The Handmaids Tale - wines to take away!!

gumbud

gumbud

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https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-...ut&utm_term=280744&subid=26363714&CMP=ema_632


This show may have been discussed already; if so my apologizes. I had a fiesty discussion with a woman a few months ago about this tale - she definitely stated she had read the book and found it a fine robust write? Her younger companion [female] and I simple expressed disgust ; disgust ; disgust - she looked slightly bemused with a quizzical look about her - the conversation topic then changed.

I am all in favor of a fiesty tale - take Poldark for example and many others but no matter which way up I look at THIS tale the only word that comes to mind is disgust. Is this the best that tv producers can do??
 

I would liken The Handmaid's Tale to George Orwell's 1984. It is a cautionary tale about a possible dystopic future if certain current trends are allowed to take root.
Someone in my family said that it could not happen but I countered that it certainly could. It happened to the Persians last century, practically overnight.

I have been watching it and am wondering whether the ending will be tragic a la 1984, or whether the producers will cop out with a fairy tale happy reunion in Canada.
 

It is dark, but all too apt, particularly in today’s climate. The author of the original book is a Canadian, and a prophet in her own way. Depth of this level is something we rarely see on the screen. Bravo! It is intended to unsettle its audience, and it does. I enjoyed Poldark, but it was another genre entirely.
 
Poldark is delightful eye candy.
It also shines a light on some issues in England that were contemporary with the beginnings of Australian settlement.
Cornish miners were a significant source of immigrants to South Australia, the only colony not to have used convict labour.
 
It depicts a theocracy where women are demeaned and without power, whether they be wives, servants or surrogate breeders. It is as oppressive as any other totalitarian society with closed borders. At the top, men of privilege are corrupt and venal, and in deadly competition with each other. Scripture is used to justify this regime and the brutal methods of suppression, including public executions.

If you think that nothing like this could happen in the 21st century, just look around. Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and North Korea spring to mind. Then there was the enigma that was Germany and Russia less than one century ago.

The descent into a monstrous theocracy is not impossible when societies lose sight of enlightenment ideals and take ancient scripture literally. It becomes even more possible when society fractures over moral issues such as SSM and abortion rights, and where one race/sect feels threatened by the presence of others.

The Handmaid's Tale is an allegory worth thinking about.
 
Warrigal said:
It depicts a theocracy where women are demeaned and without power, whether they be wives, servants or surrogate breeders. It is as oppressive as any other totalitarian society with closed borders. At the top, men of privilege are corrupt and venal, and in deadly competition with each other. Scripture is used to justify this regime and the brutal methods of suppression, including public executions.

If you think that nothing like this could happen in the 21st century, just look around. Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and North Korea spring to mind. Then there was the enigma that was Germany and Russia less than one century ago.

The descent into a monstrous theocracy is not impossible when societies lose sight of enlightenment ideals and take ancient scripture literally. It becomes even more possible when society fractures over moral issues such as SSM and abortion rights, and where one race/sect feels threatened by the presence of others.

The Handmaid's Tale is an allegory worth thinking about.
Click to expand...
Qft.
 
Warrigal said:
It depicts a theocracy where women are demeaned and without power, whether they be wives, servants or surrogate breeders. It is as oppressive as any other totalitarian society with closed borders. At the top, men of privilege are corrupt and venal, and in deadly competition with each other. Scripture is used to justify this regime and the brutal methods of suppression, including public executions.

If you think that nothing like this could happen in the 21st century, just look around. Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and North Korea spring to mind. Then there was the enigma that was Germany and Russia less than one century ago.

The descent into a monstrous theocracy is not impossible when societies lose sight of enlightenment ideals and take ancient scripture literally. It becomes even more possible when society fractures over moral issues such as SSM and abortion rights, and where one race/sect feels threatened by the presence of others.

The Handmaid's Tale is an allegory worth thinking about.
Click to expand...

Although I haven't seen the show I've read the book. Twice. First time shortly after it was published and then again a few months ago. It scared the crap out of me both times.

I believe that scenarios like this are all too possible unless, as gumbud and Churchill said, we do not maintain "eternal vigilance."
 

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