ShmoopTube

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The Handmaid's Tale, Brave New World, and Gattaca, a la Shmoop.

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The dystopias we've seen so far are pretty bad across the board.

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In The Time Machine, the Eloi <<EE-loy>> might have looked pretty, but they were pretty easy

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pickin's for the Morlocs <<MORE-locks>>, who lived underground.

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And in 1984, almost everyone had it rough, with Big Brother watching their every move.

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But what if things were bad for just some people? How does that change your idea of dystopia?

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We don't mean just a randomly selected group of people in Dubuque, however.

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We mean an entire subset of people. People who generally aren't appreciated.

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In The Handmaid's Tale, for example women aren't just pushed aside...

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They're practically stomped on...

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Silenced...

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And used.

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It's a grim vision of what happens when laws that take away rights go into effect.

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The ultra-religious society that rules the world of The Handmaid's Tale have basically

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turned women into prisoners and slaves, who are only valued for their procreation abilities.

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Plus, the clothes aren't flattering at all.

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Brave New World is a little different. Aldous Huxley's world has a place for everyone,

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and everyone is in their place.

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The idiots do the hard labor while the upper class play mini-golf all day.

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What sets it apart from other dystopias, though, is that the people were bred this way.

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They were genetically engineered to fit into the right caste, so they don't know any better.

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Which means that the reader is forced to ask some deep questions.

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If a person doesn't know that they're being horribly oppressed...if they actually

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enjoy their terrible position in life...

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...are they even being oppressed?

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For example, would the ladies of the Handmaid's Tale be better off if they were genetically

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engineered to enjoy a complete lack of freedom?

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The 1997 film, Gattaca, brings Huxley's genetic concerns into the modern era.

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Born out of the cotemporary concerns over genetic testing, the movie is set in a futuristic

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world where most babies are tested for undesirable traits

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and receive genetic tune-ups before they're born.

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The main character, Vincent Freeman...

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...a guy whose parents dared to bring him into the world the old fashioned way--without

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any genetic tampering at all.

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As a result, Vincent experiences tons of discrimination throughout his life and is forced to assume

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a false identity to pursue his dream of being an astronaut.

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Like the best dystopian novels out there, Gattaca forces us to ask questions.

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Sure, it might be nice to get rid of certain disease-causing genetic defects, but what

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is the cost of knowing too much?

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What would we miss out on if certain traits were just deleted from the human genome?

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If everyone becomes exceptional, then exceptional ceases to exist, and everyone is just plain boring.

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...and maybe more than a little creepy?

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