The Handmaid’s Tale
This is not a show that will leave you in a good mood after watching, but you will probably get addicted to it anyway. Considering this is a thriller drama, terror would be a normal reaction to some of the plots. However, this is a psychological thriller so if you like the kind of horror films that have jump scares, buckets and buckets of blood, and supernatural creatures, you will probably be disappointed. The terror in this drama stems from the oppression in a dystopian society that can happen in the possible future.
The story is set in a country called Gilead, which used to be the USA. It is a ruled by a Christian fundamentalist government. Gilead is extremely conservative and authoritarian. Every citizen has to live according to the Bible. However, the government would take some quotes out of context and use them to oppress women. In the society of Gilead, women are not allowed to own property and read. Since Gilead suffers from severely low fertility rate, some women who are fertile are enslaved to be handmaids. They are assigned to different houses of commanders to get pregnant. Essentially, they get rape every month, and the government calls this a “ceremony.”
The Handmaid’s Tale is told from the perspective of June, a handmaid from Gilead. In the first season, she is known as Offred. The name can be separated into “of Fred.” This means she is a property of Commander Fred Waterford. Since handmaids are the lowest class of women in Gilead, she is not allowed to even have her own name.
Although the show keeps me on the edge on my seat, I can’t help but feel stunned at how well the visuals are designed. The cinematography is just incredible. In Gilead, people are grouped into different social classes. Each class is signified with a specific color. I think the symbolic meaning behind the colors play huge role in the show. All men wear black clothes. The wives of the commander wear blue, which is associated with noble. Marthas (housekeepers and cooks) wear dull green. It may symbolizes healing because marthas often help handmaids. Since they are servants, the dullness makes them unnoticeable. Handmaids wear red. It is the strongest and most eye-catching color in the show, and it is often contrasted with white. It symbolizes blood and oppression. Wearing such an eye-catching color also makes it harder for them to run away.
I like this drama so much that I decided to borrow the original novel from the library. I haven’t finish reading it though. One thing that I noticed is that the commander and his wife are much younger in the TV show. June also has more interactions and conflicts with the commander’s wife in the show. I think this is a great adaptation because it gives the wife more complexity as a character. Anyway, I also found out that the author Margaret Atwood has an Instagram account. This was really surprising for me because she is 80 years old. It seems like she runs the account herself, too while my parents don’t even have a Facebook account.
If you like watching thriller films and TV shows, I think you will enjoy this one. I remember binging the first season in just 3 days. It is really addicting!