Notes and Quote
The Handmaid’s Tale (2017) primary text
Gender representation of females in the media.
To what extent do series like "The Handmaid's Tale" portray oppression in the media and how is this shown through the perspective of modern feminism?
To what extent do media products such as "The Handmaid's Tale" reflect to modern feminism?
FILM/VIDEO
Elisabeth Moss Full Interview | Chelsea | Netflix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr0iItmL29M
Moss talks about how relevant the issues in the show are today and how she can relate with her and those who watch the show. Talks about how there may have been a slight difference if Hilary Clinton had won the election but also reinforces that there would have still been problems with womens rights.
Yvonne Strahovski On "The Handmaid's Tale" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLnTzuH3q5I
Strahovski highlights how the character of Serena Joy is a controversial character
Strahovski highlights how the character of Serena Joy is a controversial character
Margaret Atwood and Elisabeth Moss on 'The Handmaid's Tale' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSimGi5AokY
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Atwood
How Elisabeth Moss Approaches Offred in 'The Handmaid's Tale'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCwehfDfTwk
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'All the nasty B words': Yvonne Strahovski explains 'Handmaid’s Tale's' Serena https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4tN0AS2Hss
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Joseph Fiennes Says 'The Handmaid's Tale' Is So Relevant Today | Lorraine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xPjm2z6pPE&t=106s
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Ann Dowd On Her Character, Aunt Lydia In "The Handmaid's Tale” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhcgK7LpGYg
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'The Handmaid's Tale' - How it achieved that creepy look and feel
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Salt (2010)
Subverts from conventional female roles. However, some argue that this is a "fake feminist" film.
The Hunger Games Trilogy (2012-15)
· "She’s a feminist character not because she wields a bow like Bella never could, but because while in the arena she learns to recognize, value, and eventually embrace feminine strengths. It’s her ability to find strength in other women and to support them in return that makes the girl on fire a feminist."
· When Katniss befriends Rue, she forms an feminist archetype: an alliance of women who support each other in the face of oppression. And she does so not on the basis of practicality or mutual strength, but rather on intuition and emotion.
TV DOCUMENTARIES
*The Red Pill (2017)
Talks about oppression of women and a male controversial activist groups who argues that:
"One in three American women
"93% of workplace fatalities are men"
*Miss Representation (2011)
*She's Beautiful When She's Angry (2014)
*Equal means Equal (2016)
TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
The Handmaid’s Tale is of great significance to this current generation where female rights in certain countries are abolished. For example the fact that abortion is illegal in Ireland. Furthermore, this series has been used as an example in the argument that the likeliness of this lifestyle has significantly increased from when Trump became the President of The US. Nevertheless, its significance is also linked back to the portrayal of women and resilience through the series. The beginning of the clip shows the empowerment of a community protesting in what they believe in. This clip, in particular, is significant has it represents the pivotal point in which the protagonist Offred has a flashback to when she “... was asleep before, and that’s how I let it happen, when they slaughtered congress we didn’t wake up, When they blamed terrorists and suspended the constitution we didn’t wake up them either" .The harsh lighting reflects the hostile environment reinforced by the actors and their expressions- anger and hatred. By using close up camera shot and the slow pan between each protester it allow the audience to feel part of the up rising. At 0.24 seconds of the clip the contrapuntal sound begins which reflects the confusion and anger between both men and women. This is equally portrayed through the close-up at 0.45 what reflects the fear of the unknown which plays a part in the narrative.
Similarly,the sound of the protesters has been drowned out making this scene all the more powerful- portraying how civilians are quite literally being dismissed. The lightening also reflects the mood- gloomy, dark also reinforced by the cinematography. The camerawork emphasises the tension between the establishment- (government) and the civilians.
The slow motion in the editing, allows both the characters and the audience to take in the scenery and digest the confusion and fear.
The Handmaid's Tale S01E03 | Hanging scene
In this specific scene, lightening plays a key part. At 0.05 seconds the lighting is used in a biblical sense where the "government" is convicting a handmaid of sin. The camera almost instantly cuts to the handmaid which has been left in the dark with little lighting suggesting her worth in the court room- nothing in comparison to all the high ranked men. Similarly, shown through the camera focus, at 0.12 seconds the handmaid is in focus telling the audience that she is what they should be focusing on. However, at 0.015 second the camera focuses on the male "witness" while at the same time the handmaid (Ofglen) is blurred reinforcing her irrelevance in this society. Then at 0.19 seconds the medium shot is slightly tilted to a high angle shot to reflect that she is being looked down on also, with the body guards by her side has implications of danger and restriction.
ARTICLES web
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/29/handmaids-tale-review-best-thing-youll-watch-all-year
"If you think about the 32 years since publication, she could have easily expanded her orchard to include any number of extremist regimes, anywhere religion has been used as an excuse for terror, or where women have been repressed, wars in which rape has been used as a weapon (so just about all of them), slumping fertility in developed countries, surrogacy in the developing world … and so on."
ARTICLES print
NOTES RELEVANT ISSUE/DEBATE:
Feminism Theory: Mulvey: Male gaze //
Feminism Theory: Mulvey: Male gaze //
Marxism and hegemony- Dominate ideologies of the bourgeois who own the means of production. Therefore, Marx (structural) argues that class is the main factor of inequality represented in the media and how it controls society, mainly working class. However, other Marxists such as Gramsci (humanistic) contradict this and argues audiences have free will and are not passive. Marxists would see The Handmaid's Tale and a pertect example of their theory- the women are the working class and the men own the means of production.
Gender and ethnicity- Women are treated as subordinates, uses as slaves to reproduce
Postmodernism and critiques- Argue we are living in a postmodern society with free will and choice. They criticise the Marxist theory on how the working class are exploited by those who own the means of production.
Semiotics-
Gender and ethnicity- Women are treated as subordinates, uses as slaves to reproduce
Postmodernism and critiques- Argue we are living in a postmodern society with free will and choice. They criticise the Marxist theory on how the working class are exploited by those who own the means of production.
- Historical
The Handmaid's Tale was originally published in 1985 in which the author Margret Atwood has said "is more relevant today than it was when I wrote it then".
- Economic
- Political
- Ownership and control
There are many debates questioning who has ownership and control and whether they should have this power. A current example being Trump who has recently planned to stop "planned parenthood" as it gives women the opportunity to have an abortion. Feminists have looked into this further and sees this a taking away women's rights. The author of "The Handmaid's Tale" and also female cast members have said that this dystonian future is a possible “I was asleep before, and that’s how I let it happen, when they slaughtered congress we didn’t wake up,When they blamed terrorists and suspended the constitution we didn’t wake up then either
Now I’m awake”
ACADEMIC TEXTS/BOOKS
Judith Bulter: Gender Troubles (1990)
Liesbet van Zoonen: Feminist Media studies (1994)
Feminist Film Theorists
David Gauntlett: Media, Gender and Identity An introduction (2002)
Hall, Evans and Nixon: Representation (2013)
Bell Hooks: Feminism is for everybody (2000)
Shohini Chaudhuri, Feminist Film Theorists (2006)
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