Lorraine Ali Takes a Deeper Look at Gilead and Modern America

@ASoulAFire @JaniceOCG @lorraineali does a great job of summing of the state of things in Gilead at the end of Season 2 of @HandmaidsOnHulu in comparison to real events.

“‘You were there all the time,’ says June of Gilead, ‘but no one noticed you.’”

— Lorraine Ali

“…a large percentage of the electorate never even bothered to vote. But that apathy turned to concern once they saw their new government ripping children away from their mothers and sending them to parts unknown. Then there were the militarized borders, travel bans, a state-sponsored war against journalists, newsroom killings, men abolishing women’s reproductive rights and the rest of the free world’s dismay and outrage over the fall of a once-great democracy…

“Week after week ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ managed to mirror present-day headlines with a chilling accuracy, especially for a show that was written and shot months in advance. And it didn’t stop there. Since the drama is set in the police state of Gilead (formerly America), where gays, Muslims, willful women and anyone else deemed a threat to totalitarian rule are lynched in public, it showed what Zero Tolerance policy, alienating Canada or targeting the free press might look like post-resistance. Let’s just say as bad as things seem now, Season 2 was there to show us how bottomless the bottom really is…

“Like all great science fiction or futuristic thrillers, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ turns our worst fears into watercooler moments and binge-worthy stretches hunkered down at home. June’s subtle slide from working nine-to-five each day and tucking her daughter into bed at night — to becoming a prisoner in a country she no longer recognizes as her own — is a particularly powerful way to connect the far-fetched with the probable. And she had no idea it was coming….”

READ | ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: A deeper look at the chillingly prescient second season | The Los Angeles Times | by Lorraine Ali, Television Critic | 7/9/2018