Hulu series about a dystopian world where infertility has become widespread, threatening the survival of the human race. A Christian theocracy has taken over and has enslaved the few fertile women as concubines for birthing children to the leaders—and to oppress women everywhere, because, well, that’s what Christianity is all about, don’t you know. Or something.
This won an Emmy for Drama Series. So I tried to watch it. I couldn’t get very far. It was an unending parade of Christophobic stereotypes, cliches and demonizations of Christianity. A litany of the fevered delusions and projections of left wing paranoia. But even worse: It was just bad storytelling.
It’s clear why this series is getting critical accolades. Not because it’s good. It’s terrible. But because it reflects the collective intolerance and bigotry of the Hollywood elite.
The storytelling here was more preachy, more juvenile in it’s exaggeration, more ridiculously melodramatic than any Christian movie I have ever seen. And if you know me, you know I do not like preachy Christian movies.
It was like watching a sincere yet laughable horror movie from the 1950s with every shot a “scary” melodramatic exaggeration of ugly lighting, ominous music, dour acting and extreme dialogue. And more ominously ominous music. Dr. Evil has nothing on this.
The Christian leaders in this story are of course fascists with Nazi-like traits, rituals and decorations. Their barren wives are begrudging enablers of the evil patriarchy who abuse the handmaidens out of their resentment, thus damning Christian women as traitors to their gender.
The heroine is a newly enslaved handmaiden who is taught that pollution caused the worldwide infertility, which is God’s punishment. In the first episode we see that the Christians execute Catholic priests, abortionists and gays. So, it is Evangelical Christianity who is the real villain here.
Or at least Atwood’s bizarre twisted misinterpretation of what Evangelical Christianity is.
Are you Not Entertained?
The carnival of caricatures is so relentless it’s physically exhausting to watch. It’s a cringe-a-thon. A circus freak-show of boogeyman stereotypes.
If you are going to try to inspire hatred and bigotry against Christians, at least give me a good well-told antichrist story like Avatar or the Da Vinci Code. At least I would be entertained.
And those Hollywood players keep saying it has a scary similitude with our current political climate in America. REALLY? I MEAN REALLY? Only deranged minds full of phobic hatred can conclude such bizarre unreality.
Oh wait. This kind of fascist theocracy actually does exist in one kind of community all over the world. Islamic cultures engage in oppression of women, sex slavery, indoctrination of hate propaganda, killing of homosexuals and all the things that are feared in The Handmaid’s Tale.
But no, Atwood and the Hollywood left think that the fantasy of a non-existent Christian theocracy is the real evil we must fear. Not the patriarchal theocracy of Islam that actually exists, even in America.
What the hell is wrong with these people? Ignore Islamofascism as it murders and enslaves tens of thousands in the real world, and then promote a fantasy fear that Christianity is fascist slavery?
The Handmaid’s Tale shows girls having their eyes put out in obedience to Jesus’ words that it is better to pluck out your eye than to sin with it. As if those who take the Bible literally would conclude such ridiculousness. Oh, but wait, there are many Islamic communities that do cut off hands for theft. No, no, no. We have to worry about fantasy illusions of fascism, not real fascism. What kind of minds construct such perverted delusion in the face of reality?
I actually feel sorry for Margaret Atwood (and by extension, the filmmakers). She must live in a prison of hate and fear so deep, she cannot love or understand her fellow human beings. Since, in her malarial imagination, half the country are secret Nazis wanting to enslave women. Oh, that’s the “eerie relevance to today.” Half the country just voted in Hitler, right?
The story gives one the distinct impression that Atwood has a deep resentment and hatred of her own biological reality as a woman. She deconstructs childbearing into a curse of damnation on women. Birthing is a prison of oppression in this story. Something that is a vulnerability to be used against woman rather than a joyful blessing to be celebrated. Pregnancy, children, birth, are all made out to be a curse. The Handmaid’s Tale is almost like a satanic indictment of the creator for making women such victims in virtue of their wombs. It’s a tangible sort of self-loathing that makes it hard to be mad at her, because you just pity her instead.
This story is so extreme in its libel of Christianity, it reminds me of the Nazi propaganda that would try to link Jews and their society to a festering scrounging horde of rats. This is how actual totalitarian regimes are inspired. You gin up irrational fear of a constructed “enemy,” like those evil One percenter Russian czarists, or those Zionist infiltrators the Jews, or those theocratic patriarchal Christians. When the hysteria gets out of control, then the totalitarians actually think they are cleansing the world of evil as they hunt down “the other” as dehumanized monsters.
The tactic here is so without subtlety or nuance, that the intent is clear: To demonize Christians into fascist monsters, which of course becomes the justification of violence against Christians, something we are seeing already increasing in America. The logic goes like this: Nazis and fascists are pure evil that requires violent “resistance.” Christians are Nazis and fascists. So then it is our moral duty to engage in violence against Christians before they can create this evil monstrous fascist theocracy. It would be like killing Hitler before he came to power, and therefore saving the world!
The ultimate irony is that the storytelling incites the very fascism and violence it condemns. the Handmaid’s Tale is a Christophobic dog whistle. Let’s stop these Nazi Christians before they rise to bring forth the second coming of Hitler. Let’s build us some gas chambers.
And if you think this is being extreme or knee-jerk, well, now you know how it feels.
Read what the world does to Christian scapegoats in history…
14 comments on “The Handmaid’s Tale: The Delusionary Hysterical Fear of Christian Theocracy”
They treat Christianity that way because they think Christians won’t sue for defamation or take a pot shot at them or stand up against the slander.
But they don’t dare do that to Islam because there would be a formal fatwa against them and an order to kill them. Cowards.
But what if the church did fight back and sue in the courts?
Yeah. We should start sueing. It seems like we are always on the defensive.
The motion picture way back when was an equal act of laughable projection. In fact, Atwood (in the forward to the current edition) draws parallels to Puritanism. She’s basically seeking revenge for her view of the extremes and evils of Puritan America.
An excellent article on this dribble of a series. I saw the original and basically sat through it with my head tilted to the side, eyes squinted and mouth open. I had no intention of wasting time I can’t get back, on whatever “improvements” the loony left made on this sudo Orwellian farce. The sad thing is, those who do watch it are influenced by it. It simply serves to plunge them deeper into the madness of post modern leftism. God have mercy on us for the fools we have to suffer.
Well said. Every scene was like watching a person scrape their fingernails over a blackboard in terms of its seething hatred.
Until I read your article, I knew nothing about this series, or the depths it took to smear Christians, nor the damage it attempts to do in its wake. Nor had I ever intended to watch it. However, I have never read a more clear, conciser example that better describes the full tilt mentality of both the Hollywood and (a)typical liberal left, not only in regards to their “Christophobic stereotypes, cliches and demonizations of Christianity” (which is exactly what it is), but in everything they demonize simply because they disagree with it. There is no room for tolerance in the liberals mindset. In one fell swoop you have covered the gamut of liberal mentality from A to Z in the 21st century. I have never read a better description of it, nor truer Thank you for your stand, and for this article.
Thanks for the kudos, Robin!
I remember when I first heard the synopsis of Atwood’s novel I thought it delusional garbage.
…Evil Christian patriarchy, blah, blah, blah.
The sort of tale feminists masturbate about in ther covens.
The original novel was always a little hysterical — for that matter, so was “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand.
But this series is absolutely positively hysterical with a capital H.
If you want to know how Hysterical it is, compare it to the 1990 movie version. The antagonists in the 1990 movie believe in their ideology, rightly or wrongly, and seek to implement it. The antagonists in this version are just sick, evil people who abuse the handmaids for fun, and are given many chances to change, but refuse to do so because they’re just so evil.
This series is everything that is wrong with contemporary liberalism. Your enemies want to rape and kill you and they are pure evil. Blech.
I am a Christian and I like the show. I see beyond the fictitious underlying story. I believe Atwood is trying to paint a picture of religion gone wrong(like she said in her interview). With that said, there was a time in American history where a hands maid tale bore similarities. This time was during slavery. Not everyone was on board but white sympathizers were punished. Religious leaders used the Bible to justify the enslavement of thousands and the disenfranchisement of the native Indians. So she was not to far off. America definitely had it’s bought with this evil beast in the past. Thousands of slave girls raped by their owners because they were property. Some of these people considered themselves as God fearing Christians.
Well said, Perry. I’m an ex Christian, and things like this did indeed happen. There are some radical Christians living today who would be all for something like this to happen.
The Buybull is not something that should be taken literally as many Christians know, but some do believe every word in it is the inspired word of a “god”. That is when you get radical ideas from those believers.
BTW, have any of you watched “The Family” on Netflix? It’s evidence that Christians are trying to take over and change our democracy.
Ed, I am truly sorry to hear that you have rejected Christ, but I’ve been a Christian for over 40 years and I can say with confidence of experience that there are no Christians like that. It’s the fevered delusions of a conspiracy theory created from the paranoia of antiChristian hatred. I’ve been in every circle of mainstream Christians, from Charismatics to Baptists to Catholics and on. No one believes anything like that. There might be some fringe cult of 10 people in the desert who believe that nonsense, but that does not constitute Christianity. I do realize though that spinning your experience and promoting these bizarre stereotypes of Christians is itself a radical secular agenda to marginalize religious people who you hate so that you can justify violence against us in the name of “democracy.” Which of course, if you know anything about democracy, it is rule by the mob. We are not a democracy, we are a Republic, thank God. Secularists are the ones trying to change our REPUBLIC into a democracy of mob rule. I’ll tell you what, you want an actual real world example of the kind of bizarre world of the Handmaid’s Tale, look no further than Islam. There is your real monster. Or better yet, the “democratic socialism” of communism, that secular atheistic antiChristian ideology that murdered 100s of millions in the name of progress, socialism, atheism and science. Every belief system is guilty of having followers who murder. But Atheistic socialism tops them all. If you don’t worship the living God, you worship power, and since the state is the ultimate repository of power on earth the State is your god.
If there is a future for all of us it will be opposite to Margaret A Vision . Christians will be prosecuted and tortured It is in the Bible. I hope it won’t be very soon.
Excellent article God Bless you .Danuta
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