Dystopia = Reality?

        While I was watching The Cove for an Environmental Science Study, a documentary focusing on the active protests of Rick O'Barry against Japanese dolphin hunting and entertainment events, I began to wonder: is this how Mayday Rebels of the Handmaid's Tale view the Republic of Gilead?

Anyone who has seen the documentary or at least heard the bulk of it in my Environmental Science class may be wondering: What do these COMPLETELY separate two subjects have to do with each other?

       Well, trying my best to maintain objectivity during both the documentary and the novel, I began to notice that the activity of O'Barry in Japan seemed to carry the same point as the Mayday Rebels: once, each group or individual was hailed for their involvement in the work (dolphin entertainment in O'Barry's case, and Handmaid protection for the Rebels).

     I do not plan on digging through the contrasts between the Japanese dolphin industry and Handmaid production, but I will note that after weighing each subject, I began to realize that real-life activists like O'Barry demonstrate the actual dystopian ("imperfect world" in literal definitions) aspects of modern-day global societies. Like Moira from The Handmaid's Tale and Winston from 1984, these people long for change and strike at any chance they can grab, but they may not appear successful to the rest of the world. This realization links our understanding of dystopian literature with modern-day activism.

I DO NOT OWN ANY RIGHTS TO THE DOCUMENTARY The Cove
Image courtesy of The Exploring Dystopia Forum