Doppelgängin’ With Intent

You might have noticed that this week is “Doppelgänger Week” on Facebook. And if you didn’t know, then either some of your friends have incredibly similar looking celebrity twins or none of your friends are choosing to participate. I fall into the latter category, as I couldn’t find anyone between Carl Weathers, Don King, and Lenny Kravitz (his afro-era). But it is with this spirit of likeness that I write the following.

In an age of satellite-surveillance, CIA phone-taps, the Patriot Act and general concern about freedom and privacy, it’s hardly a surprise that the term “Big Brother” has become somewhat oft-used. And it’s not the only term from George Orwell’s “1984” that has worked its way into the popular consciousness—never mind the fact that it’s the only one after which a reality show was named; so well-known are the themes and subjects of Orwell’s novels (don’t forget “Animal Farm”) that the adjective version of his name aptly describes any danger to free society. Perhaps his way was paved by Aldous Huxley, but the immediate popularity of “1984” in a post-WWII/ Red-Scare society, not to mention its continuing relevance as privacy-destroying-technology continues to emerge, arguably sets it apart.

For a moment, however, disregard the pros and cons of Huxley versus Orwell, the relevance of their respective arguments, and consider the fact that the topics they discuss are now known terrors. Multiple generations have grown up with at least a casual eye on the trivialization of (free) society. Our modern age demands a voice that questions the progression of the world from where we are now, similarly to the way Huxley challenged Ford in an assembly-line obsessed early 20^th century.

Introducing (or hopefully re-introducing) Margaret Atwood, a writer most famously known for 1985’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but also for numerous other novels, books of poetry and publications, including “Oryx and Crake” (2003). The two mentioned novels are works of speculative fiction, each fairly dissimilar from the other, and yet both portray a frightening future proceeding from the realities of this day and age. “The Handmaid’s Tale” addresses issues of religious fanaticism, feminism, and the survival of humankind after the landscape of Earth is forever changed by war, pollution, etc. In “Oryx and Crake,” Atwood faces the a similar civilization-scarred Earth, but her focus is the result of a world focused on scientific triumphs, genetic engineering, sex and material happiness at the expense of art and emotion, in the end destroyed by the “logical” quest for perfection.

The futures presented by Atwood should inspire caution in a time when abortionists still get murdered and erectile dysfunction commercials get more air-time than public service announcements. Similarly to Orwell and Huxley, her novels illustrate a world that has actual potential derived from our current cultural and technological landscape. Atwood is the Orwell doppelgänger for our time, so read up and gain an updated version of the vigilant eye.