The Handmaid's Tale

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BuddhaLand

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Though Margaret Atwood wrote and released The Handmaid's Tale in 1985 and I have heard of it, it was not until Hulu released thier adaptation of it did i actually started to read the book. Many people try so hard to compare America today with the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian state (my main motivation for reading the book). I have 0 interest in watching the series.
 
BuddhaLand said:
I'm just sharing what i'm reading.
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The book is awesome and the series (Season 1 at least, I'm waiting to binge Season 2) is a wonderful adaptation.

When I read the book I thought it was an interesting setting, but I doubted the ability of religious fundamentalists in the real world to ever gain enough power to replicate something along the scale of the Republic of Gilead. Flash forward to today - Mike Pence (who would fit perfectly in the novel) is the Vice President of the United States and the religious right in this country reveres a blustering, authoritarian, amoral oaf whose main goal appears to be isolating the country from the rest of the world.

All we're missing now is the mass sterility part, and the CDC is probably working on that as we speak.
 
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The first season of the series was very impressive. I would describe it as "raw". Well worth watching.

I didn't know the second season was airing already. Thanks ID! :)
 
I haven't seen the series, but I hated the book. I'm a huge fan of Orwell, Bradbury and other dystopian authors, but Handmaid irked me.

For me, the most interesting aspect of the novel was when a friend mapped the setting across Cambridge, MA (labeling what the area was called in the novel, what scene it was part of, and what it was called IRL) for her senior project.
 
I read the book but don’t remember it. I think it was probably during something like American Lit class. Love the series and am curious as to how it compares. I must say that after watching several episodes in succession I’m kind of glad that the latest episodes air weekly. Watching more than that in succession gives me what I call “oppressive dystopian weirdness fatigue” or ODWF where I get kind of oversaturated with all the shocking stuff and start to disengage.

Lol @infinite dreams I had the same thoughts about Pence.
 
The series can be at some times very difficult to watch. Yet, amidst tears of injustice and rage, I absolutely love it, far more than the book.
At its core, the story told is about control through extremist religious beliefs and practices and the many people who become victims of it. I find far more parallels of this throughout the rest of the world, not necessarily America today. The politics, however... absolute power corrupts absolutely. The commanders blindly handing out their form of justice and the will of their god while remaining free from the teachings they base their entire way of life around... sounds familiar.

Control does exist, in countless forms, and Gilead is the worst case scenario of an extremist group under the guise of "making America Gilead great again" gaining a foothold where liberty should reign.

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