The Handmaid's Tale of Propaganda

Tonight, much to my pain and displeasure, I shall be watching the finale of The Handmaid's Tale. I know some of you have watched it already, but due to the time difference, I always see them a day late, I suppose it doesn't really matter. It's the same awful show on Thursdays as it is on Wednesdays. And trust me, it pains me to say this. Last year, when I first discovered the show, I was thrilled, the first season really blew me away and I was eagerly awaiting to see what would happen. It even got me reading the book (which was and is a great read) and I learned a lot from that, I even wrote a post on it. Yeah, you can see how excited I was about the show. And one thing that I truly hoped was that it would not take the same path as most shows and turn crappier the longer it gets. Well...when Mick Jagger said you can't always get what you want, he was very right, indeed. The second season of this show has done wonders in erasing anything that was good about the first one. The first show was creepy and oppressive and it made you cringe and to people who love alternative futures – such as myself – it was Heaven. I watched with great delight and shock the trials and torments of the main character, Offred (that's her new name, that's the whole fucking point, so please quit with this June crap). And you know why the first season was so good? It followed the book, it had a solid base to go by, so not much could go wrong, unless they decided to intentionally fuck up, which nobody does. But this season, they've been on their own, since the first one ended just where the book does, with a few pages that sum up what happened afterward. And between those pages, there is so much room for guesswork, it actually means the writers of the show have to write. Shocking, I know.

And they've managed to fuck it up oh so gloriously...

First, the show dragged on, showing us an Offred on the run, literally, for a long time, we'd watch her run up and down the stairs (much like the writers' minds must've been going, trying to figure out something else to stick in). Then, she didn't escape as you'd expect her to do and get to Canada and her long lost husband. This moment was meant to be shocking, I suppose, painful even for the viewers. Honestly, it was just anti-climatic after such a long wait. If she'd been running for half an episode, yeah, it would've been sad, but once you force me to watch three episodes of her trying to make it, it's just bad writing. I won't bore you with the details of this crap season, but they then made Offred and Serena (the wife of her master, as it were) friends, then they made then enemies again. Then a heavily pregnant Offred jumped out the window and miraculously didn't lose the baby, then she tried to run again and failed (again). And now, we're here. Really, she should give up at this point. As should the creators of the show, as it's full of badly written characters, who keep changing their minds and are extremely easy to bend. Not to mention the bad, unnecessary scenes, such as the one where Fred and Serena decide he should rape Offred, to induce labor faster so they can be rid of her. This of course is followed by the cliché rape scene, where she lies on her back, begging and twisting, and all that. It's pointlessly gruesome, and is there only for shock value. Or is it? The Handmaid's Tale sets out to paint a world where the far right has gained power, where religious fanatics have spiraled out of control. The show has become something for lefties to point at and go 'see? See what they want to do?' It's supposed to show an extreme, but in today's extremely political world, where there is no inbetween, it turns into propaganda. And the second season has been used as a prop by feminists and the LGBT community, as well as atheists everywhere. Not necessarily because they'll use anything they can get, but because the show has really played up to the part it's supposed to play, a propaganda device. Throughout the season, it has introduced elements that are supposed to upset the viewer. There was the appearance of something that can only be described as child brides. In one of the episodes, the rulers of Gilead (note the Biblical new name of America) decide to reward their soldiers, bodyguards, drivers by allowing them to marry. This takes place in a strange hall, where the men are aligned and presented with veiled women, who then take their veils off to reveal young girls.

Another “moving” scene takes place not in Gilead, but in Little America, the part of Canada that houses refugees, including some minor characters. Huddled together, they celebrate a small victory over the rulers of Gilead by crying and singing the American national anthem. And how very touching that must be to the American public of the show...

I've already mentioned the rape scene, that is pointlessly violent. The main idea of Offred living in that house is rape and Fred had already raped her many times throughout the first season. And yes, it was a terrifying prospect. But only in mind.

Besides, in the first season, he seemed to genuinely like her and could be quite charming, so they needed some method to drive the point home. Otherwise, the public might get the silly idea that these fanatics can be charming or at least have a tiny bit of humanity left. We don't need that, do we? So on we go with the gruesome rape scene. Oh, and did I mention Fred becomes a way bigger jerk in the second season? Makes sense, huh...

But in my opinion, the key story used to brainwash the public isn't Offred's but Serena's. The second season expands on her back story, her life before she was a Wife and nothing more, we hear all about her dreams and hopes and how she was a writer before, and just how hard she fought to get where she is now – a woman with nothing to say or anything important to do, who must bend her back if her husband decides to beat her. A woman who should shut up and endure. (they did that, too, by the way, the beating scene...and it was painfully stupid)

And you know why Serena's is the most moving story? Because she was a sort of inbetweener. It's clear she was fighting for a different world, sure, but she didn't want it to get quite so far. She wasn't headed for the extreme that Gilead is now. Surely, when she fought and advocated for this religious rise, she was hoping for something more tame, where she (and all women) would have more rights. Maybe not as many as they do in our own world, but not as few as they have in Gilead, either. And being an inbetweener, trying to back the right, trying to make a better world, she gets screwed. The message here is very clear – sure, the right might have some worthwhile points, but there's no middle ground with these people. You back up some of their points, or worse, you back up a President who leans to the right, that's what you're going to get. You're going to end up in Gilead.

It's a scare tactic and it works. Because what they're showing you on the screen is an extreme. Surely, if you choose to believe in the Bible or whatever, if you're not a crazy-ass feminist trying to burn men's dicks off, you won't get to Gilead. Because that's taking it too far. But by making you think that such arguments might lead you to that world (and who wants that?), they force you to get with the left. To support feminism and all that SJW bullshit. They send you to the other extreme. You know, I'd really like to see the Handmaid equivalent of the rising left. Okay, I get it, if we stick with order and the old world and religion and all that, we'll get to Gilead, but where will we get if we support this leftist madness? I'd get right on that, if I were them. At least, let us see both sides, no? But that's the shitty thing about today's world – you don't get an inbetween. You're either far out or you're in the monastery. Why? Well, let's say you think these women slamming birth and motherhood are over the top, let's say you think it's mad to celebrate Gay Pride at kindergarten. What do you do? You look around for people who can stop these guys, and that's the opposition, naturally. In today's world, it's not so much that you support the one, but that you dislike the other even more. And that's very dangerous, because one of these groups will use this to their advantage.

Remember, right doesn't necessarily mean Nazism as the show would have you believe, nor does left necessarily mean “freedom”.

Find the in-between.