Recently started bingeing and I'm way into it. Absolutely horrifying. Can't stand Nick, he bugs me. Like, out of all of the tense and suspenseful moments in the show, the tensest moments are when he's mooning over Offred in the kitchen, or a sitting room, or any other public space where they can get caught. Makes no sense, but on a more serious note the biggest annoyance is its post-racial narrative. In this dystopian world I find it challenging that race never comes into play (just staring the 3rd season). Achieving racial enlightenment seems like a copout in spite of the horrors being inflicted upon women. Like it was just too much of a daunting task to work into the story. A minor quibble, but a quibble all the same. Is there more of a racial angle in Atwood's book?

I also find it weird that they would choose these "sluts," these imperfect, recalcitrant vessels to bear their children. If you're infertile any port in a storm, I guess.

Aunt Lydia not meeting a violent end or Serena Joy having a change of heart would make me very upset.

I read the book and am never gonna watch the show. I don't know if watching a version of what women in oppressive countries already go through (and what America may yet manifest under evangelical rule) is a valid form of entertainment. The book was good horror and a real warning, but the show is just a form of porn as most cable series are. The message of the book should be enough to scare us awake, and I wonder if this show is just desensitizing us to the future.

I would have been fine with them telling the entire story in about 12 episodes. It felt relevant right around 2017. Haven't bothered with the last few seasons cuz they are drawing it out forever and I just don't find entertainment in it. Actual reality has become frightening enough.

The book seemed important for its time but recent interview footage with Atwood didn't really paint her as any more informed or revelatory than your typical RBG loving coastal democrat. Maybe that made me lose interest in the series a bit too.

Chud Fusk wrote: Tue Jul 19, 2022 2:56 pm I read the book and am never gonna watch the show. I don't know if watching a version of what women in oppressive countries already go through (and what America may yet manifest under evangelical rule) is a valid form of entertainment. The book was good horror and a real warning, but the show is just a form of porn as most cable series are. The message of the book should be enough to scare us awake, and I wonder if this show is just desensitizing us to the future.

If you aren't going to watch the show how can you say it's porn that desensitizes us? I've both read the book (twice, once as an adult) and seen the show. It's not the porn you think it is. It's quite horrifying actually. Far better than the film, IMHO. Although they really ought to stop the series soon I think, if they haven't already.

Not crap, but after the most recent season, I'm done with the show. Despite the little moments of victory, I think it's gotten too depressing.

Has some great performances but I don't think that is quite enough to get it out of Crapville, for all the reasons already mentioned: post-racial nonsense, going on too long, von Trier style depression/torture porn. Medium-sized stack of waffles. We deserve better.

enframed wrote: Tue Jul 19, 2022 3:18 pmIf you aren't going to watch the show how can you say it's porn that desensitizes us? I've both read the book (twice, once as an adult) and seen the show. It's not the porn you think it is. It's quite horrifying actually. Far better than the film, IMHO. Although they really ought to stop the series soon I think, if they haven't already.

Because that's what television does. The more horrifying the better as far as ratings go, and the more horrifying it is the more it desensitizes us.

I read the book when it was published. I just can't bring myself to watch the series. Certain things I consume (alcohol, music, visual art), I know how they are going to make me feel. I know exactly how watching Handmaid's Tale would make me feel, and I wouldn't be able to function if I continually fed myself something that made me feel that way.