Handmaid's Tale
I know I primarily blog about the bookish life. The only time I've deviated is when I wrote about Anne With An E. But I recently binge watched season two of Handmaid's Tale which I thought was excellent. I haven't read the Margaret Atwood book that it is based on since college so I do not feel like I can comment fairly on the book versus the movie at this moment. However this TV show is definitely worth talking about.
The premise of the story is that women lose their rights in a fundamentalist patriarchy. Women are relegated to different functions that they can serve: a handmaid's sole purpose is to provide children to elite households through ritualistic rape. And wives are expected to run households. There are other roles that women have on the show that you can read about here but this is the story of June who was forced into the role of a handmaid and can remember the life (and rights) she had before. In the mist of trying to survive the brutal role that she is in she is also determined to escape and reunite with her daughter and her husband.
This is a very bleak show, but it is emotionally addicting. In having conversations with people about this show one of the responses that I have heard occasionally is that some people do not want to watch it because it is so dark. I had one conversation where someone just did not feel like it was too much for them emotionally to go there. Another conversation I had someone said that they need more light escapist shows when they sit down to watch TV. But I am willing to go there.
I will acknowledge that when I was a candidate for ordained ministry in the ELCA I would have struggle to go there. Being in extremely toxic work environments and questioning the faith that I was supposed to represent this level of darkness would have been hard for me to stomach. I also need to confess that my addiction to Harlequin romances stems from needing to have stories in my diet of literature that do not force me to think with a guaranteed happy ending. I completely understand not being in the right frame of mind to watch a show like this. I know it would push my buttons.
There were many moments that I was screaming and swearing at the TV. One of the reoccurring themes on the show is women being separated from their children. I watched this when attention was being brought to immigrant families that are being split up at the border and putting children in cages. People who are incompetent and having dangerous policies in place for human rights coming into power is also addressed in this show. And with someone like Donald Trump as the president of the United States where I wake up to news every single day that makes me want to cry it is hard to not make parallels to the current state of our country. I know when I was really upset there were times it was hard to decipher whether or not it was the show or what the show reminded me of that made me upset.
In spite of my reactions I still feel a little on edge when I hear people wanting to equate our current political climate with dystopian fiction. Stories like Handmaid's Tale, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 are important stories. Yes, Handmaids Tale reminded me of some of the bad things that are going on in our country but we still live in a democracy. No legal citizen of the United States has had their rights taken away completely. While I do believe in a woman's right to choose and I am concerned about the efforts to de-fund Planned Parenthood and overturn Roe versus Wade I do think that it is going down a slippery slope to say that we are almost living in a Handmaid's Tale like reality. But Handmaid's Tale does uplift the importance of doing our best as citizens to make sure that equality is uplifted in our world. That is one of the reasons why I am willing to go in the dark places that this Hulu show takes me.
The premise of the story is that women lose their rights in a fundamentalist patriarchy. Women are relegated to different functions that they can serve: a handmaid's sole purpose is to provide children to elite households through ritualistic rape. And wives are expected to run households. There are other roles that women have on the show that you can read about here but this is the story of June who was forced into the role of a handmaid and can remember the life (and rights) she had before. In the mist of trying to survive the brutal role that she is in she is also determined to escape and reunite with her daughter and her husband.
This is a very bleak show, but it is emotionally addicting. In having conversations with people about this show one of the responses that I have heard occasionally is that some people do not want to watch it because it is so dark. I had one conversation where someone just did not feel like it was too much for them emotionally to go there. Another conversation I had someone said that they need more light escapist shows when they sit down to watch TV. But I am willing to go there.
I will acknowledge that when I was a candidate for ordained ministry in the ELCA I would have struggle to go there. Being in extremely toxic work environments and questioning the faith that I was supposed to represent this level of darkness would have been hard for me to stomach. I also need to confess that my addiction to Harlequin romances stems from needing to have stories in my diet of literature that do not force me to think with a guaranteed happy ending. I completely understand not being in the right frame of mind to watch a show like this. I know it would push my buttons.
There were many moments that I was screaming and swearing at the TV. One of the reoccurring themes on the show is women being separated from their children. I watched this when attention was being brought to immigrant families that are being split up at the border and putting children in cages. People who are incompetent and having dangerous policies in place for human rights coming into power is also addressed in this show. And with someone like Donald Trump as the president of the United States where I wake up to news every single day that makes me want to cry it is hard to not make parallels to the current state of our country. I know when I was really upset there were times it was hard to decipher whether or not it was the show or what the show reminded me of that made me upset.
In spite of my reactions I still feel a little on edge when I hear people wanting to equate our current political climate with dystopian fiction. Stories like Handmaid's Tale, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 are important stories. Yes, Handmaids Tale reminded me of some of the bad things that are going on in our country but we still live in a democracy. No legal citizen of the United States has had their rights taken away completely. While I do believe in a woman's right to choose and I am concerned about the efforts to de-fund Planned Parenthood and overturn Roe versus Wade I do think that it is going down a slippery slope to say that we are almost living in a Handmaid's Tale like reality. But Handmaid's Tale does uplift the importance of doing our best as citizens to make sure that equality is uplifted in our world. That is one of the reasons why I am willing to go in the dark places that this Hulu show takes me.
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