The must watch Hulu dystopian drama, The Handmaid’s Tale, is now in its finale, wrapping up a total of eight years and six total seasons. The show was directly adapted from the novel by author, Margaret Atwood, known for her other works such as the environmental dystopian novels, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. Different from the environmental elements of her prior books, The Handmaid’s Tale centers on themes of feminism, religion and a “new world order.”
Ever since the recent increase in large political events, such as the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the ‘Me Too’ movement and even the re-election of Donald Trump, the show has seen a large rise in its viewership. The entertainment analytic site, ParrotAnalytics, says that “the audience demand for The Handmaids Tale is 51.2 times the demand of the average TV series in the US in the last 30 days.”
When looking at other types of popular recent media such as the multiple award winning 2024 movie, The Substance, whose themes show a similarity to that of the Handmaid’s Tale, we can see that American women seem to be scared of the future and preparing for the worst, and what’s a better way to prepare than seeing what can happen and taking notes.
As executive orders are signed and policies continue to change, fear continues to grow, calling for a rise to action. Social media users have been preparing themselves for what they believe is to come by comparing the events from the Handmaids Tale to current events. “BREAKING: Women may no longer be able to vote if their birth certificates don’t match married names. You know in the Handmaids Tale when Gilead suddenly eliminates women’s bank accounts in one fell swoop? That’s what Republicans in Congress are doing to women’s voting rights.” Threads user, tristansnell, comments.
Many people have also noted that the events taking place in the show have happened already, as disturbing, and shocking as they may seem. An interview done with Atwood during a trip to her book archive at the University of Toronto, quotes her use of historical events such as, the Lebensborn movement, and their inspiration for the events she wrote about, “In 1935, with Germany’s birth rates dropping, Hitler’s right hand man Heinrich Himmler designed a breeding program to promote an Aryan future. One element of the scheme involved members of the SS ‘mating’ with suitable German women.” Atwood said.
In doing this she has now introduced an audience that may look like her, that being a white female audience, to a heinous past they may have otherwise overlooked.
The Handmaid’s Tale is an attempt to pop the bubble of safety that most white women in this country comfortably live in, especially in the case where 53 percent of white women contributed to Trump’s voter turnout in the 2024 election according to NBC’s national exit polls.
If history has a chance of repeating itself, as we’ve seen is possible since the most recent election, young women, especially those of us attending college, must stay aware of the events that could lead to dire circumstances. The Handmaid’s Tale is a show that can not only entertain its viewer with a compelling and suspenseful story, but it can also prove as an informative reminder as to what to expect and what women can do in the face of extremism.