So much has been said of pro-choicers, pro-lifers, and governments’ regulation of women’s bodies since 2016, when Donald Trump assumed office as the President of America, and more recently, when a number of states in the US passed legislature making abortion illegal. The outrage took on a new form with people protesting dressed in The Handmaid’s Tale costumes. That lingering fear that Roe V. Wade, the Supreme Court judgement protecting the woman’s right to choose on the federal level, might be overturned considering there are more conservatives on the bench since the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh hovers even closer.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a Hulu television series adapted from Margret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel of the same title. Through the eyes and voice of the main character, June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), the film explores an apocalyptic American future where conception and birth rates among women has drastically declined; leading up to the country being overtaken by religious fanatics after the secular government and its constitution has been dismantled and destroyed. This religious sect sets up a new puritan country known as Republic of Gilead in place of secular America and day to day running of said Gileadean society is based upon selected bible verses – however overstretched their interpretation might be.
“Citizens” are prevented from escaping. Military roadblocks, checkpoints and air patrols sprawl all over the new country in order to prevent people from eloping into neighboring Canada. Women are captured and separated into groups – Wives, Aunts, Handmaidens, Marthas, and Econowives – assigned with specific roles/rituals and dress codes. They are not allowed to work (professionally speaking) or hold any position of power. They are not even allowed to learn how to read! The Handmaidens are saddled with the responsibility of bearing children for the influential household whose wives cannot bear their own children. This is carried out through an awkward sex ritual involving the Commander(the husband), his wife, and the assigned handmaiden.
So bleak is the future in The Handmaid’s Tale many Americans had said such a thing could not possibly happen in their country, or anywhere in the West for that matter. Margret Atwood maintained the sentiment that anything can happen anywhere. It’ll only need the gradual progress of perpetrators and insistent inertia of citizens. As it happens, with the adaption of the novel into a hit TV series in 2017 has led to critics and viewers hailing it as “timely” in these days of Trump Presidency and constant threat to women’s reproductive rights.
The film is both well-written and well-filmed with stellar acting performances from Elisabeth Moss and the other actors. Margret Atwood is part of the production team and contributes to what goes in or out of the show. It is important to point out that while the book is great, the film is even better. It is also important to add that this is only because the show has been updated to include recent technological inventions and occurrences. While the rest of the world watches on as the drama gradually unfolds in America, I hope we all – pro-choicers and pro-lifers alike – reflect on the message of The Handmaid’s Tale bearing in mind that no one in the world is shielded from oppressive regimes and policies – religious or not. Anything can happen to anyone anywhere if they are docile enough.
The season three (3) of The Handmaid’s Tale is scheduled to premiere on Hulu this June.