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As I see it, the book is exploring the backlash against feminism taken to an extreme end. It's suggestive of a lot of real world regimes like Iran, Romania, etc but still seems quite speculative. By keeping the coup and the location consistent with the book it doesn't change that.. If the show turned the Sons of Jacob into Duck Dynasty types and moved Offred to Alabama or something in the name of 'tactical realism' then people would see it as a story about red vs blue and the culture war instead. It reminds me of The Road, people complain because the catastrophe is never explained or overanalyse the poo poo out of everything thinking there are clues for people with a wikipedia education in climate science. I have no doubt that it's vague because if you make it explicitly a meteorite/volcano or nuclear war then people can't help but see it as a story that is anti-war or about man's hubris or whatever.
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May 2, 2017 15:12
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I haven't watched episode 3 yet, just read a synopsis. If I recall correctly the genital mutilation and taking eyeballs was not in the book, I only recall them using the tazers maybe and caning feet. It seems like any time you remake/adapt something now the nasty stuff has to get turned up. The pacing seems a little off to me. Most of the major moments in the book have been covered in 3/10 episodes. What's left like the brothel, trysts with the driver, escape, information about her daughter, etc won't fill 7 episodes at the current rate. So we're either getting lots of scrabble games or quite a bit of plot written especially for the show maybe Offred's escape
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May 2, 2017 15:22
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Was Ofglens trial and fgm explicitly after her replacement? I thought it was a flashback.
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May 11, 2017 10:50
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Thwomp posted:Wait what? I don't see how you can view it as anything but chronological. To be clear, I'm not trying to argue that it isn't, just explaining why I found myself second guessing it at the time of watching. It's probably mostly to do with the impressions I had going into the episode. I scanned through a synopsis of the episode before watching it. For whatever reason it mentioned that the first appearance of Ofglen in that episode was ambiguous about whether it was flashback or chronological. I guess Ofglen had mentioned being a lesbian, but I just assumed it was her involvement with Mayday that would lead to her downfall like the book. I think it was in the birthmobile conversation that Ofglen mentioned being a 'gender-traitor' and that she was spared because she was fertile. So if the trial in episode 3 was current, this would be the second time such a judgement had been given. It is was a flashback, then this 'redemption' wouldn't only be the FGM but also the posting as Glen's handmaiden. Like I said, I'm not arguing for it. Just thinking that maybe I missed something that would make it explicitly chronological like maybe some mention of a current lesbian relationship with a Martha.
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May 12, 2017 01:31
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Hollismason posted:I hope they make her a Fox News correspondent. Her line to the Commander about the Martha escaping to Canada really stuck out to me, it was something along the lines of 'don't discredit her story, discredit her'. Between that and the freudian slip to Offred I have to think she was part of the right wing media. It makes sense as a character that's a female public figure that was reactionist against feminism. In a book from the 80's it's a character that's reminiscent of Phyllis Schafly and Tammy Faye Baker, in the more modern adaption it's a younger blonde from Fox News.
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May 15, 2017 04:18
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Episode 3 Serena says "what we do is terrible........... what we do is terribly hard".
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May 15, 2017 05:57
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I'm always skeptical of changes to the source material, but I do like how they are filling in the ambiguity of the book. I've found it all pretty compelling so far - Nick's background, Luke's fate, Sons of Jacob, June and Luke's escape attempt etc. I do hope we get a similar treatment of Aunt Lydia and the daughter's new adopted life under the regime. We've seen all the major plot points of the book almost and we have two episodes left I think. So maybe we'll see some of that this season. I'll spoiler the rest but what I'm thinking is: next episode we'll have Serena finding lipstick on the blue coat. Maybe the music box gift is foreshadowing Serena feeling betrayed by Offred and reporting her. Offred's narration seems more like an inner dialogue than a recorded account of what was happening, and another season is planned. So I doubt the season finale will be a future university lecture about the tapes but probably ends with Offred being taken away in a van fate unknown. That gives us season 2 with Offred's escape, unrest and a purge in Gilead leading to the Commander's execution for harbouring Nick who aided Offred's escape, maybe some insight into the colonies, battlegrounds in Chicago and the south, etc.
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Jun 2, 2017 03:55
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Here's my hot take: If the setting was different, they would be doing something different. Signed two people with guitars.
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Jun 8, 2017 00:54
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IVF gives you an over supply of fertilised embryos too. That was the whole debate with stem cells, because the IVF people just flush them down the sink regardless.
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Jun 8, 2017 04:31
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They reassign if they don't conceive after a while. Remember that publically they never acknowledge the men as sterile.
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Jun 12, 2017 15:47
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tetrapyloctomy posted:I don't recall the sexist part of the epilogue, but it's been fifteen years and I don't even recall the epilogue in detail. The professor is kind of patronising. The message/account of Offred's takes a back seat to the Professor's own ideas and interpretations. The epilogue is a jab at academia.
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Jun 13, 2017 03:02
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Serena using Offred's daughter as leverage was handled better in the book I thought. I'm not saying she wasn't a vindictive piece of poo poo in the earlier episodes but they dialed it up to 11 for the finale holy poo poo. Couldn't tell you the last thing I saw on a television series that was as moving as Moira and Luke reuniting.
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Jun 15, 2017 04:30
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There Bias Two posted:I worry that the show will fall off the rails now that they will be going beyond the source material. That said, season 1 was great and I would be satisfied with that ending if it was not continued. There really isn't anything they added outside of the book that I had a problem with. Luke's escape, Nick's involvement in the Sons of Jacob, etc were pretty well done I thought. I'm optimistic that the quality is maintained and we get to see firsthand a lot of the events that were only referred to in the epilogue.
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Jun 16, 2017 03:02
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It's the 'Handmaid's Tale', people seem to forget. Maybe a Nina Simone or Tom Petty song that the Handmaid is familiar is representative of her state of mind/attitude at that point in the tale. Same as all the people aspergering over tactical realism of the coup or the economics of republic, it's not something June is really privy to and doesn't feature much in her tale.
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Jun 20, 2017 01:49
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