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The Handmaid's Tale (TV show)


barney_rebel
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Disclaimer: I have never seen the show, all I know about it is reading the reviews from the Economist and a couple of links from it, and Wikipedia.

 

But having said that, while the premise may work as farce or a period piece from 400 years ago, or from some where half the way across the world (though given the worldview of the types of people who make these things, that seems rather unlikely, it's much more the case that the irony is lost on them), I'm guessing that the people who worked on this are the kind of ultraserious (but unintentionally funny) people who view themselves as the last bulwark against a dystopian theocracy. In 2018, especially, this is idiotic. If they'd look around, they'd see a country where the Little Sisters of the Poor are told by the federal government they have to provide birth control, bakers and others are harassed and put out of business because they don't want to serve gay weddings, and Google engineers are terminated for noticing basic biological tendencies.

 

And before anyone brings up the current, clownish xenophobia (I'm not sure it's part of this particular series but it is brought up frequently, and for valid reasons), this is as true of most Christian Europe as it is America.

 

Me thinks there's a little projection going on there. So as something to be taken seriously as a cautionary tale this is, literally, hysterical nonsense.

 

If you're going to be critical of this post because I haven't seen the show, so be it. But unless I have the basic details of what the show is attempting to do, it doesn't invalidate the criticism.

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Whatever. I watch it as entertainment. Star Wars was entertaining also. I am not watching any show because it is somehow projecting the future of mankind. It is entertainment
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Whatever. I watch it as entertainment. Star Wars was entertaining also. I am not watching any show because it is somehow projecting the future of mankind. It is entertainment

Well, the people that are making it think they're making a profound political statement. As far as I can tell, they're detached enough from reality to think it's plausible, and they're in the vanguard, sounding the alarm.

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Whatever. I watch it as entertainment. Star Wars was entertaining also. I am not watching any show because it is somehow projecting the future of mankind. It is entertainment

Well, the people that are making it think they're making a profound political statement. As far as I can tell, they're detached enough from reality to think it's plausible, and they're in the vanguard, sounding the alarm.

It's based on an Atwood novel from the 80s, which was inspired in part by a sect of radical catholics, which uses the term "handmaid of God". I'll look for a story I saw recently...

 

Here:

 

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/09/03/specials/atwood-gilead.html?scp=8&sq=%252522the%252520handmaid%252527s%252520tale%252522&st=cse

Edited by goose
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Whatever. I watch it as entertainment. Star Wars was entertaining also. I am not watching any show because it is somehow projecting the future of mankind. It is entertainment

Well, the people that are making it think they're making a profound political statement. As far as I can tell, they're detached enough from reality to think it's plausible, and they're in the vanguard, sounding the alarm.

 

Whatever you are hearing about the producers thinking they are making a profound political statement should not deter you from checking it out. It is really good.

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Whatever. I watch it as entertainment. Star Wars was entertaining also. I am not watching any show because it is somehow projecting the future of mankind. It is entertainment

Well, the people that are making it think they're making a profound political statement. As far as I can tell, they're detached enough from reality to think it's plausible, and they're in the vanguard, sounding the alarm.

 

Whatever you are hearing about the producers thinking they are making a profound political statement should not deter you from checking it out. It is really good.

I really enjoyed season one. Since I see no parallels to any America of my lifetime I can enjoy it for the fiction it is.

 

I’d totally be with the “in crowd” partying with hoes at the hotel.

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Just got a couple episodes left to watch in season two. Love this show. Grim and dark concept for sure but still an entertaining show. I already knew Elisabeth Moss was good from seeing her in Mad Men but what a fantastic performance from her in this.
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New episodes are out now. I believe the first three were released yesterday. Really looking forward to how this plays out.

 

First episode was so...refreshing. Loved it.

 

Now onto episode 2!

 

So glad to have this show back.

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I've watched the show's first season and it raises interesting questions.

 

Granted this type of fascism exists now in other societies, and not here - but there are unnerving aspects of the show where I could imagine this type of repression happening in the states sometime in the near future.

 

Of course population control will be the biggest issue in our future - we argue about choice now, to terminate or not terminate a pregnancy - but as we modernize, and become increasingly economically stable, we will have less children.

 

You see it now - less people getting married, and educated/employed folks having 1 or 2 kids. The choice to not have kids, or to terminate a pregnancy en masse is not good for business.

 

No question I can see indentured servitude and sex slavery becoming more en vogue, since economic disparity grows at a fast rate, and the population dips. Perhaps a bigger governmental push to encourage breeding, and maybe make it compulsory.

 

In China, the government's one child policy was finally ended in 2015. Now there is talk of taxing families for having no children, since the country faces serious under population:

 

https://www.whatsonweibo.com/chinas-proposed-no-child-tax-stirs-controversy-first-forced-abortions-now-pressured-into-pregnancy/

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My favourite show. The latest episode was stunning.
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Loved the first three episodes. Still need to see the newest one. Why did they release three episodes to start and then just go one by one after? Are they just messing with us?

 

I think because the episodes alone progress the story slowly.

 

Honestly, one episode after a while year would have been unsatisfying, and by the end of episode 3 I felt like they left us with an ending that had me ready for more, but ready to pause.

 

I think it's a good idea, the pacing already feels different. It's slower, with less emphasis on flashbacks.

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