Breaking silence, bearing witness, and voicing defiance: the resistant female voice in the transmedia storyworld ofThe Handmaid’s Tale

“Domestic Feminism”: The Politics of Reproduction and Motherhood in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale

“…In Hulu's version, Offred/June (Elisabeth Moss), the Handmaids, Marthas (domestic servants), Jezebels (sex slaves), and Commander's Wives are shown to engage in individual and private, collective and public acts of resistance against Gilead. With June at the forefront, Amanda Howell (2019) argues that Hulu's adaptation coalesces around the feminist and transmedial potential of the "resistant female voice" and, unlike Atwood's, Hulu's women "bear witness, speak up, and talk back" (p. 217). However, at the same time as the series has maximized on the spectacular, serial potential of a women's resistance movement, it has also placed new emphasis on women's roles as wives and mothers.…”

“….] my name is June” (see, for instance, Boyle 2020, 853; Crawley 2018, 338; Howell 2019). However, where the novel lists Offred’s will “to last” as a human being without qualification, Hulu (re)orients Offred/June and her motivations “to survive” in relation to her family and role as a mother.…”

“…In this context, the series was appreciated for its elaboration of the anti-Gilead resistance and the Handmaid was quickly taken up as a feminist "rallying cry." Its allegories and iconography have since spread across activists' bodies, protest signs, digital feminist activism, and politically-inflected memes, and the series and its symbolism have facilitated the organization and recruitment of feminist and reproductive rights activism in the U.S. and beyond (see Bayne 2018;Boyle 2020;Howell 2019).…”

“…Originally, Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale in response to the conservative backlash following the 1973 court decision to instate abortion as a constitutional right for women in the U.S. With the television series premiering in 2017, The Handmaid’s Tale became an increasingly relevant reflection amidst mounting anti-abortion laws, the Trump presidency and a transnational rise of the conservative far right. In this context, the series was appreciated for its elaboration of the anti-Gilead resistance and the Handmaid was quickly taken up as a feminist “rallying cry.” Its allegories and iconography have since spread across activists’ bodies, protest signs, digital feminist activism, and politically-inflected memes, and the series and its symbolism have facilitated the organization and recruitment of feminist and reproductive rights activism in the U.S. and beyond (see Bayne 2018; Boyle 2020; Howell 2019).…”