Tag: Margaret Atwood
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Under the Eye: “Fairytale”
Bowling for Gilead. So Canada, right? Supposed to be America’s surrogate? Land of the … somewhat free? Home of the … arguably brave? Does your average American citizen have the rights afforded them by their Constitution and Bill of Rights, and are those rights recognized by the Canadian government? The reason I ask is because…
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Under the Eye: “Mayday”
Even in the best of times, we turn on each other. This is what we were born to do. We should always try to seek out the best of us, but we should remember there are snakes in the garden. The trouble is the snakes don’t always identify themselves. It would be easier if they…
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Under the Eye: “Sacrifice”
I knew June was laughing. Maybe it was on the inside at first. June (Elisabeth Moss) is laughing because Gilead was so distracted with the arrest of Fred and Serena that Commander Refrigerator Humper’s (Christopher Meloni) “disappearance” was put on the back-burner. I laughed with June when I realized that Gilead is not America, and…
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Under the Eye: “Witness”
Weird that we’ve come this far: As is par for the course, Atwood is being cancelled. At least from current thinking. On with the show! It is a dark sea of the unwashed standing before the altar of conformity. The camera stalks rows of shaved heads as they march to pews to watch the ominous…
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Under the Eye: “Heroic”
“It’s a God-awful small affairTo the girl with the mousy hairBut her mummy is yelling, “No!”And her daddy has told her to goBut her friend is nowhere to be seenNow she walks through her sunken dreamTo the seat with the clearest viewAnd she’s hooked to the silver screenBut the film is a saddening boreFor she’s…
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Under the Eye: “Unfit”
I wonder if this is Gilead right here. Three Aunts at a table with a Lazy Susan spinning around. Busy-bodies in con-fab naming names, and discussing “trouble” handmaids like Ofjoseph. This might be Gilead. Lydia sits in concert with other middle-aged women of her ilk with their files and their folders. Despite this “revelation,” this…
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Under the Eye: “Under His Eye”
“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction — its essence — has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.” ― Isaac Asimov Everything engenders discussion, debate, and bitter argument these days. I…
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Under the Eye: “Unknown Caller”
Note: I’ve harped on this before, I know, but there were and are viewers who believe The Handmaid’s Tale represents an analogue of current Western culture; that somehow we’ve gone back to the dark ages, and we’ve brought back female subjugation in a big way. I’d just like to direct my readers to events unfolding…
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Under the Eye: “Night”
Two minutes and forty seconds of “previously on The Handmaid’s Tale.” This is a 49 minute episode. If you’ve watched the show, you don’t need the back-story. If you haven’t watched the show, you wouldn’t start at the beginning of the third series. You would start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place…
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Under the Eye: The Handmaid’s Tale (1990)
I hadn’t seen The Handmaid’s Tale movie since the mid ’90s, so when it showed up on PBS, I recorded it as a possible review for my Vintage Cable Box series, or for this collection of essays. It’s been on the DVR list going on about a year, and I still had no interest in…
Misadventures in Blissville 