Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music & Entertainment
Hulu’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Dystopian Fiction vs. Real Horrors

Hulu’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Dystopian Fiction vs. Real Horrors

Last updated on: April 28, 2017 at 7:42 am by Kate O'Hare

Hulu’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Dystopian Fiction vs. Real Horrors 2017-04-28T07:42:53-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On April 26, Hulu premieres “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a 10-part adaptation of Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel of the same name.

Hulu’s iteration of the story is set in an alternate present (Uber is even mentioned) when environmental pollution has devastated female fertility, and a war has caused Gilead, an oppressive theocratic dictatorship, to break off from the United States.

Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”) stars as Offred, who is captured into this regime because she was proven to be fertile. Her husband was shot, and her daughter taken. Now she’s given over to a wealthy man and his barren wife as a “handmaid” — inspired by the story of Leah and Rachel in the Book of Genesis. Offred and her wealthy master (Joseph Fiennes) go through highly ritualized sex in hopes of producing offspring (which obviously does not please the wife, played by Yvonne Strahovski).

Some critics, apparently in a permanent state of panic since the presidential election, proclaim that it’s a harbinger of things to come.

Said the Los Angeles Times:

With Oklahoma state Rep. Justin Humphrey — sponsor earlier this year of a bill that would require “the written informed consent of the father” to obtain an abortion — referring to women as “hosts,” and the vice president’s much-publicized habit of calling his wife “mother,” Atwood’s 32-year-old novel of enforced childbearing feels oddly, disquietingly contemporary. Indeed, apart from the series’ odd 21st century reference (Tinder, Uber, salted caramel ice cream), not much has been changed.

It’s a sort of quasi-post-apocalyptic story, in that a toxic environment has made sterility widespread, with other sorts of human activity chipping in: “Birth control pills, morning-after pills, murdering babies,” spits overseer Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), “just so they could have their orgies, their Tinder.”

Trumpets the Hollywood Reporter:

How ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Became the Most Unintentionally Relevant Show Ever

There does exist a world, though, where women, especially poor women, sell their eggs or rent out their wombs to allow couples that cannot produce children to have them. The children are then taken from the women who bore them, who may then have no part in their lives.

Women and girls are forced into sexual slavery, have their genitals mutilated (even by doctors in Michigan), are slain to preserve some notion of family “honor,” are forbidden to drive or hold jobs or even converse with men outside their families. Women are denied education and treated as if they aren’t fully human.

Children are simultaneously discarded before birth by the millions, or desired so fiercely by the infertile that no amount of money or surgery or medical treatment or laboratory experimentation is too much.

Of course, these things didn’t come out of Margaret Atwood’s imagination, and they’re not some litany of future horrors. They’re part of the world we live in right now, whether in the U.S. or abroad, and they deserve high-profile Hulu series of their own.

But, when the Atwoods of the world look for a bogeyman, he’s usually holding a Bible. Now, let’s be clear, neither Atwood nor the producers of “The Handmaid’s Tale” are claiming that the Catholic Church — or any mainstream Christian denomination — are the villains in their tale.

The leaders in Gilead seem very fond of the Old Testament, but never mention the New Testament — and a Catholic priest is seen hung in the pilot (which echoes Atwood’s story, in which Catholics, Quakers and Jews are enemies of Gilead).

At a press event last summer, I addressed the issue of faith in the series with executive producer Bruce Miller. Here’s the exchange:

QUESTION: In the book Gilead is run under the auspices of a very specific form of biblical fundamentalism, and Quakers, Jews, Catholics are not welcome, not considered our friends at all. So, how do you deal with the religious aspects in the series?

BRUCE MILLER: Well, interestingly, in the book they’re dealt with in a very specific way. I mean, I don’t think they ever go to church once in the book. You know, it’s a society that’s based kind of in a perversion misreading of Old Testament laws and codes, but I don’t think — even Margaret Atwood said it isn’t — they aren’t Christians, the people who are running Gilead. You know, I think that we deal with it the same way they deal with it in the book. You know, in the pilot, in the next few episodes, they’re tearing churches down that are not — that are anything besides their sect. I think there are a lot of parallels between the book and certainly the TV show and life in Puritan times. And I would say that we use that as — or the writing staff has been using that as a big parallel. You know, this country gets a reputation for being a place where people came from religious freedom. The Puritans who came liked their religious freedom, but not anybody else’s. So, certainly, there were no other churches besides the Puritan church. And, so, the way that they dealt with outsiders is, I think, slightly nicer or slightly meaner than the people in Gilead. I think they branded Quakers on the forehead — didn’t they — with Qs and stuff like that, and sent them out of the state. So, I think we’re trying to harken back to that origin story for the — that Margaret used as the beginning for this book.

Luckily for him, the Puritans aren’t really around to take offense.

The pearl-clutching among many secular TV critics might be funny if I didn’t think they actually bought into their fears (thankfully, not everyone agrees with this). What’s really sad is that, if you’re looking for actual crimes against women, you don’t have to look far — but you might have to risk being politically incorrect or culturally insensitive to point them out.

For example, while “The Handmaid’s Tale” gets trumpeted all over the headlines, the “Gosnell” movie can’t even find a distributor — and that’s a true horror story of our times.

UPDATE: Oh, speaking of abortion, Planned Parenthood has endorsed the series.

Image: Courtesy Hulu

Don’t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog.

Previous Post

April 25, 2017

Media, Church and Hollywood: Life in Our Bubbles

Next Post

April 26, 2017 'The Star': Sneak Peek at Sony Animation's Upcoming Christmas Movie

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz