the movie and book. Discrimination and Persecution in society is dangerous because it targets individuals making them feel unwanted and not meant for this world. A big difference between The Crucible and Gattaca is the timeline. The Crucible was set in the past whereas Gattaca was set in the future.
Gattaca is a 1997 American science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol.
The main character for Gattaca was Vincent Freeman. Vincent in the film was pronounced as different which was a big downside because in this time babies are genetically engineered to be flawless. A big difference between The Crucible and Gattaca is the timeline. The crucible was set in the past whereas Gattaca was set in the future.

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The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692/93. The main character for the Crucible was John Proctor where throughout the play he changes from being a troubled, self-exiled, sinner to becoming a person of high moral standards.
“Discrimination means the unequal or unfair treatment of a person based upon some personal characteristics.”
“Persecution is harassment or bad treatment because of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.” There is also another term used for persecution which is based on religion, it is when people are harassed and badly treated because of beliefs.
The Truth About Gattaca
Gattaca portrayed a lot of “Discrimination” and “Persecution” throughout the film multiple times. Discrimination was seen at the beginning of the movie when Genetics were being discriminated because Gattaca is set during a futuristic time when reproduction is no longer a completely natural process.
Babies are engineered and born into a sterile, genetically-enhanced world where undesired factors such as alcoholism, violence, premature baldness are eradicated before birth. A person’s career and life depend on his/her genes; it is used exclusively to determine one’s potential. People with great genetic profiles are hired into higher level jobs while the others are considered useful for menial work only. “Jerome had been engineered with everything he needed to get into Gattaca, except the desire to do so.”
This quote from the movie was done by Vincent narrating. It shows how the society is built in such a way that success can only be achieved by being more genetically superior to normal people. Jerome is genetically engineered automatically giving him the title valid.
However, this is oddly, not enough to ensure his success. This is because valids such as Jerome, who are guaranteed success, typically lack the aspiration, drive and purpose from overcoming obstacles they bump into. In this way, the quote shows how the society in Gattaca is unfair and messed up as it discriminates against those who are born normally or naturally and removes purpose from the lives of the elite.
Another word that describes the movie is persecution which was, as well as discrimination was seen a lot throughout the film. A scene where persecution was seen was when towards the end of the movie an argument between Vincent and Anton occurred.
Vincent: Do you have any idea what it took get IN here?!
Anton: Listen, you’re in a big deal of trouble. You’re coming with me now!
Vincent: There is still a few billion more miles for me to go..
This scene in the movie represented how Anton was tormenting Vincent for not being allowed to show his presence into Gattaca because of his state of body and because he is invalid. This continually shows how Anton treated his brother because of his condition and shows the persecution by Anton not letting Vincent do something he believed in which was to be at Nasa and fly to space.
Life in The Crucible
The Crucible as well as Gattaca portrayed discrimination and persecution which was seen multiple times in the movie.
“Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in an open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados sings and tempting me with-”
This was a quote aimed at Tituba who is from Barbados but who is also a slave. They are assuming that she conjures spirits and Abigail is the one who told this to everyone but it is false and there was no evidence to prove that any of it said was the truth. But they still believed Abigail and took her word for it. This shows how Abigail treated people and the way others we discriminated just because of who they were. (Tituba)
This quote at the end of the movie before John Proctor’s death was one of his most famous lines and summed up the film and showed how the whole movie was just lies, betrayal and discrimination. It showed just by hearing his voice and facial reaction how everyone was against him and discriminated him because of the lies built up in the beginning of the movie and caused so many betrayals that he in the end took the death sentence because of the way he was discriminated. This shows the dangers of being of the wrong side of people like Abigail and has serious consequences which he sadly received.
Persecution occurred in the movie as well as discrimination. The Crucible deals with the vicious persecution of Elizabeth Proctor, accused of being a witch and practicing witchcraft. This started when Mercy Lewis and Abigail Williams, claimed Elizabeth Proctor visited them at night in spirit form and tormented them. This is persecution because of gender. It shows that because of Abigail Williams being secretly together with John Proctor that she had to blame someone for all the lies she told so that she wouldn’t get found out for lying about everything she said.
Choosing Elizabeth was the perfect move she was waiting for and she accused her because of gender and because she had known John Proctor which in other words means that she slept with him. Lots of lessons can be learned from the things that happened in The Crucible. Many of the things start off from who you are and sometimes you can’t change that but the things that could have been changed were the lies made and the serious consequences they have if caught as well as death penalties for betrayal.
Conclusion
Discrimination and persecution are dangerous and lead to hate, fear, and unimaginable behavior showed in both The Crucible and Gattaca which then lead to betrayal, death and sorrow for both films. In the end both of these films showed an uncountable amount of discrimination and persecution. It was showed many times against individuals. A short little summary of both movies is that Gattaca was about a man called Vincent Freeman who was an invalid and therefore struggled with life and wanted to be a valid and wanted to travel to space.
The Crucible is about a Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, the town minister, Reverend Parris, discovers his daughter Betty, niece Abigail, and other girls dancing in the forest with his slave Tituba. Parris runs off to calm the crowd, and a local farmer named John Proctor winds up alone with Abigail. In the end both movies were very well constructed to suit discrimination as well as persecution.

https://www.yourdictionary.com/persecution
https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-discrimination-definition-examples-quiz.html
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1426723-the-crucible
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/plotsummary

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