The Attraction of Dystopias

Something I've mentioned throughout these blogs, is the idea of dystopian fiction reflecting and exaggerating current real world issues, viewpoints and laws. They provided a political and social commentary, usually making criticisms about current trends, religions, cultural norms, or political systems. Additionally, they allow the writers and their audience to express fears and concerns about the future, especially in uncertain times. This has been a common theme since the start of the genre, with early works expressing concerns of nuclear fallout and fascist governments, such as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Works such as The Handmaid's Tale written in 1986 has references and inspiration from the second-wave feminist movement and the sexual liberation of the 1960's and 1970's, as well as incorporating threats of post-nuclear environments. More modern dystopian novels use a combination of climate change and political movements as the founding material. As many of these novels, new and old, express some level of concern that is still relevant today, this genre continues to thrive.

The Handmaid's Tale

Atwood's novel, despite being almost 30 years old, remains a staple in feminist dystopias. Besides the ongoing feminist struggle, part of the appeal is that Atwood "limited herself to technology that existed and events that had already happened" (1). This has only gotten more true as time has gone on with increasing US laws regarding women's reproductive systems. An important aspect of the novel is the intertwining of extreme, traditional Christian beliefs with the law, or a complete breakdown of separation of church and state. This is maintained through heavy use of propaganda, especially for the handmaids at the Red Centre; censorship of the media, as well as the Bible and other books; and similar to 1984's 'Big Brother,' Gilead also has 'The Eyes' as a secret police force.

(2)

An image of the Red Centre, taken from the graphic novel version of The Handmaid's Tale.

Ideas for Final Project

While the propaganda and censorship we see throughout The Handmaid's Tale is extreme, I want to focus on and create more subtle uses of this form of control, as well as relate it current laws and viewpoints to reflect some similarities between this future and our current world. The main propaganda we see is from Offred's perspective at the Red Centre, leaving a gap in our knowledge of other forms of propaganda that are in the day-to-day life of Gilead citizens. Some of this is through changes in language such as the standard greeting and farewell between handmaids- "under his eye," as well as the use of the terms "unbabies" or "shredders" and "unwomen." This dumbing down of language, along with the increased reach of misinterpreted religion are some of the more subtle propaganda forms that I want to look into. Potentially using inspiration from various covers, I hope to create multiple posters showing forms of both hard and soft propaganda from the novel.

(3)