Last Wednesday, Ms Li played the movie, The Handmaid’s Tale, for us to watch. Before she did so, she told us that after watching it, we would really appreciate living the way we are now. At first, I thought that it would just be showing all the things that people in the community would be missing out if leaders tried to perfect their community or country, just like it was in The Giver. However, I did not expect to feel so disturbed after watching those few clips of the movie. This was because in the clips, the feelings of the people were portrayed very strongly. This was different from The Giver, as in The Giver, the author did not express any negative emotions faced by the people in the community, but only showed how happy and oblivious the people were. This was because they had no memories. On the other hand, in The Handmaid’s Tale, the emotions of the people were shown very clearly. This was because they had memories.

The Handmaid’s Tale is also different from The Giver as it did not practice sameness while the people in The Giver did. In The Handmaid’s Tale, men had a higher social standing than women. This is evident from the fact that handmaids were not called by their real names, but by their ‘handmaid names’. This ‘handmaid name’ consisted of the word ‘of’, followed by the name of the handmaid’s commander. For example, the main character of this show was called Kate, but she was called by her handmaid name, which was ‘offred’, whereby her commander’s name was ‘Fred’. Also, women were only treated as instruments for giving birth and were ‘reduced to their fertility’.

The Handmaid’s Tale brings across the idea of ‘a utopia gone wrong’. When the leaders tried to perfect the community, many dystopian factors came in. There was misery among the people and they’d rather die than have to live in such a state where there was no individual freedom and expressions. Much violence was also involved while trying to maintain a ‘perfect’ society. The scenes that left a very deep impression on me were the ones where it showed the different characters in the show screaming in agony (when the people were punished and during the sexual scenes) and their exasperated and tear-stained faces. These scenes made me feel really upset and indignant for the people.

After watching The Handmaid’s Tale, half of me wished that Ms Li had not played the movie for us as I felt very uneasy and disturbed afterwards, and the heartbreaking and thought-provoking scenes kept playing in my mind. But the other half of me was glad that she had exposed us to it, as if she hadn’t, we would not be as appreciative of the way we are living now as much as before.