The Handmaid's Tale

[Z6IIAB]

So... do any of you watch it? I've seen only 'til the middle of season 2... I watch it with a bunch of radfems on rabbit. I'm in love with the series! It can be horrifying, sure, but the message is so strong... and there's so many connections we can do! The metaphors are brilliant!

Well, what do you think of it?

[October]

I couldn't bring myself to watch! Not in these times. I had read the book, years ago, and felt like watching the series would just depress the heck out of me. I've heard it's good, though!

[Z6IIAB]

Yeah, it is kind of depressing... but it's good... to think. And you root so hard for the characters when something "good" happens. I say "good", cause it might involve some sacrifice... and sometimes it's just not good, it's "less bad". Wow, I'm so not selling this series like this lol. But, yeah, I think one should watch it when feeling better. I'm not all caught up either, I'm just like, on the middle of the second season! I plan on reading the book... actually I regret buying some old Agatha Christie title instead of The Handmaid's Tale when I got the chance (cause ugh, AC can be really boring).

[Newfish]

... actually I regret buying some old Agatha Christie title instead of The Handmaid's Tale when I got the chance (cause ugh, AC can be really boring).

Agatha Christie, boring!? I love Agatha Christie. She's so, so sharp.

If you have access to a public library, A Handmaid's Tale should be available. It's also free prime reading, if you have Amazon prime or access.

Potential spoilers for the book:
I've read somewhere a review that said that the framing device which talks about the discovery of the documents and how they seem unbelievable to the academics means that the story is less bleak, because the society has recovered. However, I found that it made it seem worse, more hopeless; society recovered, at least to an extent, but without learning any lesson at all. Atwood says that nothing in the book is anything new, that all of those societal changes have happened at some point in history, she just put them together. The chilling thing about the story isn't just broken hands, ritualized rape, or Colonies, it's that we shrug and let it happen over and over again.

[Z6IIAB]

Agatha Christie, boring!? I love Agatha Christie. She's so, so sharp.

YEAH THAT'S WHY I THOUGHT I SHOULD BUY ONE OF HER BOOKS!!

But the one I bought starts so slow and BOOORIIIIINNGG. Ugh what's up with her self-insert annoying lady that also knows Hercule Poirot and keeps on blabbing about "do you say pumpkins or WHATEVER" and doesn't help SHIT in that fricking halloween party, like, if I was there, I would slap that lady, like wtf, you either help or gtfo, shut up about vocabulary you pedantic little twat! UGH! Like, please tell I just choose a bad book, I'm so disappointed. "Hallowe'en Party" is a dull reading, I'm sorry. At least the version translated to portuguese but I doubt it helps too much to read the original.

[Z6IIAB]

plus hercule poirot sounds like a more arrogant and know-it-all sherlock holmes. and Ariadne Oliver is the most obvious self-insert ever and it gives me second hand embarassment. I'm NOT pleased.

[Duncan]

So... do any of you watch it?

Even if I had access to it, I wouldn't watch it. I know what it's about, the world is depressing and stressful enough as-is without my infusing my brain with even more of the same. To put this in perspective: the world of The Handmaid's Tale is like an instruction manual for building the kind of society that Dominionists would like. These nutjobs need to be fought tooth-and-nail on every item on their agenda for the United States to the last breath in our bodies. I wouldn't watch Hunger Games movies for the same reason: too close to the world we're already living in, it's just a mere couple steps removed from where we are now.

We need to evolve as a species and get beyond this sort of bullshit. Note that we're the only species on the planet that isn't the natural prey of any other species -- so we prey on each other instead. That's at the root of the problems that this entire discussion forum was created to discuss: humans treating other humans as less than human, and that's why I don't drag myself down with things like The Handmaid's Tale. We've got enough of that sort of mindset in the real world without me corrupting what little escape my mind can have from reality.

I probably sound a little triggered, and in fact I am. Hope that doesn't bother anyone.

[Z6IIAB]

Damn duncan, you do sound triggered. Btw, you gotta know your enemy to fight it. I think watching how things could be - or rather how they were and ARE, for the author of the homonimous book already said she only wrote things that already happened in this world - is the best way to defeat them, or prevent them from happening. Closing your eyes to reality or even fantasy that's too close too reality do no favors. Except for our enemies.

[Duncan]

Closing your eyes to reality or even fantasy that's too close too reality do no favors. Except for our enemies.

There's 'closing your eyes', then there's 'not immersing yourself in toxicity to no purpose'. I understand more than you think I do. I don't need to poison myself in order to determine how poisonous something is, and I'm already immersed in it quite enough IRL and need to give my brain time to rest rather than live in it 24/7/365. Got to be able to sleep at night and laugh a little or I won't make it.

[Z6IIAB]

Hey, I never said you need to connect with real shit 24/7, but The Handmaid's Tale is too good to pass. In any case, the choice is yours, I don't know you. And you don't know me.

I don't think the series is that much toxic tbh, otherwise I wouldn't watch it. Plus, it has pretty awesome moments of epic triumph and sorority that make the journey worth it. It's nice to root for women. In any case, if anyone else here watches it, I'm here to talk about it.