/r/TheHandmaidsTale
This subreddit is a place to discuss The Handmaid's Tale TV series, based on Margaret Atwood's novel of the same name. Blessed be the fruit.
The Handmaid's Tale is a Hulu Original Series based on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale.
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r/CoconutsandTreason - unrestricted discussion of all versions of the Handmaid's Tale. You will encounter spoilers!
r/Handanimals - Handmaid's best friend.
/r/TheHandmaidsTale
BBC News - Emma Barnett: As protest ban starts, I spent day at abortion clinic https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v3dlld58qo
I’m working on a rehash of the Gileas system to make a sort of “New Bethlehem” story set in a slightly-reformed Gilead. However, I’m having some trouble with the little things about their religion.
I know it’s fiction and can only be so specific, but would the Sons of Jacob ever acknowledge the sterile men problem?
Say they had a moment of conscience and wanted a more effective handmaiden system that would result in less rebellion. Say aunt Lydia got her way and handmaiden are set at long-term placements or sent to Magdalene colonies (after failing out)
Would the sons of Jacob consider sterile commanders as abusing/adultering with (??) their hand maids, since they cannot have sex for its ‘intended purpose’? And if so, what would they do? Would it be more fair to limit them (and their wives) to adoption, or would they consider donor sperm and IVF or a fucked-up sort of surrogacy (male donor steps in for the ceremony instead)?
Or I’d love some ideas. I’m trying to do a “still-fucked-up fix-it” for a dark-fantasy fiction.
Extra BS from my fic for the nerds (ie me):
Cause he cheated and left her, but she did nothing wrong. Would they still make her a Martha or handmaid? Would they allow her to get married again?
Maybe this is a silly question, but do you think its okay to go as a Handmaid for Halloween especially this year? After thinking about it, I'm inclined to say "yes", but wanted some more opinions/perspectives just to make sure.
I'm broke and the costume is super easy to throw together with what I already have. And sorry if this is the wrong subreddit to direct this to
✌️ and 🫶
So I have just got to S2E8. And I want to talk about the bit where >!Eden has spruced up Nick’s house!< and leaves the bundle of HM letters on the bedside table.
He asks he if she has read them and she denies it
It’s got me thinking how many years into gilead the show is. We don’t really ever specifically hear about how much time has passed to my knowledge.
I’ve always perceived the show as being only a year or two into Gilead, so some people still remember the time before, what reading is etc. I remember in the book, the HM we learn about, it is her third posting.
But I also perceive >!Eden!< to be young enough to have been born into Gilead, and thus has never learnt to read, as we see in The Testaments, and shielded from all of the things from the before-time. But if Gilead is only a short while into its reign, it’s likely she perhaps knows a bit of basic reading. Perhaps this is why Nick asks her if she had read them.
Interested to hear thoughts and your perceptions.
I stopped watching it for awhile it's my first time watching it and I can't get back into it. Am I missing out on anything g from the last season? Please spoil it for me
I read both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments, and I’m currently on Season 4 Episode 4 of the series. I know that there is a huge time jump in the story where the normal reader jumping into the series would not have any information about what happened which is why I have actually and honestly enjoyed the series so much. The main storyline from the first to I’d say about the third season follows the book pretty great and beyond that there are still some really good similarities and call backs that make it worth it. So in other words I’m a sympathizer because I love good television but can understand the importance of continuity in television vs books. But what the actual hell was up with that last episode…????? I hate Nick now, Alma got ran over by a TRAIN when they were sitting in the UNMANNED CAR. And I can’t see how Aunt Lydia’s arc could ever happen with what we’ve been dealt now. I know she’s not completely “unjust” but the Lydia in the second book compared to what I’m looking at now is a complete 180. To my recollection she was never a “true believer” and the only thing that made her who she is is killing all her friends from her law firm. I’m actually kinda pissed I’ve held on this long just for things to kind of go shitty.
They’re always talking about how Gilead is so great with all its environmental advances. But why would they waste time using physical labor of a few women to clean up waste in the Colonies? Is it just for the punishment? Surely they have the technology and the machinery to help out. Do they just not care about cleaning up that particular area?
I read Handmaid’s tale a while ago and I know the show is set in modern day. (Didn’t see the show yet) Wouldn’t the teens modern day try to revolt, escape or spread what was happening on social media? Or did Gilead do something to prevent that?
hi!! like the title says i’m totally new to reddit (my only exposure to the site is from outside or from rslash videos on youtube lol) and wanted to join some HT communities so i could have some friends to talk with about the fanfic i write on my ao3. is this an appropriate place to share that or should i look somewhere else? thank y’all for your patience :)
When the waterfords and commander Winslow "bare witness" why didn't June and Joseph just mix some lotion and water, stick it up there and call it a day?
I know the doctor was there to check her after the fact but what was he even looking for? I assume residue, but is there a quick simple way to test what exactly was up there? I feel like there are so many work arounds that weren't them actually doing the ceremony.
(though admittedly I'm unfamiliar with the layout of the house, it does seem like there's a bathroom attached to the bedroom)
Realistically I know probably not, but hey it's a fair trade to make for being the hero of angels flight lol.
i haven't seen the series, i'm just reading the book for a-levels and it's so baffling to me how there doesn't seem to be any economic inventive to the creation or continued existence of gilead for anybody involved? atwood seems to be trying very hard to pull on the realism of dictatorships and oppressive regimes and in every other real-world regime there has almost always been an economic incentive to the uprising but in gilead they don't even have a currency?? how are they getting funded and who profits from gilead existing??
Hello there ! I’m in my final year of literature degree (I’m French btw, bonjour 🇫🇷) and one of the books we had to read was The Handmaid’s Tale. I’ve also seen the show, and I’m currently rewatching it. One of our final grades consists in an oral where we have to parallel one of our books (so THT for me) and an other work that has the same genre (so Dystopian in my case). I’ve chosen to do so with the Alien’s saga -as some of you may know it’s a big metaphor for rape, Ridley Scott choosing mainly to inflict this violence on his male characters to reverse the balance and make the men’s audience react- and to articulate my oral around the question of the representation of sexual violence and rape in dystopias & sci-fi (my professors validated that). I’m not asking you to do the work me, as it’s something I’m really interested in, but if some of you guys have some ideas, guidelines, examples or parallels using both The Handmaid’s Tale and Alien (I’ll use the whole saga, not just the events of the first movie), I’m interested to read them ! Also reading your comments and discussing with you could help me get started and get inspired :)
Im rewatching and I know I had a problem with this the first time around. Second time around I thought maybe it would make more sense but it makes less sense.
Why doesn’t June fucking hate Nick? At the beginning of season 4 he literally captures her and delivers her to be tortured. Once that ordeal is over. They meet up for a make out session on the bridge. No mention of what the fuck just went down.
Let’s not forget up until now Nick has also been made a commander; went to fight the resistance, helping Gilead fight against mayday, and we’re just supposed to be like “aw but they’re in love?”
Oh yeah and when we learned from Serena that Nick fought in the crusades or whatever.
Is this just terrible writing? I mean even Nick the character makes ZERO SENSE. like when they make him marry a child he’s horrified, when they kill said child he’s horrified, when they do normal Gilead stuff he makes that same slightly exasperated face every time. Then he becomes a commander and helps enforce Gilead.
Dafuk? I know he turns around and helps again later but it’s just not computing. The writers really couldn’t figure out any other way to advance the story? Or did i miss something huge? I do tend to multi task while watching tv…but like what could it be?
Luke loves June the way every good, strong, opinionated, bold, smart, kind (straight) woman deserves to be loved. I adore Luke. He is the only man I love on this series. O-T Fagbenle is a wonderfully gifted actor. He compliments Lizzie so perfectly.
Some of my favorite scenes are the flashbacks of June and Luke together. They feel like a real couple. Like a happy, average couple any one of us might know or meet. I had hoped that Luke would have gone on that train with June and Holly (I dislike calling that child Nichole); I had hoped that they’d be a united front, still working together to somehow rescue their precious Hannah.
Instead, we got Serena and her spawn with June on the train. Serena is one of June’s rapists and abusers, every bit as much as Fred, and whatever Commander(s) June had prior to Fred. I am frustrated with the way the writers have rather effectively (for many or most viewers) written Serena as a sort of antihero headed towards being a goddamn heroine. In many THT groups, Serena is coveted and idiots make excuses for and romanticize that selfish, cruel, abusive, manipulative, downright sociopathic bitch.
Hell, I’d have been stoked as fuck to see June on that train with her mother, Holly (though I’m 96% certain she died in the colonies). That would have left me smiling and thrilled for what will come in the final season.
The whole plot which forced Luke to again be separated from his wife and child (and yes, I see baby Holly as Luke’s child, as does Luke himself) is stupidly convoluted. Luke saved June’s life. He beat the brakes off of the monster who literally first hit June with that truck, then ran over her poor arm, and was this close to finishing her off. How is that a crime on Luke’s part? What was he supposed to do? Politely ask the son of a bitch to kindly, pretty please not murder his wife with his gigantic truck? Ridiculous.
I’ll not even get started on the pointlessness of Nick showing up to see June in the hospital whilst she was unconscious and asking what’s his face to not tell June he had been there. Like, seriously, how do all of these Gilead people so easily and quickly travel back and forth from the Boston area to Toronto?! There’s a lot of Nick fan girls who act like he’s this great man who loves June and has protected her, how “hot” they find him, how trauma bond or not, June and Nick are soul mates. I don’t mean to offend anyone when I express this, but Nick joined the SOJ, and then he worked his way into a rather high position. He is one of THEM. He has remained in Gilead, when he could’ve left 20 times over. That makes Nick complacent in many of the atrocities committed in Gilead.
I do apologize for penning what is damn near a dissertation, running far longer than I intended. I am a writer, both by trade and hobby, so perhaps that is why I sometimes end up writing more than some folks feel like reading. But I’m also a feminist and I am fiercely passionate about the novel and the series (the film isn’t terrible, but it’s not very good either. I did so love Natasha Richardson’s work as an actress, though, so I mostly watched the film for her performance).
With the election coming very soon, the fire in my belly, fury in my mind, and fear in my soul are all in tandem and on high alert. I pray that our country will get through what’s coming next, and I pray that we, as a country can somehow heal in due time.
Okay, I’ll shut up now. If anyone reads this, I thank you on advance, and I’d very much love to hear the perspectives and thoughts on some or all of the opinions and feelings I’ve expressed here.
Blessed Be The Fruit Loops!
i’m almost done with season 2 and this isn’t exactly spoilers but i just can’t help but laugh whenever serena switches up so fast like 😭 one minute she’s like offred you’re my blessing my miracle thank you praise the lord for you 🙏🙏 and the next she’s slapping her and throwing her against the wall it’s so goofy she’s actually mentally unstable in the head
Okay, so we know the main reason they were arrested is because they tried to flee the country. We also know that econofamilies have some degree of privacy, and sometimes commit Gilead crimes in the saftey of their privacy (as we saw with the econofamily in season 2 and the Quran they hid under their bed). Finally, we know that they will look for any excuse to prosecute someone in a way that fits with Gilead standard. June wasn't arrested because she was Luke's second wife, it was mainly because they tried to leave. We see that very late into gilead, they were still allowed to do things such as go out to breakfast together as a family. They blamed it on the cheating because that was the only way to make June look sinful.
If June and Luke had kept their head down, followed the new laws, and not tried to escape, do you think they would have gotten away with being an econofamily? I know its hard to envision because both characters are known for being very fiery and outspoken, but I dont think being an econofamily was out of the cards for them until they decided to try and flee. If they really cared about adultery, especially committed by a man, places like Jezebels wouldn't exist.
(Let me be clear. I dont think they were wrong in trying to flee, I just think that they would have all stayed together as an econofamily if these criteria were met)
Obviously I’m aware this whole show is fake and meant to make you mad in some way but this part really makes me mad lol. I don’t understand how people in Gilead can see June as a horrible mother for “putting Hannah in harms way” by trying to get her back. If anything, her risking her life and trying so hard to be with her daughter is a sign of how great of a mother she is. Or the part where Lawrence tells June she’ll be ripping Hannah away from all her friends, family, school, and everything she’s ever known as if they didn’t do that to her when they ripped her out of Junes arms all those years ago. THEY took away everything she knew and forced her to live in a world where she isn’t free. It’s just so hypercritical. And when Mrs Mckenzie told June she was confusing Hannah by telling her she was her real mother as if she wasn’t raised by her for 5 years and suddenly told these random people are your new parents.
So I’m curious, me and my siblings were all born in the the us but our parents immigrated from Mexico, my siblings (2 boys 1 girl) and I all have dual citizenship with USA and Mexico(we all became naturalized citizens with Mexico)with us passports, in the original I guess purge when everyone was fleeing I’m assuming my parents wouldn’t have an issue leaving since their not us citizens with Mexican passports but would me and my siblings be able to get out?
TLDR so aunt Lydia is a batshit crazy power freak because of a bad date? What do you make of her back story?
Quick refresher if it’s been awhile. The flashback where aunt Lydia is a teacher, who befriends a single mother. aunt Lydia goes on a date after a students mother she had sort of taken in under her wing urges her to “get herself out there.” There’s a poignant moment where the friend says aunt Lydia has “so much love to give” She does karaoke with the school principal and they go back to her place where she gets a little handsy. He panics and says it’s too soon for him. Aunt Lydia is embarrassed he says he’d like to see her again but she blows him off and then we see to her crying to herself in her bathroom/smashing the mirror with her bare hands.
The next scene we see aunt Lydia giving up her friend’s moral failings (the single mother of one of her students) to the “authorities” effectively putting the kid in foster care as the principal looks on in horror. Aunt Lydia makes a point of saying there are other families out there “with so much love to give”
What do you make of this back story? I mean there’s the obvious, aunt Lydia was embarrassed. But like was she mad that he rejected her (cuz he kinda didn’t… I expected something more brutal but he seemed into her) or mad at herself for not being pious? She mentions an ex husband and he was a mistake. That’s all we know? I guess it would have been a little too long winded to give us more backstory than that, you can assume there’s some trauma there or not, whatever you want. It just left me feeling…confused. To me it looks like Lydia’s character is a child with brute strength. Like she seems so lost and heartbroken when the handmaids don’t conform the way she wanted then she responds with unthinkable cruelty. She’s totally deranged and all it took for her turn was…a mildly uncomfortable date? Did I miss something? Do you think we’re just supposed to assume she was just fragile to begin with? Or is it just the writing for a tv show? Is there more back story for her in the book?
It's so easy to let it sneak up on us. None of my male relatives or friends see anything wrong with the worsening situation for women. It's like that SNL sketch, where the men are all "bro!" and the women are dressed as handmaids.
Is named OLIVIA!?!?!
And the woman playing her looks very much like a softer Mariska. This was on purpose, right? Someone tell me that was on purpose?
In the season 1 finale, Nick tells June to “go with them” and says “Trust me” when they take June away for their fake hanging. Why does he say “trust me?”
Good morning everyone!
So I Hope this will be spoiler free, could you tell me whether I should just continue watching or missed some things.
Im now on season 1 ep 4 or 5.
What I am confused about:
these handmaidens, why are there so many? I mean they are only meant for the leaders and I would assume that there are not so many and not everyone can’t have children right?
those commanders were normal too like in a flash back of the lady, what tbe hell happend?
why make it so weird-rapish like? Can’t you just inject the fluid into the womens body or do it like you do it with surrogates?
There we’re many leaders gathering and this women asked the mc if she chosse to do this etc. are we or they stupid? There’s still the Internet and I assume that there were videos taken of the violent shootings and people demonstrating. You can’t just enslave women in todays age and take away their rights..? (At least in modern countries)
why is the wife of the commander treating our mc so badly? She does realise that it’s rape and that she doesn’t have a choice, I mean she is from the „modern age“ too!
Should I just continue watching or did I miss some parts?
“Seems so easy for them, for these men, for men like these. It’s all they want, I suppose.”
For the first time in my lifetime, I’m terrified of a presidential candidate. I cried today driving home, thinking, all of this has gone too far. No matter who wins the US election, neither side will concede this time - and that means there will be more politically motivated violence. If he wins, people that you and I care about will not be safe. He has rambled about having a night of violence to cleanse our cities, asked for generals similar to the ones of the most notorious mass murderer in all of human history, and will consider to using the military to quell any dissent. He has eroded confidence in the justice and electoral systems. He wants to erase queer folks from society and literature. He wants men to take dominion over women and their ovaries. He wants to betray our allies so that he can join the global league of dictators. This has gone too far. And the only thing left for people in this nation to do is vote? As far as I’m concerned, the fascists don’t give a damn about democracy. How did this fucking happen?! It is absolutely insane that people are listening to anything this man says, willing to give him whatever he demands to appease him. I just….eff this dude I’m brushing my teeth and going to bed.
“It isn’t about being right, or having the people or God on your side. It isn’t anything that grandiose. In the end, victory goes to the hardest heart.”