EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
The Handmaid's Tale is a series adapted from Margaret Atwood's novel of the same name. The story takes place in the United States in the present day, where a totalitarian regime serving "traditional" values has seized power and seized human freedoms, replacing them with the dystopian state of Gilead.
Religious totalitarianism in a frightening dystopia
The revolution of the Christian theonomic government and the repeal of the constitution come as a result of a reality dominated by fear of terrorism, climate change and pollution, which has deprived the majority of the female population of reproductive opportunities. The small number of fertile women become slaves of the “red center”, from where they are redistributed as “fertile” slaves of the higher castes and destined for breeding. Women are deprived of private property, profession, family, they are forbidden to read, to take care of their appearance – their body and existence are reduced only to the utilitarianism of a promiscuous animal. The main character June, renamed Offred, is assigned to the home of the Gilead commander Fred Waterford and his wife Serena.
Beyond the love stories, the family drama of our protagonist's missing daughter, the story is interesting with the classic architecture of a dystopia, in which the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The high-ranking family Fred and Serena are a great example of this. A couple in love, sharing the ideology of returning to traditional values, who themselves find themselves trapped in the system they dream of.
Serena, who was previously an ideologue of the movement, writing books praising the traditional role of women in the family and one of the authors of the future laws of Gilead - after their adoption, finds herself forced to throw away these same books, which she is not allowed to read, and share with her husband and the fertile maid Offred. For her part, Commandant Waterford enjoys his power, which, however, is highly vulnerable to conspiratorial denunciations from the "Eyes" - the secret services of the totalitarian state.
The series addresses some very topical issues
Although written in 1985, the story remains blatantly relevant today, especially with the danger lurking behind the instilled fear, the sense of doom and predestination, prompting a society to turn to unhealthy religious beliefs and practices, easily rejecting scientific and technological progress and personal freedoms. A conflict between progress and tradition, science and religion, women and men, and most interestingly - between women and women. "The Handmaid's Tale" also promotes an interesting debate about the role of modern feminism, in this case asking questions rather than offering answers.
The characters range from homosexual women engaged in scientific research on the highly publicized topic of rape on university campuses in the United States to the already mentioned, traditionalist wife who is also an intellectual leader in the fight for her ideas. The final score, however, shows that both sides end up equally deprived of their freedoms – the former, turned into material for breeding and pleasure, and the latter, standing with a tapestry in hand, found themselves without the attention and love of their husbands. The feminist line in the series is extremely interesting and once again provokes reflection on the question of whether women themselves remain the worst enemies of women.
Like any classic dystopia, this series also has a place for hope and resistance – where the human spirit remains indomitable, the seed of doubt undoubtedly sprouts, whispering, “hasn’t the world gone too far?” The cinematography is exceptionally aesthetic and helps to fully perceive the images of this ominous society, and the soundtrack, at times quite surprising, manages to bring the viewer out of the states of stupor that some of the scenes induce.
Dystopias remain a good antidote to naive beliefs, always interesting to watch and reflect on, and perhaps most importantly, recalling a fundamental law that we could illustrate with dialogue from the series:
"We just wanted to make the world a better place."
-Better?
"Better never means better for everyone."
