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more than just your average fourteen year old.this blog is solely for my reflections on the award-winning literature book, 'the giver'

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On the 30th of June, Miss Li played the movie'The Handmaid's Tale' for the class. Before playing the movie, she had given us a worksheet in which we were required to fill in the features of a utopian society as we watched the movie. She also mentioned that after watching the movie, we would really appreciate the world that we are living in. I expected it to be somewhat similar to Jonas's community in The Giver, with sets of rules that everyone must follow, etcetra, and hence did not think too deeply about what it would be like. However, I was in for much more than i had bargained for- it was a provoking, disturbing, darker, more twisted form of The Giver- that now seemed innocent when compared to The Handmaid's Tale.

The movie 'The Handmaid's Tale' is set in the fictional Republic of Gilead, a time where man has been so badly affected by pollution such that in the community only 1 out of hundreds of women are fertile, hence resulting in seperating the fertile women from the infertile ones, and making them become 'Handmaids' in the community, helping couples that are of high status in the community conceive.

Throughout the 3 out of 10 parts of the movie that we watched, I was very disturbed by the ways of life, laws and practices of the republic. The ruling parties brainwash the people of the republic, using the bible unjustly, and 'twist' and 'tweak' the passages so that it supports their practices and ways of life to make it seem correct and justifiable. It irked and disgusted me greatly to see people abusing the bible and changing its original content and meaning, to support their vile practices that are wrong, so to speak.

Another thing that disgusted me was the fact that women and men were not equal. Men had a higher status than women and hence whenever something goes wrong, the women is blamed- even if she had nothing to do with it. For example, there was a scene in the movie where a handmaid was forced to share her experience or memory of being raped. Instead of consoling and comforting her, they were led into chanting words like 'whore' while pointing at her, resulting in her breaking down, and later admitting that it was 'her fault' although she was the victim in the whole situation.

The movie and the novel, The Giver are both set in utopian societies, hence there are both similarities and differences between the two.

SIMILARITIES.
Firstly, the people in both communities are identified by certain means.
For example,
the children of Jonas's community are all identified by their age(eg: being a 'twelve') and by the numbers they had been given at birth( eg: 19).
The form of identification can also be seen in the movie, The Handmaid's Tale.
After the movie's main character, Kate, is captured, she is foorced to go through some sort of 'sorting' with all the other women in the community. This sorting seperated the fertile women from the infertile, and the fertile women were given identification numbers before pushing them into a truck- where they were going to assume their roles as handmaids.

Secondly, roles are given to each and every person- no one is allowed to choose.
In the Giver, the children were given their assignments based on their aptitude. These assignments will eventually be their jobs when they grow up, as well as the roles that they take on in the community. Similarly, jobs and roles are given to the people in the republic. A very obvious example would be that of the role of the Handmaid. Due to the small amount of fertile women left in the republic, all those who are fertile are immediately given the role of the Handmaid, which they are to assume.

Thirdly, the communities are both very rigid and controlling. Punishment is harsh and laws are strict. All who belong in the community are to follow its rules. In The Giver, it was stated that anyone who disobeyed or did something wrong in the community would be punished and be 'released'. Similarly, there was punishment for those who were unwilling to follow the rules. For example, the nuns were hung publicly as they refused to conceive, and when one of the Handmaids did something wrong, she was slashed on her legs.

Lastly, they both strive for perfection.
In both The Giver and The Handmaid's Tale, everyone has to follow a certain protocol or set of rules and laws that were devised so as to creaet a 'perfect' world. Like in The Giver, there was so much stress on precision of language so as to ensure that everything is clearly spelt out and there would not be any miscommunication, and in The Handmaid's Tale, all the rules and laws and roles created were to solve the problems that the republic faced, for example- infertility.
Hence, all the elements that are evident in both utopian societies ultimately lead to helping creaate a so called 'perfect' world, most probably one where the person who created it perceives as being perfect.

Although both The Giver and The Handmaid's Tale are set in utopian societies, there are still differences between them.
For example, in The Giver, the people of the community are unable to see colour, have no 'real' feelings,have memories, and all think that they are leaading the same type of life that everyone else is leading- even in Elsewhere. However, the people in the Republic of Gilead can see colour,have 'real' feelings, have memories of the past and they hence have knowledge of the outside world and are aware that this is not the same kind or type of life that everyone else is leading, in the world. Another difference is that while the people in Jonas's community(in The Giver) are very stringent about the concept of Sameness, the people in the republic are not reduced to Sameness as much as in The Giver. They still have their individuality and as they are required to assume different roles, are hence given different things and rights, or permission. However, we can see that thiss is not the case in The Giver. In The Giver, all children of a certain age can do a certain thing, or recive a certain thing, or have a certain thing taken away from them. Therefore, the people in the Republic of Gilead are still abe to able to somewhat retain their individualtiy to a certain extent.

All things aside, a major point i would like to state here is that while both The Giver and The Handmaid's Tale are set in utopian societies, The Handmaid's Tale is also like a dystopian society, as many dystopian factors came in when the leaders of the republic tried to 'perfect' it more and more.

In conclusion, watching The Handmaid's Tale indeed made me appreciative and thankful that i am living in today's society, nothing at all like the utopian societies in The Giver and The Handmaid's Tale. Maybe some of us might have felt that Miss Li should not have shown the movie, while others agreed with showing the movie, but there is no right or wrong as these are all our own personal thoughts and opinions. I did feel that Miss Li should not have shown us such a thought-provoking and disturbing movie ( sorry Miss Li(: ), but after settling down and after some time, one would realise how real a utopian society can be in this world and really treasure all that one has. This movie has really been an eye-opener, and after much thought, i am really thankful that I had the chance to watch this movie.

So, would i watch this movie again? Maybe.
Now? No.
I would prepare myself for the movie if i were to see it again.
However, right now- I need to prepare for the upcoming tests!

love,
sarah(: back to top? 2 comments