Just watched the first episode. I found it intriguing.
It’s a dystopian yarn about a religious cult that somehow managed to gain a rather sizable foothold in the US. Also, there’s some sort of plague that targets women’s reproductive systems. So ladies that can give birth are a rarity (and also a commodity from what I gather)
So… Anyone else watching?
I read the novel 30 years ago and it’s still vivid in my mind. Is there any reason I need to watch the show? Does it add anything amazing to the story?
Why don’t you look at one episode and decide for yourself? :dubious: The thing that wasn’t there 30 years ago is today’s political climate.
I got halfway through the first one and Hulu started buffering and reloading, so I stopped. I’ll go back and pick it up.
I also read the book and most of Atwood’s other books, too. I think she’s brilliant. This story is very grim-- and the portrayal of institutionalized misogyny is even more painful to witness after the recent election of a blatant misogynist. When the book first came out, the thought was, “That could never really happen.” Now my thought is, “Who would stop it?”
The belief expressed in the scene where everyone tells the girl who was gang-raped that it was her fault and she asked for it reflects what many people believe. It’s a hop, skip, and a jump to saying it right out loud.
Also the bodies of the doctor and teacher hanging reflects today’s rampant anti-intellectualism. The body of the gay man-- that has happened; it just hasn’t been institutionalized. Yet.
The timing of this couldn’t be more apt. BTW, Atwood is Canadian.
Whether or not I do that, I am interested in other people’s views on the matter, which you actually go ahead and do right after giving me the eyebrow. :dubious:
I thought it wasn’t available until today or I would have watched last night. I’m looking forward to it, particularly to see Elisabeth Moss. The reviews I’ve read all make mention of how relevant the story is in terms of what’s going on today.
Slightly off topic, but in all the hoopla I hadn’t read any mention of the movie that I could have sworn was made in the late '80s / early '90s and starred either Meg Foster or Amy Irving as Offred and I wondered if I’d imagined it. Turns out there was a movie made about that time but when I looked it up on IMDB I see that it starred Natasha Richardson and a cast that I have absolutely no mental picture of being connected to the film. Am I somehow remembering a vision I formed in my head while reading the book? I don’t even think I saw the 1990 movie, yet I have snips of some version of THT in my head that instantly popped up when I heard they done a remake.
Sorry. Your comment sounded like, “I’m not going to bother unless someone gives me a reason.”
In the book…
[spoiler]The problem wasn’t women’s reproductive systems, the problem was that the leaders had played with bio-weapons based on mumps at one point which left them, the men sterile. But they blamed the lack of kids on their wives because, you know, it couldn’t be them, the men, having the problem. You find that out way at the end.
Which makes the bullshit Offred and her fellow handmaidens went through all in vain, because the men raping them were shooting blanks.[/spoiler]
I like a lot of Atwood’s writing, but she needs to get over herself and deal with the fact she writes science fiction. She has this weird aversion to admitting that fact.
My bold.
“Get over herself”? “Deal with the fact”? Um…why?
Just a guess, but – you know Meg Foster famously played Hester Prynne, right?
With that image in your head, it’d maybe be easy to inception yourself.
I didn’t understand that comment either. I’ve read quite a few of MA’s books and would never categorize her as a science fiction writer, THT aside.
Good suggestion, The Other Waldo Pepper. I’m not sure I was even aware of that movie but it’s as good an explanation as any. Maybe I saw previews back in the day. Also, looking at the old photos of Meg Foster reminded me that I used to get her confused with Kirstie Alley .
Here’s a good summary of the first three episodes-- full of spoilers.
It’s hard to discuss this series without spoilers.
It’s quite believable that this could happen. (From the link above):
Even after Kristallnacht, would anyone have gone so far as to predict the ovens?
As I’ve asked in other threads on this board: “Who’s going to stop it?”
You wouldn’t try to? I know I would.
“Suspending the constitution” isn’t something that just happens in this country and everyone just shrugs. The entire constitution?
As Yoda said, *trying *and *doing *are two different things. Of course, people would TRY. But who WOULD stop it? Who would DO it?
One can never predict success, but by the same token one cannot predict failure, either. I’m comfortable with the belief that it’s not just you and I who would resist.
See you at the barricades! 
This is the most shocking thing about this thread. Meg Foster has those amazing silver-colored eyes - how could you ever confuse her with Kirstie Alley?
Awww… I know. [cue soundtrack to Les Mis, which I LOVE!] And I agree with you. It’s just (and I don’t want to pollute this thread with politics) many have been outraged every day and multiple times a day by stuff that has happened and is happening since the election, but no one can stop it. It’s not at the level of provoking revolution in the streets yet, but that happens gradually.
Get back to me when Trump suspends the constitution and no one stops him. Until then, you’re just arguing policy differences.
[Moderating]
There’s another current thread that’s already discussing connections between the story and current events, and I’ve already given instructions for how to proceed in that thread to stay in CS. In an effort to make our job easier, let’s move any discussion of the real world to that thread, and consistent with those instructions, OK? Any discussion of the show as a work of fiction can stay here.
Because she writes science fiction but wants to call it anything but that because she somehow thingk it’s beneath her. Her comments about science fiction are dismissive and insulting, and it’s hypocritical of her to speak that way when she herself writes science fiction.
The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake are science fiction tales. They might be described by other terms as well, but they definitely fit into that genre.
The fact Atwood has written SF stories doesn’t mean she can’t/hasn’t written in other genres. I’d say it’s to an author’s credit if she can write successfully in multiple genres.
No, I don’t think I can watch this. I got 20 minutes in and had to stop it. It’s one thing reading the book. It’s quite another thing to see it portrayed. It’s too real. There are too many real women on the world subject to oppression. There are too many real people who want a world like this. It’s not entertainment.
