The Handmaid’s Tale:
Why We Should be Paying Attention to Dystopian Pop Culture
From the first time I saw the trailer for Hulu’s original series The Handmaid’s Tale about six months ago, I was hooked. It was only a couple of minutes long, but it showed all the elements of a good dystopian show that I just loved: a twisted regime, a struggle against corrupt power, and, of course, some awesome female characters. What thrilled me even more was that the show was based on a book written by Margaret Atwood, and there was plenty of time to read it before the premiere. So, being the good little book nerd that I am, I set out to the nearest Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy.
However, it wasn’t that simple. The book was sold out at four stores, and by that point I just gave up and ordered it online. Apparently such is the case for many other older dystopian novels, like Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World, and Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here, just to name a few. Dystopian literature has taken over Amazon’s best selling list and risen in general popularity since the 2016 election, and it seems like the trend is bound to continue. In light of this very politically and socially tense time, Americans are turning towards stories centered on oppression for guidance, and, ironically enough, comfort.
But why? It seems so counterintuitive to read stories about horrifying alternate futures when we can draw parallels to our own lives and what might be in store for us. It’s such a dark form of escapism. However, the similarities just might be the reason so many people are drawn to dystopian literature. The future is daunting and uncertain, and what’s even more confusing is how we can take control of the present in a way that will benefit us in the future. Books have always acted as a form of guidance, and in this case they can teach us how to take action in a world that constantly feels threatening and constricting when we don’t have much else to go off of. In a strange way, thinking that we still have the time and agency to avoid a future like the one in these stories is comforting because it gives us much needed hope. And frankly, it’s nice to see that even if things are bad now, at least they’re not that bad.
Such was the case with me and The Handmaid’s Tale. The story follows Offred and her life in the far-right, Christian fundamentalist republic of Gilead, where she serves a powerful family as their handmaid. Besides the general house work that would be expected of a handmaid, Offred is expected to have sex with the head of the household and act as a surrogate mother to his barren wife so that they might have children in the midst of a national fertility crisis. All women are completely subjugated to male power, their options essentially limited to various forms of repression and slavery.
Reading about a futuristic scenario in which women were so fully stripped of their rights resonated with a deep personal anxiety about what’s going on in the world today. It’s not hard to find examples of female oppression in our own country and in our own lives, and in subtle ways they mirror what’s happening in The Handmaid’s Tale. For example, the increasing restrictions on birth control and abortion along with the defunding of Planned Parenthood resemble the way that women were given little choice in their fertility and valued only as instruments of reproduction in the book. One could go so far to say that the sexist, male-dominated government of Gilead is vaguely similar to ours, especially considering that our president is well-known for blatant instances of sexism. Granted, the examples from real life are far less extreme than what goes on in The Handmaid’s Tale, but it’s still eerily familiar.
Although the Hulu show is only on episode four, it’s remained pretty true to the original so far. The changes that have been made actually make it spookier, like how it incorporates modern technology like iPhones and Uber to make it seem like this is something that could happen to us right now. The cinematography is beautiful and the soundtrack really sets the mood. For the entertainment aspect alone I’d highly recommend it. But if you do end up watching (or reading!) The Handmaid’s Tale, I urge you to take the time to really think about its messages on political awareness and the role that every person plays in influencing our reality. Stories exist so that we can learn from them, and this one offers so much to take away.