Good afternoon. I am here to introduce PLP 12’s first project of the year on dystopias. In this project’s final product, we were to analyze a novel we chose to read and explain how an issue in that novel acts as social commentary in a final film of our creation.
How does dystopian literature act as social commentary?
We started by identifying the common attributes of a dystopian society, which I
believe had contributed to helping me analyze the dystopian texts we had been exposed to this project.
We subsequently watched the dystopian movie “V for Vendetta” and conducted a Socratic seminar on the film. I had previously said in my most recent project and tPOL that I wanted to improve on my skills in Socratic seminars, and I’m certainly headed in the right direction. I feel as though I made a great contribution to the conversation, was well prepared with my notes, and introduced new ideas and connections from the film.
www.chapters.indigo.ca
I chose to read The Handmaid’s Tale as I thought that the issues presented in the book were quite relevant to today. Throughout our experience of reading the books, we wrote in response journals to get ourselves thinking about what issues we’d like to analyze. Then, we wrote paragraphs analyzing two themes in the book. I made mine on identity and how fear suppresses the act of rebellion. My analyses on these themes well exemplify the fact that I continue to improve in text analysis in every coming project.
Identity
Offred’s dialogue, as she dwells in the past, demonstrates how it’s difficult to value identity until it is stripped away from her.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel in which the leaders of Gilead control women’s bodies and rights as a form of political fodder, in an attempt to suppress them from liberties and freedoms such as their identity. Offred’s reminiscence of her past life humanizes her in the sense that when she loses something, she then realizes how grateful she is for it and how important it was before it was taken.
Offred often compares her previous life to her current one. Throughout the book, we continually gain more insight as to how her identity and freedoms have been stripped away. In an effort to create a collective identity amongst the people of Gilead, as it’s fundamental to a working dystopian regime, those in power separate their citizens into classes (eg. Handmaids, Marthas, Commanders). The handmaids, for example, are forced to wear red robes to symbolize their only true purpose – menstruation, and therefore fertility. Additionally, they are given new names such as Offred, stating that they are owned by their Commander, just like an object (Of-Fred).
Offred wonders if she “Can be blamed for wanting a real body, to put her arms around?” Part of Offred’s identity, prior to the control gained by the Gileadean regime, was that of being a mother and wife. She experiences the feeling of dissociation, as she is no longer able to care for her family or receive any kind of affection. This represents how a lack of love can be detrimental to the human spirit, and how it is essential to living a content life.
The suppression of individualism also extends to Gilead’s theocratic state. This dystopic novel contains several allusions to the bible, maintaining only one collective religion in it’s society. Religion is an aspect of identity, and those that may have been atheist, Jewish, Islamic, etc before the regime overthrew the U.S. government, are forced into a contrary set of beliefs. Margaret Atwood’s plot point could be argued to point towards historical predecessors, such as the indigenous residential schools or the Crusades, in which forced conversion occurred. This theocracy acts as an outlet to eliminate free thought, aspects such as the routine bible readings and lectures from Aunts in the Red Centre work to create a collective belief, and therefore a collective identity.
Rebellion
The plot of The Handmaid’s Tale exemplifies that fear suppresses the act of rebellion, but it’s desire will ultimately create a spark and cause members of the population to act out.
Following in the theme of a collective identity, The Handmaid’s Tale’s world enforces their people to look and act in a similar way. This of which makes it increasingly frightening for members to ever have the desire to stand out or rebel against their regime. While this is the goal of Gilead, nearly every character rebels in one way or another. The commander and his wife, for example, rebel for their own personal benefit.
Offred may not be what we consider to be a traditional rebel such as Ofglen and Moira, as she struggles with an internal conflict – rebelliousness vs fear. Throughout the novel, she is given numerous opportunities to escape but becomes frightened within her enslaved position in Gilead due to the fearful elements of her current society. The dead bodies hanging on the wall, for example, are a relentless reminder to the civilians of what rebellion and conflict will result in.
Over time, Offred begins to “make a life for herself, here, of a sort” as she begins seeing Nick secretly, which makes her feel like she has something more to live for. “Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.” In this sense, a compensation such as comfort may also act as a suppressor of rebellion. Her situation has improved, which has made her circumstances more tolerable. This may have led her to believe that life isn’t so bad in Gilead anymore, and there is therefore far less desire for her to leave.
Through this recurring theme, Margaret Atwood expresses that while a heroic and rebellious protagonist may always be exciting, it is humanizing the character that will strengthen the message by making it’s story hauntingly realistic and therefore inflicting fear on it’s readers of our real world’s social issues. It is more difficult for members of an oppressive society to rebel as it is human’s nature to survive. Although Offred cared more for her own safety rather than standing up against the Gileadean regime, she lived to tell her story, which in a society that aims to silence her, could in fact, be an act of rebellion.
Then, we went on to start the creation of our films. At first, I wasn’t exactly sure as to how I should approach my film making, so, I decided to email several members of the English Department at UBC that specialized in Canadian Literature to get some inspiration from them. I received one answer from Glenn Deer who gave me many connections to other forms of literature such as The Complete Persepolis and WE.
Upon much research, I decided that I would focus my film on women’s reproductive rights, an issue very relevant to the US, but also in Canada. I learned about the issue of Crisis Pregnancy Centres that was well described by John Oliver on one of his talk shows, which was what had sparked my interest in using this topic for my documentary. Futhermore, I spoke to a counsellor from an abortion clinic in Vancouver in the form of an interview and was given much insight based on their professional experience and personal opinions. This information really amped up the quality of my film’s content.
Excerpt from my film’s script
Even though I have been a “PLP kid” for the last five years, my editing skills are not top notch, which I think was where I fell short in my film. However, my content was there and I had a very well thought-out script. My theme analysis, research and organization thrived in this project. I am looking forward to further grow my skills in text analysis and public speaking through Socratic Seminars as well as incorporate what I learned in this project to our next one on Horror.
on one of his talk shows, which was what had sparked my interest in using this topic for my documentary. Futhermore, I spoke to a counsellor from an abortion clinic in Vancouver in the form of an interview and was given much insight based on their professional experience and personal opinions. This information really amped up the quality of my film’s content. 