World Policy in The Handmaid's Tale (Plus a story)
In a strike of something that could be called either unlucky or highly lucky, earlier this year I came across a TV show airing on Hulu called “The Handmaid’s Tale.” I saw that it had won many awards, so I proceeded to watch the trailer. That same night, I logged on to my account with the Champaign Public Library, and immediately requested the TV show, and after a couple of weeks of waiting, I picked it up from the library. Within five minutes, I was absolutely addicted. The show, starring Elizabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, and Joseph Fiennes had won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for a reason. The combination of a great plot, great acting, and great cinematography was unmatched (save for Game of Thrones and Vikings) compared to anything I had ever watched before in the realm of television.
When I came back to school following winter break, Dr. Majerus mentioned that we would be reading the Handmaid’s Tale. My first thought was, “Oh great, no need to do the readings!” Reluctantly, however, I picked up the book on the first night and began to read. I was highly surprised by the quality of the prose, given the uninteresting nature of most books assigned by the English Department (The same thing happened with Brave New World. Thanks Dr. Majerus!).
Surprisingly, the stories in the television program(season 1) and book were very similar for the main character(Offred). The purpose (aside from the story) of this blog post is to highlight a difference between the television program and the book and why it matters.
In both the book and the television program, Offred comes into contact with people from outside of Gilead. In the book, the tourists are from Japan, and they encompass everything that Offred has lost. The television program instead chooses for the outsiders to be Mexican diplomats, who commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) had invited to Gilead to discuss business.
The business was the trading of Handmaid’s to Mexico in exchange for unspecified resources. First, Offred is brought into the Commander’s Fred’s study, where she is greeted by the diplomats. She is then asked the famous question: “Are you happy?” She, of course, is forced to respond with a yes, despite her absolute hatred for Gilead (because she would be harmed in a violent matter if she hadn’t). In the next several days, the commanders go to great length to parade the Handmaid’s (and the kids they produced) in front of the diplomats, even going so far as to throw a great feast. Later, she is told by the diplomat in private that her town (which is about the same size as Boston) has not had a single child in six years, and as such were moving towards extinction to which Offred responds by telling her that she lied and that she wasn’t happy.
Why is this so important? The show as good as declares that the infertility is a worldwide problem. As such, females are even more inhumanized in the show. They can be traded, raped, and kept as slaves. It isn’t even anyone’s fault. Females in the show are much more valuable as entities than they are in the book simply because of the context we are given.
The book doesn’t drop down to these levels. While we get to meet tourists, they don’t do much other than symbolizing the extravagance of the rest of the world. Could this mean that it isn’t a worldwide problem? What do you all think is the world’s situation in the book?
When I came back to school following winter break, Dr. Majerus mentioned that we would be reading the Handmaid’s Tale. My first thought was, “Oh great, no need to do the readings!” Reluctantly, however, I picked up the book on the first night and began to read. I was highly surprised by the quality of the prose, given the uninteresting nature of most books assigned by the English Department (The same thing happened with Brave New World. Thanks Dr. Majerus!).
Surprisingly, the stories in the television program(season 1) and book were very similar for the main character(Offred). The purpose (aside from the story) of this blog post is to highlight a difference between the television program and the book and why it matters.
In both the book and the television program, Offred comes into contact with people from outside of Gilead. In the book, the tourists are from Japan, and they encompass everything that Offred has lost. The television program instead chooses for the outsiders to be Mexican diplomats, who commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) had invited to Gilead to discuss business.
The business was the trading of Handmaid’s to Mexico in exchange for unspecified resources. First, Offred is brought into the Commander’s Fred’s study, where she is greeted by the diplomats. She is then asked the famous question: “Are you happy?” She, of course, is forced to respond with a yes, despite her absolute hatred for Gilead (because she would be harmed in a violent matter if she hadn’t). In the next several days, the commanders go to great length to parade the Handmaid’s (and the kids they produced) in front of the diplomats, even going so far as to throw a great feast. Later, she is told by the diplomat in private that her town (which is about the same size as Boston) has not had a single child in six years, and as such were moving towards extinction to which Offred responds by telling her that she lied and that she wasn’t happy.
Why is this so important? The show as good as declares that the infertility is a worldwide problem. As such, females are even more inhumanized in the show. They can be traded, raped, and kept as slaves. It isn’t even anyone’s fault. Females in the show are much more valuable as entities than they are in the book simply because of the context we are given.
The book doesn’t drop down to these levels. While we get to meet tourists, they don’t do much other than symbolizing the extravagance of the rest of the world. Could this mean that it isn’t a worldwide problem? What do you all think is the world’s situation in the book?
The show definitely adds an extra element of "darkness" to the story. The fact that handmaids are even traded to other countries makes it a much bigger regime than what was described in the book. While reading the book, I was never really sure how far this problem of infertility had reached. I personally felt that it was more of a problem in just Gilead, because it seemed like there were places that you could escape to outside of Gilead and have a better life. This could however, just mean that in other places they don't have a terrible system like Gilead's, but they could still be struggling with the issue of infertility and just approaching it in a different manner.
ReplyDeleteIn the books, I had originally assumed the infertility problem was worldwide, so I was surprised when the tourists showed up. It ended up making sense though, because it feels a bit more realistic if it's not worldwide. There are places in the world that are kind of similar to Gilead in how much control they exercise and how much value is supposedly placed on religion, so the book's purpose is like "what if this stuff happened in America, and had a Christian basis?" In the show (which I haven't started yet), if it's a worldwide problem, that leaves a lot less hope for change and escape. Scary!
ReplyDeleteThe global background of the novel is kept unknown to us so we can come to our own conclusions about how Gilead came to be. As discussed in class, it is doubtful that such a radical movement came to take power in one of the strongest nations in the world at the time. There must have been a catastrophic flaw in society that resulted in the formation of a group like Gilead. This flaw came in the form of mass infertility threatening the existence of the human race, presumably on a global scale. The rest of the world could be struggling with the same resistance the U.S. did up until the creation of Gilead which would explain why no one interfered when the federal government collapsed. There are so many possible scenarios that would explain the events leading up to Gilead that I believe the decision to exclude it was intentional to add an aspect of mystery to the novel.
ReplyDeleteI imagined that the infertility problem was a worldwide phenomenon in the book, but the show definitely makes it more clear. As it is in the show, where it definitely is a worldwide phenomenon, fertile women are some of the most valuable resources on the planet, so I agree with your assessment that women like Offred are even more dehumanized. Given the Mexican diplomat's testimony on the struggles of fertility in Mexico, could it be that Gilead is the more successful country in this new world order? I would have to imagine that fertility rate is going to be big in the show's world in determining the success of nations.
ReplyDeleteI wonder who commissioned the TV Series? From the book, while worldwide fertility is an issue, it doesn't seem to be as big as the TV Series portrays it to be. If the TV series was commissioned by someone other than the author, it could just be a different take to background of the story, if it indeed as the author, then it gives valuable insight into the story of the world. From the book we know Caucasian birthrates are decreasing in historical notes, and the mention of Rumania, however we have no knowledge on whether the birthrates of the other races were increasing and decreasing. Given the Japanese tourists in the book, I think that Asian birthrates may have been relatively ok, but nothing is certain.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the scary things about the book is that gilead may only be in the US. This is scary because it shows that there doesn't have to be a large world revolution, it can happen in one small place while other countries just stand by and watch. So, I think it is mostly just in the US because that makes it more plausible than it happening to the entire world.
ReplyDeleteTo add on to this, I was stunned that this could happen exclusively in America. I'll say that it makes more sense for the tourists to be from Japan given that it's farther away in proximity. However, the relationships we have with other countries make this form of separatism seem impossible. However, the thought of America being run in a hyper-religious fashion is most definitely an interesting idea.
DeleteInitially, I would’ve said that the mistreatment of women was reserved to Gilead rather than the whole world. However, I think it’s possible that the same thing has spread across the world although at different levels. Particularly, I can imagine societies where women supposedly still have rights but in reality, these rights have been highly restricted. Gilead could just be the extreme of a very large spectrum. After all, if infertility is a worldwide phenomenon then I think each society would have its own reactions on how to curb it.
ReplyDeleteI also recently watched the TV show and absolutely loved it. I think the part with the Mexican diplomats is really well done, and in addition to commenting on the worthlessness of women in Gilead so much that they are traded and sold, just shows how helpless they are because other countries will not help them. I think the later meeting with the Canadian leaders also shows a similar dynamic, although the result is much more optimistic.
ReplyDeleteI think the tv show is based on a better plot entirely. Gilead, as a society, makes no sense in the book. How it came to be, why no one stopped it, etc. However, from how you're describing the tv show, it appears Gilead makes more sense and I would love to see how it is countered if Gilead is indeed a worldwide phenomenon. Sounds very interesting. I'll be sure to give the show a try!
ReplyDeleteThe TV show definitely adds a lot more to the story than the book. The treatment of the women in the book was already horrible, but seeing how far things were taken in the show's version of Gilead was scary. I, too, thought that the whole infertility problem (or at least the way it was handled) was just in the US. However, the idea of them being traded off is very eerie because it shows that the entire world was just as ruthless and corrupt and all too willing to take such extreme measures to deal with infertility, not just the Republic of Gilead.
ReplyDeleteThat makes the TV show sound really interesting. I assumed that because the tourists came the book in that it was only a problem in the US. The addition of women being traded like a commodity is extremely disturbing and only deepens the sense of disgust and moral repulsion that comes from this book.
ReplyDelete