The Handmaid's Tale

Surprised there isn't already a thread on this. This adaptation was incredible in its first half, but the second half of the season that diverges from the book to setup ongoing plotlines was weaker (except the finale, that was excellent). Whether the show can work as an ongoing series remains to be seen, but it probably should have been a limited miniseries.

Still, if you haven't seen it, watch it ASAP. It's a tough watch but an amazing adaptation.

edited 15th Jun '17 11:32:03 AM by occono

It is very well done, but I cant watch it very quickly, because it is too dark and distressing for me to stomach in more than one-episode-at-time doses.

Renewed for Season 3. I hope they don't stretch it out.

How's it a tough watch?

This was one of the books I never read in highschool.

Just the shit they do to the women, a lot of it on camera, but some of it’s even worse off camera. The government of Gilead wears their hypocrisy on their sleeves, too, so you feel no sympathy.

edited 3rd May '18 6:58:06 AM by Beatman1

The last episode was just brutal. Broaching misery porn.

Bordering? It’s been teetering on it for a while now but I think it being psychological just made it all the skeevier. This is torture porn at this point, at least the last episode was.

It doesn’t really help that everything done to June this episode is done by a woman. Think about that. For all the thinkpieces about mysgonistic oppression, the torture was done by women, the haves to the have-nots.

edited 11th May '18 7:30:32 AM by Beatman1

Shit rolls downhill in any oppressed society.

But that's a criticism the show has been getting. That we're seeing too much women on women violence while letting the Commanders off the hook.

I mean, there is a historical precedent for it. Therogine De Maricourt during the French Revolution era advocated a lot for women's rights (considered one of the first unofficial or proto feminists in some circles for it) and she was stripped and beaten by other women for speaking out.

I can't speak for the frequency or more meta motive in it since I'm still in Season 1 (Possibly the men of Gilead realize that there might be power in turning other women against each other?) but its not like there isn't historical backing to women doing terrible horrific things to each other for standing against society.

There’s a lot more nuance than portraying all women as unified victims before a mysoginist regime, which is something so many actually mysoginistic and misandrist works don’t have.

That being said the torture porn is really starting to approach grading levels. How many more seasons can you milk out of this concept before it descends into straight torture porn? The whole point is this misery is unsustainable.

Putting June back in Handmaidendom is a Reset Button I think the show didn't need.

They could have gone with her fleeing across the country.