The Handmaid's Tale: American Woman, Islamicized

Once again, Elizabeth Moss of Mad Men fame plays a woman profoundly alienated from her own desires (gosh, is she ever going to get to be as sexy as she wants, in major series?). Anyway, this a serious issue. One can, and I suggest should, understand the new Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale as a parable of what would happen to America, and American women, Islamicized.

One thing for sure, is we are not going back to our Puritan past. So what are we so worried about?

That is obvious, and that is what this "eerily timely" production is all about:

Elisabeth Moss talks the sexuality and power of Handmaid's Tale

a reply to: Namdru

i reccomend you read the book

The Handmaid's Tale is not about American women being 'Islamicized'. I have no idea where you got that. It is the story of a totalitarian theocracy that comes to power, a Christian Totalitarian Theocracy. The Hulu series hasn't changed that theme.

You should read the book. I have multiple times.

I didn't know they made a series of it over there. But the book is excellent. I really didn't get the sense it was about Islam in particular... any paternalistic type of ideology going too far could come to that. Christianity included.

a reply to: reldra

I really have to agree here with reldra, it's not about Islamicization. It's more about, Control of the Population almost in a like, controlled experimental environment.

I saw the movie but haven't read the book.

It demeans Women though, sexually, and Men it takes advantage of their masculinity by harnessing their free will, both male and female, who aren't part of the big club.

a reply to: Namdru
There's a movie from 1990 by the same name. Also, as others have said, a book.
Here's a link to the movie page.
A Handmaid's Tale

originally posted by: reldra
The Handmaid's Tale is not about American women being 'Islamicized'. I have no idea where you got that. It is the story of a totalitarian theocracy that comes to power, a Christian Totalitarian Theocracy. The Hulu series hasn't changed that theme.

You should read the book. I have multiple times.

I don't think it necessarily mentions either religion.

It's rather like Collins' dystopian Hunger Games in that sense. You read what you most fear into it. You can see Christianity in it if that's what you most fear. So tell us what you really fear, Reldra. Those who see the potential for life under Islam are signalling that they think it has more potential to reduce us to those conditions than Christianity.

a reply to: ketsuko

Actually, all religiions of the Book (Jewish, Islamic and Christian) have all blamed woman for original sin, have all abused woman in the name of morality, have abused woman in the name of perversion, have sought to control the sexuality of woman, have sought to control the fertility, have displayed a deep and abiding disrespect of woman, have lowered the status of woman to animal status, have beaten and killed woman, have left woman and children in poverty.

A slight change in props and batta boom batta bing, the Handmaiden could have been a story of a future dystopian society ruled by any of these three religions.

Tired of Control Freaks

a reply to: ketsuko

Actually the Handmaiden's Tale is straight out of the Bible for the christian religion.

academic.depauw.edu...'s%20Tale/religion.html

The Gilead of The Handmaid's Tale is a fundamentalist Christian society not unlike the Puritannical New England of the seventeenth-century British colonies. Margaret Atwood claims that she conceptualized Gilead as a society similar to Puritannical New England, but reinforced with the modern-day fervor of the Christian right: people who deviate from fundamentally Christian lifestyles are hung in public ceremonies, and televangelists encourage women to be docile and domestic. Many of the government-sanctioned traditions in Gilead are exaggerations, parodies or literal interpretations of Old Testament stories and prayers. The Ceremony, the ritual in which a Handmaid must lie face-up on her Commander's wife and grasp the wife's hands while the Commander has sex with her, and the Birthing Ceremony, where the wife feigns labor while the Handmaid gives birth, are direct references to the Genesis story of Rachel and Bilhah. " And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees that I may also have children by her. And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. " Genesis 30:1-5 This story is read to the women by the Commander immediately before the Ceremony. Also, we learn through Offred that the actual name of the Red Center, where Handmaids are trained, is the Rachel and Leah Center. Small, obscure reminders of Bible stories turn up throughout the novel. All the societal classes are based on Biblical tales. For example, Marthas derive their title from the frustrated, housekeeping sister whom Jesus admonishes in one Gospel story.

You do realize that Relda's avatar is a photo of Ofred, the main protagonist and narrator of the Handmaiden's Tale?

a reply to: ketsuko


I read the book many moons ago in high school.
Wow, 30 years,,,,I'm old.
Anyway I remember it as more of a hodgepodge of religion in general.
Basicly a warning for women.
Although much of the book was very Islam like.
Women can't read,
Dress codes,
Etc, etc.

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

Your link is broken but it looks like you are taking an academic reading of it which is again the baggage we bring to a book.

For those of us raised in a Judeo-Christian based society, we will bring that baggage with us, and we will want to see that in the story. But given the modern realities of the world, I would see that a religion like Islam is far more likely to actually impose those realities on the women and girls under its thumb than Christianity is at this point in time.

We could also take this story as the ultra-feminist cautionary tale about trusting men too.

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

Just for the record, the Qur'an does NOT blame Eve or women in general for sin or the eating of the fruit. It explicitly blames Shaytan/Iblis/Satan for tempting both Adam & Eve to eat the fruit. You can find the full story in Qur'an 7:11 - 7:27, particularly 7:20 - 7:27 where it repeatedly says "they", "them", and "their" when telling how Shaytan tricked them into eating the fruit.

Here's the Pickthall translation (HERE) just to prove the point:

20. Then Satan whispered to them that he might manifest unto them that which was hidden from them of their shame, and he said: Your Lord forbade you from this tree only lest ye should become angels or become of the immortals.

21. And he swore unto them (saying): Lo! I am a sincere adviser unto you.

22. Thus did he lead them on with guile. And when they tasted of the tree their shame was manifest to them and they began to hide (by heaping) on themselves some of the leaves of the Garden. And their Lord called them, (saying): Did I not forbid you from that tree and tell you: Lo! Satan is an open enemy to you ?

23. They said: Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If thou forgive us not and have not mercy on us, surely we are of the lost!

24. He said: Go down (from hence), one of you a foe unto the other. There will be for you on earth a habitation and provision for a while.

25. He said: There shall ye live, and there shall ye die, and thence shall ye be brought forth.

26. O Children of Adam! We have revealed unto you raiment to conceal your shame, and splendid vesture, but the raiment of restraint from evil, that is best. This is of the revelations of Allah, that they may remember.

27. O Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you as he caused your (first) parents to go forth from the Garden and tore off from them their robe (of innocence) that he might manifest their shame to them. Lo! he seeth you, he and his tribe, from whence ye see him not. Lo! We have made the devils protecting friends for those who believe not.

And you can find 6 separate Qur'an translations of it HERE. I'm pointing this out because any Muslims that blame women and/or Eve for this are doing so in direct violation of the Qur'an, which we believe are the literal words of God.

a reply to: Bluntone22

my reccolections of the book are starkly different :

the entire premise was based on jewish // christian barbarism

the " hand maiden " was a direct reference to the activities of jacob and abraham

FFS - the " sons of jacob " are protagonists [ all-beit - off screen ] in the book

a reply to: reldra

You are correct. It is not about Islam.

But what are the chances of a totalitarian theocracy forming anywhere in the Western political hemisphere? To the extent that ISIL or others like them succeed, the chances increase. That is why this series is eerily timely, in my opinion. Nobody that I know wants a totalitarian theocracy -- WORLDWIDE -- as much as they do. We should all be alarmed by this, not just women.

a reply to: enlightenedservant

The Bible doesn't blame just Eve either. If you read the account, the serpent speaks to Eve and she takes the fruit and eats, but she also gives some to Adam who also eats. The important part to recognize is that the passage says he was with her. That implies that Adam was there the whole time the serpent was speaking to her, she was picking and eating.

If Adam didn't agree, he would have spoken up. After all, he was the dominant partner in the relationship.

a reply to: Namdru

Where does the link you have included mention islam?

You are making an untrue claim in your thread title.

originally posted by: neformore
a reply to: Namdru

Where does the link you have included mention islam?

You are making an untrue claim in your thread title.

I took poetic license but do study current events, what people really are concerned about, and also, what the timing of this series on Hulu indicates. It does not, to my mind, reflect a fear that a s***-talking president elect who grabs ass will institute a theocracy or anything of the sort in America. It does reflect, I believe (in its timing, not its source only) an awareness of the threat that Islamic theocracy poses to Western civilization. And it does so by the very clever ruse of using women's identity and rights, as well as a Christian reactionary subtext, in a futuristic fictional setting.

A highly encoded message, but to my mind, the timing of the series says it all.

originally posted by: TiredofControlFreaks
a reply to: ketsuko

Actually, all religiions of the Book (Jewish, Islamic and Christian)

A slight change in props and batta boom batta bing, the Handmaiden could have been a story of a future dystopian society ruled by any of these three religions.

Tired of Control Freaks

Thank you. That completes the picture. No need to single out Islam unfairly for paranoia. For the moment let us count our blessings the Christian Right and fundamentalist Islam have yet to form an [overt] alliance against the rest of us...

originally posted by: enlightenedservant
a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

And you can find 6 separate Qur'an translations of it HERE. I'm pointing this out because any Muslims that blame women and/or Eve for this are doing so in direct violation of the Qur'an, which we believe are the literal words of God.

Thank you for the citations. The common enemy here is, in any case, theocracy not theology.

a reply to: ketsuko

Yeah, I just wanted to make sure the rumors about Islam were put to rest. Because in Islam, women are just as responsible for praying, fasting, giving to charity, going on Hajj, opposing Shaytan's influence, doing good instead of evil, and all of the other basic religious requirements that males have. They will also be judged on Judgment Day just as men will be. There are some restrictions placed on women that aren't placed on men, but there are also restrictions placed on men that aren't placed on women.

I think the moral of the story is that there will always be males that try to oppress and control women, regardless of the demographic, region, or belief system. And those males will use whatever interpretation they can find to rationalize it. I'm noticing that there are also some women who actively go along with it, but I don't know enough about that to speak on it.