Texts studied in tandem may share common ideas, values and concerns, whilst the paradigms of their individual context shape representation and meaning. A comparison of texts allows for a deeper understanding of the social and cultural commentary offered by their creators. The speculative fiction text The Handmaid’s Tale(1985) written by Margaret Atwood incorporates the 1980s context of different cultural and political ideologies, whilst the revolutionary biotechnology of the 1990s moulds the 1997 science fiction film, Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol. Though differing in form, context and structure, both texts depict a dystopian microcosm of social dysfunction which belittles individuals. The Handmaid’s Tale and Gattaca collectively condemn
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This extremist attitude is channelled by the 1980s context of declining birth rates, reductions in fertility levels and increasing use of contraceptives that gave rise to these concerns. The sexual exploitation of women is perpetuated and substantiated by the government of Gilead through supposed theological validation, “Give me children or else I die,”(Genesis 30:1-3). This biblical reference allegorises the importance of childbirth and conception, thereby justifying the philosophies upon which Gilead is founded. Here Atwood draws parallels between Gilead and the dictatorship President Ceausescu under whom birth control and abortion became illegal, prophesising the possible reality of her novel. In addition handmaids are denied the right to their real name, forsaking their identity and highlighting their subservience to their Commanders. The name was a “patronymic composed of the possessive preposition” followed by the “first name of the gentlemen in question”, depriving handmaids of their individuality and identifying them purely by their role as “two-legged wombs”. This metaphor reiterates the dominant ideology in The Handmaid’s Tale that a women’s worth is defined by her reproductive organs. Similar imagery is repeatedly employed by Offred, in claiming that “she is a container” since “only the side of her body is
This extremist attitude is channelled by the 1980s context of declining birth rates, reductions in fertility levels and increasing use of contraceptives that gave rise to these concerns. The sexual exploitation of women is perpetuated and substantiated by the government of Gilead through supposed theological validation, “Give me children or else I die,”(Genesis 30:1-3). This biblical reference allegorises the importance of childbirth and conception, thereby justifying the philosophies upon which Gilead is founded. Here Atwood draws parallels between Gilead and the dictatorship President Ceausescu under whom birth control and abortion became illegal, prophesising the possible reality of her novel. In addition handmaids are denied the right to their real name, forsaking their identity and highlighting their subservience to their Commanders. The name was a “patronymic composed of the possessive preposition” followed by the “first name of the gentlemen in question”, depriving handmaids of their individuality and identifying them purely by their role as “two-legged wombs”. This metaphor reiterates the dominant ideology in The Handmaid’s Tale that a women’s worth is defined by her reproductive organs. Similar imagery is repeatedly employed by Offred, in claiming that “she is a container” since “only the side of her body is