Anything's got to be better than dragging The Hobbit out over 3 films. My profoundly dyslexic granddaughter managed to read that in a couple of days!
For the second season they could probably focus on another character completely. They gave short shrift to Janine's rebellious character before making her meek. Exploring that kind of character alone could be season worthy.
I never read the book, but my wife said she thought the movie had a much more satisfactory ending. However, an ardent feminist lit major/classmate of mine was of completely the opposite opinion. (We were in school together when the movie came out).
Wasn't aware there was a movie. My problem with the book was not the story, but the actual writing. I thought the way the book was written did no favors for the story, and what I enjoyed I felt like I had to fight for. Maybe it was different back in the '80s when this came out, but now dystopian stories are a dime a dozen and I didn't think fighting the writing style was worth it in the end.
The 1990 movie was a complete travesty and the literary conceits in the writing are what made it for me, to be honest.
We're in luck, Bravo channel started running this in Canada starting yesterday so caught episodes 1 & 2 and looking forward to episode 3 tonight. This makes up for my having to bail on Genius (aka the sex life of Albert Einstein) after about half of it's second episode. My only criticism so far is if there is/was a virus causing infertility you'd think fertile women would be kept under quarantine not sent out shopping for groceries.
How would they know? They've killed or exiled all the scientists and intellectuals. Alexis Bledel's Ofglen mentions that as a biologist, the only way she escaped the purges was because she is magically fertile.
It was pollution and chemical spills that caused the infertility. She gets checked by doctors regularly.
Only two days until a new ep. I like this. It wouldn't have near the impact if I binged the entire season at once.
I watch the first three episodes almost back to back and it's pretty intense cramming them together. Breathing space between episodes is good with this one!
Question - in episode 3 which I've just watched, Aunt Lydia tells the gender traitor that she "will not want what she cannot have." It didn't look like a lobotomy had been performed. What happened?
I think most of the ways these women on the show are treated can be found happening somewhere in the world today. I don't find this show far-fetched in the slightest.
Thanks, I must have a bit dozy not to get that. She can still be a mother though. What a scary story!
When Atwood wrote the novel in the 80s, she said every abuse was either happening or had happened to women. Just not all at once. But all real.
I think any group can be projected upon as lesser or to blame in it's entirety... it sometimes seems that it's been done by somebody in every possible group to every other group with only one exception... the very intelligent might not have a single representative who has oppressed or broadly attacked an entire group based on some personal or anecdotal experience. Even now the overweight, lawyers, politicians, and journalists are routinely targeted en mass along with the usual old people and dumb kids business. I remember a story about a burn victim who had bandages and a covering on their face being attacked by someone who assumed they were a criminal, that's a good example of someone acting self-righteously without having an idea of what they don't or can't know. I hope this series makes people think and doesn't actually reinforce any backwards impulses. I can see how it could be looked at as propagandist and reactionary and thus dismissed. A lot of backwards practices aren't even religious but simply cultural where people haven't reflected on or question what has always been, kind of how big organized sports are just accepted as being important and the players paid millions when really it's pretty trivial and a repetitive game essentially. We cut funding to science or health but the Olympics still must go on and the winners names become famous though the next time it will just be some other person, and they often get the very best and quickest health care for their avoidable injuries. I follow ice hockey (Men's and Women's) myself, and some football/soccer, so it's not like I'm above or immune myself. Blaming all men or all women is probably the most crude form of discrimination, it may be understandable if someone has had some very bad experiences or something but I can't imagine what kind of inner life someone like that would enjoy at all. This is a depressing show because we are seeing a fun-house mirror reflection of ourselves with some faults magnified. Like any good science-fiction it's an exploration and a what if things went in this direction, and if it's very good we see that it isn't so unthinkable and maybe it helps us avoid an extreme in thinking or practice.
Great episode. Elisabeth Moss puts in another stellar performance, showing her range both in the 'normal' world, through flashbacks and in the current patriarchal dystopia. But the person that really shone, even with minimal screen time, was Alexis Bledel. She is a broken woman, both physically and psychologically, in the aftermath of her capture. The scene where she, Offglen, Offsteven, says 'my name is Emily', was so touching. Her follow-up scene was equally emotional, where she steals a Merc and drives off at speed around the block. A handmaiden onlooker asks 'what is she doing?' - the reply is 'driving'. It sounds like a pretty banal answer, but I'm sure that in this effed up society women wouldn't be allowed to drive (under any circumstances). It's a final act of defiance - she even smiles for a fraction of a second, living in the moment, having fun, however fleeting, until the inevitable conclusion. Such a great show.
This is one grim/miserable dystopian world, I'd make a run for the border, any border to get away from the world these characters inhabit. Great show.
My wife has bugged me forever to read some Margaret Atwood book. We're going to start watching this together soon. If Deesky recommends a show I know it's going to be great!
I have the first three episodes recorded and I've finally made it through the first one. It was a struggle, I must say, an awfully long hour. I hope the show improves. Moss was excellent, but.....compared to, say, `Fargo', a tough 60+ minutes to get through. Just one clown's opinion.
It took me to Episode 3 before it got gripping. I wish they could have made it a one season thing though.
My opinion is quite the opposite. I find this show lightyears ahead of Frago. Different strokes, I guess. At least we have so many choices these days...
Great interview with Elizabeth Moss on Tavis Smiley's show earlier this week- Actress Elisabeth Moss | Interviews | Tavis Smiley | PBS
I'm finding the soundtrack very intriguing. Will it have a cd release, and be as neat to listen to as Twin Peaks? Couldn't see any reference to the Monkees at the credits. I'm pretty sure I heard Daydream Believer in a kaleidoscopic whirl of sound early in the most recent episode.
Wow, amazing episode (6). This show just doesn't know how to do a poor episode! So many great scenes and revelations. ...spoilers... The scene after Offred returns from the Commander's study where she was forced to kiss him passionately, she violently brushes her teeth to remove the metaphorical stench until she bleeds. Such a powerful scene, filmed to creepy perfection. Another affecting scene was a the big dinner party where the maidens were featured as 'guests' for the visiting delegation, only to be revealed that the maidens are mere chattel to be traded. And if that wasn't bad enough, their children are paraded around like prized animals to seal the deal. Chilling. But there's more, like the final scene where June comes clean to the Ambassador about what's really going on only to learn that for the Ambassador, sympathetic as she is, it's literally a matter of life and death, as her community hasn't had a birth in years. and that she can't help her. June: "My country is already dead". But just as all hope seemed to be lost, a member of the delegation has some good news about June's husband. Brilliant stuff!
