The Handmaid’s Tale is a series of HULU based on a book with the same name, by Margaret Atwood. This piece of art was released in 1985, but the story is still very similar to the actual world — which can be extremely scary.
The series presents a fictional story about the future of New England, a place in the northwest of the USA, where a tremendously patriarchal and theocratic group has turned into Gilead and created a new type of Society in the whole country. The rich people of the old place couldn’t have children anymore, so this group forced women to serve and have kids for them, making a chaste called handmaid. The narrative is told by Offered (June), a woman who has been taken to be a handmaid after being separated from her family.
The fourth season of The Handmaid’s Tale arrived in our hands on April 28th. So thinking about that, I created a list with 4 reasons why you should be watching this show! Be careful: It contains some spoilers.
- The Incredible Cast
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A strong story deserves a strong group of actors. The cast of The Handmaid’s Tale is filled by Elizabeth Moss (June), Yvonne Strahovski, Joseph Fiennes, Alexis Bledel, Samira Wiley, O. T. Fagbenle, Sydney Sweeney and a lot of other incredible actors. You can find some of these people in Orange is the New Black, Gilmore Girls and Euphoria.
Elizabeth Moss, who plays the main character, has already received two Golden Awards, and her passage through Handmaid’s Tale is marked by an absolutely great acting while can feel the same emotions with her in scenes.
Another actress, Alexis Bledel, was awarded as Best Guest Actress in a Drama with the episode “Late”, in the first season. During the scenes, she didn’t have a speech, but her work was so good using just facial expressions that she really deserved the trophy.
- The Amazing Production
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By being a story about a place that arose from a coup, the producers decided to bring this message to the scenario too. Gilead is very organized in the structure, but we all know that inside it reigns chaos.
The third episode of season 3, “Household”, which was filmed in Washington (in the series, this place is stiffer when compared to the others where the supremacists took) was nominated to the Emmy’s, because of the special effects incredibly well done. In the place where the Lincoln statue is located, the series constructed a new brand scenario. With the technology, they made 100 handmaids turned into thousands, the monument was destroyed in half, the pillar became a cross and the public disappeared.
Furthermore, another thing that deserves attention is the clothes chosen. The Gilead chastes receive a specific color and meaningful pieces to differentiate themselves: the handmaids wear only red, but in this case, it does not refers to sensuality, the dress is large and their hair is hidden, so they can’t use their femininity “to sin”; the commander’s wife wear blue, the color of purity, they can show their hair, but it has to be always trapped; the aunts, women who train the handmaids, use beige to show that they aren’t vain.
- The World Copies Art And Vice Versa, Even If It’s Dangerous
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Despite being a dystopia, the series presents so many similar events to the current world — and we have to remember that this story was created almost 4 decades ago, based on things that have been happening at that time. It is very scary, but can make people reflect about some ways to convert the direction the planet is going and how some ideas are still very powerful, even if most people consider them overtaken.
Not different from the past and series, around the world some extreme speeches are gaining power, mainly those that seem like we are in the Middle Ages. During the seasons, the narrative shows some groups defending discrimination against women, black and LGBTQI+ people, and nevertheless, they were inside the policy – why this sound so familiar?!
Another parity is the use of women to repress other women. In the series, one of the idealists of the system, Serena Joy, who wrote a book saying that the woman’s place is taking care of the family, was left behind when Gilead appeared, and then she lost her voice as a leader. Serena, even though, still oppresses the handmaids like Offred/June. In the real world, unfortunately, some women that have more authority take advantage of this and support the whole system to do its job.
- You Will Feel All Emotions In The Series
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The Handmaid’s Tale is an audiovisual production where you can feel sadness and anger, but it also makes you feel revolutionary if you question the system and take it to your reality.
One of the scenes that marked me the most is when the commanders’ wives decided to read a bible part in the men’s meeting asking for woman’s right to read, during the episode The World season 2 — in Gilead, women can’t read, because it might make them revolt against the institution. While Serena is reading, the supporters left her alone, because they are afraid of what will happen to themselves. In the end, Serena was punished and her husband approved this.
In this episode, you feel hope, because you think that the “powerful” women will question the whole system. But also, you feel anger with the commanders and anguish, because you don’t know what will happen with Serena — we have to agree that her character is very complicated, because she will do everything for her child, but nothing to the people without a voice.
The fourth season is gonna show us what happens with the handmaids after the airplane with a lot of Gilead children arrives in Canada. I hope these 4 reasons make you sit in front of your tv and watch the Handmaid’s Tale, or even just let some curiosity in your heart.
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The article above was edited by Nicoly Bastos.
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