Being Scared of the F-Word

I lied, I'm not done talking about Handmaid's Tale thinkpieces yet. Perhaps the most important one written since the show came out is from MTV News' Rachel Handler called "On the Handmaid' Tale, Bernie Sanders, and Feminism." Handler was prompted to write the piece after watching the cast and creators of the Hulu show at the Tribeca Film Festival go out of their way to avoid calling the show a feminist project. 


Handler was disturbed and disappointed by this, especially considering Margaret Atwood herself has shied away from calling her story feminist in numerous interviews. Handler wrote: "What struck me instead was the haunting notion that we've reached a point in history where an explicitly political, feminist work of art must be depoliticized and downplayed for fear of alienating the men who might feel excluded by it."

Many writers and commentators are forgiving the cast, creators, and Atwood for their refusal to discuss the OBVIOUS feminist and political themes of the story, but Handler's refusal to allow this dilution of the meaning is important. Hollywood has a long, established habit of this type of practice since drawing large audiences for projects is more important than appearing feminist or diverse. On this, Handler points out that "stories about men have always been viewed as status quo "human stories," while stories about women, or people of color, or queer people have always been viewed as "stories about women, or people of color, or queer people," forcing their casts to go on the defensive."

Here, it's hard to blame the cast since they want the project to be successful and therefore don't want to 'alienate' potential fans who would shy away if the project was marketed as FEMINIST. But at the same time we have to hold them accountable since the show is absolutely feminist judging from its themes and message. Another quote from the Handler piece I this that I really thought was important was: "Words matter, whether you're living in a dystopia or your basic plutocracy, and in Gilead, language has been bent into both a weapon and an unsolicited shield. The Republic subjects its people to unspeakable horrors by coating them in euphemism, in inaccurate language that obscures the true nature of what's being done to them. Terrified silence and linguistic obfuscation are the twin pillars that bolster the patriarchal dystopia." I couldn't agree more with that sentiment.