Handmaid's Tale Has Always Had A Race Problem
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June should have AT LEAST lost an eye by now?
Kandis Mascall honestly! Jeanine is taking all the beatings that June should have got
Praise be.
trich315 hahaha!!
trich315 😂😂😂
A finger, a toe, something...
I agree, June’s character choices should have had her life ended a long time ago. She’s definitely feeling herself. It’s exhausting to watch.
CanadianQueen76 June is working my nerves
ary0212 She believes she’s untouchable.
You summed it up perfectly
Agreed. Especially this season. It's ridiculous. She should have "been on the wall" a few episodes ago.
To be honest i havent watched all the seasons. But i feel like Piper from OITNB had a phase like this. Even if its the main character, they still make horrible desicions
June's plot armor is too thick. At least if she's doing things against the rules they shouldn't be aware of all it. It's getting harder to overlook it now.
Exactly.😒
Yeah she's pretty bold and it makes me wonder why she they haven't killed her yet. She's done so many thungs, caused that black handmaid to go crazy and get killed.
That should have been the last straw since everyone knew what led up to it.
Honestly she should have been killed when she came back from sending her baby away. She has caused the death of so many people on the show simply because they interacted with her.
@Tired Siren I'm talking about June even in the first season. There was a truck driver she met while she was escaping who's she convinced to drive her to a location even though he was very hesitant. at the end of that episode you find out that him and his wife were killed because they helped her attempt to escape and that their son gets adopted by another family. They were a black couple as well. She doesn't want a revolution she only thinks about herself and her end goal and will convince other people to put themselves in danger for her singular cause.
Everyone that she has manipulated to help her has been murdered. It just baffles me that we can have a plot or government knows that handmade is constantly trying to escape or cause chaos in the system but they just kill the people who help he and she has barely been punished.
@@perishashah7377 Yeah, I remember that! She caused a lot of deaths. Haha. Her body count is just...yikes. But from what I remember, it wasn't a Black couple, it was an interracial couple (BM/WW). Still doesn't matter considering her record. Anyone that comes to contact with her better get ready to die.
fireball3460 ooo I like the term “plot armor.” obviously, she won’t get killed off because she’s the main character. I guess that grants her immunity...I only watched the first half of the first season because it was emotionally tiring. Now I don’t even know if I should finish it.
Yeah them shooting a very fertile handmaid made absolutely no sense, and she was pointing the gun at aunt lydia when they finally shot her and it seems like aunts would be are more disposable than handmaids. I’m over june as well
Blame Brit Plus, she was VERY pregnant. That's one of the greatest sins (killing a baby), so I’ve been told after watching all the seasons.
I Agree 100%
YES!!! If anything THIS was the biggest issue I couldn't overlook. I don't even want to watch this show anymore. They either need to be post-race like they claim and treat the pregnant women all the same, or openly admit it's not post race and a white woman is more valued in the society, even if she hasn't contributed AT ALL to Gilead's birth rate. To cold bloodedly kill a pious woman that has had many healthy children obediently makes no damn sense.
Spoiler Alert!
I believe her baby survived because it started coughing. Apparently it's a boy like her other children. So even in a near death comatose state, this woman is pushing out babies. However, I'm not sure if she survives. The doctor admitted he put the child's life first and the child is his patient, not her.
Yes! June has so much plot armor it's crazy.
I'm not black so I can't really talk about the black-specific issue, but I am Native so here's my two cents about tonedeaf handling of racial narratives:
There's also a lot of parallels with Indigenous history, specifically the concept of "kill the indian, save the child" which was how white people justified abducting children from their homes/encouraging Natives to give up their children, putting them in schools where they learned to obey the dominant culture, demanding that they let go of their own languages and traditions and threatening them with hell if they didn't. Much of this is shown or heavily implied, yet Native Americans don't even seem to exist in this world. Especially gratuitous with Canada, where we are still finding children's bodies (some of those girls were pregnant) at the sites of old residential schools, being shown as the good guy and the place to escape to.
Seraphina Sullivan Great point. I didn’t even know about the bodies found in those schools. Canada has an extremely racist history and current policies when it comes to Native Americans that no one talks about.
Wow I didn’t even think about that perspective. Please do an in-depth video
@@distantnative2478 Yes, because to the black American viewers, the show is ALL ABOUT THEM and HOW DARE the show portray other women as also being victimized? I'm only three minutes into this video, and already I'm disgusted with the IT'S ALL ABOUT MEEEEEE attitude of the uploader.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada has taken steps with the list of 92 recommendations to at least attempt to improve the situation in Canada. For instance, when I was in school (the '70s) we were taught NOTHING about the Sixties Scoop. I didn't learn about that until decades later, when something about it was on the news. This isn't right. Kids in Canadian schools should be learning about this part of our country's history.
@@distantnative2478 This video may be, but the show itself isn't. If you don't like it, buy the rights and make your own version of it.
@@distantnative2478 well partially yes but what she forgot was they took middle east/muslim womans problems because it's very subtle how they don't like the attire and how they're forbidden from certain stuff. The one thing I can't stand is these feminist going on about how bad if they felt what others felt when we've been saying it but when a white woman says it they go😮
I've been saying that June has done everything to go against their rules and nothing has been done to her. They went as far as cutting Serena's finger off for reading or speaking (whichever) and yet here June is walking around with no problems. And every black person she has come into contact with on the show has met some kind of ill fate except for Luke and Moira... I totally agree with you she is very annoying and selfish
june is so careless its so annoying cause if she was someone else she would have been dead
June is annoying and selfish. I think the value of the ability to give life is so important they try not to kill the handmaids though. Like Janine, She was going to kill herself and the baby and she is still alive. June still should be wired or something so the lack of ANY punishment is a little absurd.
@@amberd8630 I think it's just bad writing. Because if handmaid's were so scarce, Emily would've never gone to the colonies. She'd be sent to Washington with a ring in her mouth. And Moira wouldn't have been sent to be a Jezebel.
That’s funny! There was only two other black characters June has crossed paths with. 50/50 doesn’t seem like a bias to me.
It's actually, as I point out in the video 3/5. The two Black characters June doesn't get killed are still rather flatly developed. The issue is simply that she gets Black ppl killed bc June gets everyone in trouble but herself. It's the lack of character development.
I thought I was tripping. Even before they shot her, the image of all of these white women ostracizing and taunting this one black woman bothered me deeeeply. Especially when everything bad that has happened circles back to June and her selfishness.
Lex And the grin on June’s face I was so uncomfortable with that
@@Social_Pugatory exactly! How is she still the good guy here???
Smh i don't think that i can watch this scene
I was so uncomfortable watching that scene. Especially since June (white woman + her heavy plot armor/privilege) was behind the taunting which immediately made my brain go down a scary path whether I wanted it to or not.
Lex girl! When they all surrounded her while June was being physically aggressive, the visual alone made me super uncomfortable... then they spit in her drink and I was very upset 😤🤦🏽♀️
Show is weird as hell. Stop expecting shows written by and for white people to represent you in any meaningful way.
It's sad but true
EXACTLY 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
💯💯💯💯💯💯💯that's why I read "Octavia E. Butler" & "Tanarevue Due" for my, brilliant, historical, fictional, awesome sci-fi adventures, F G.O.T. & Handmaid Tales! Periodt pooh!!! LOL but real talk!
Exactly. They're just rewriting what Black women already faced in America and even worse realities.
1000% correct
I hate every time they introduce a new black woman character they kill them off and every time I have watched the show I think of slavery
Lol.
It's hilarious that black feminists, after all that happened in and after1921, still expect representation from white feminists.
It's less obvious than in the 90s but it's the same isn't it. We were brainwashed into thinking black lives don't matter because they are killed off so easily.
@@missylee3022 Black Lives Matter is not a black organization. Neither is it focused on the preservation of black life. It's a front.... Like most other organizations that use black people and their struggles and hardships to pursue their agenda.
@@lytaavbl4223 Stfu Becky! No one cares what you think.
Jai Shanese Such as? Please explain?? White handmaids also get killed. What do you expect, for black handmaids to get special privileges for no apparent reason? That would be totally unrealistic.
The only addressing of race I saw was in episode 8 when the aunties said the commander and his wife do not want a “handmaiden of color”. Like can we get more recognition and not these sprinkles?!
toosweetfrosting riggggggght
That stuck with me
@@perishashah7377 it stuck with me too. They've never mentioned race before and for that to be the first moment, I was like, well dayum...
Funnily enough I don’t think there were any black people in the book at all. I was surprised there were some in the show. I haven’t watched it at all.
The original movie might have addressed it too
For the point you brought up about the white characters getting some compassion and the black women being murdered. Does that not draw a parallel to today’s society? White women fight against their own oppression by stepping on black women. 2 black women have been killed because of June. I think it’s really symbolic
Which 2 women? The Martha was killed because Natalie was a snitch. June had nothing to do with that.
Not to mention June got Omar killed because she put him in that situation worst of yet he's never fully brought up later
@@hadbetterdays8118 Hm. Omar could have said 'no', right? But he didn't. And finding out what happened to him did affect June psychologically (but I guess you must not have been noticing that part).
Why don't you go write a fanfic or something about Omar? That way you can bring him up in every single paragraph.
There's a theory I've seen floating around on the review sites that eventually June might meet Omar's wife (who was sentenced to becoming a Handmaid). And I'm willing to bet that if that happens and if she dies, there will be more screeching here... but everyone will be overlooking the fact that this particular Econofamily just happened to be secretly Muslim. Muslims get executed in Gilead as well. Race is irrelevant in that respect.
I’ve noticed the racial problems since season 1, but became more evident for me when June and Moira were in the brothel and we have a white woman talking down to a black woman about “giving up.” That took me right out of it, but it really makes me mad because it’s such a good fucking show if you ignore the blatant weird way they ignore race. 🙄🙄 I’m not gonna lie, I’m still gonna watch but I was very disappointed with the recent black handmaids story, like seeing how it ended I just don’t understand the point of her story at all. We saw the “blindly following but still end up dead” storyline last season with the young girl they drowned. Honestly at this point, I’d prefer if they just remove all the black characters in Gillead. If you’re going to ignore the racial aspects then just have everyone be white 🤷🏾♀️
1. Exactly...how they gonna have the slave mistress tell the Black woman that shit?
2. I definitely agree. If the race issue isn't being dealt with accordingly, just take the Black characters out.
I agree completely! If they goin keep giving the black women these weak ass character arcs they might as well stay true to the actual book and exclude us from that world entirely.
Apparently in the book it was about white women who are infertile so they should have just kept it that way.
@@rubyscott6685 How did you come to that conclusion? I read the book too, and race really doesn't even figure into the novel.
Way to completely miss the point of that scene in Jezebel's. Would you rather June have said, "You're right, you're toast, you are never going to get out of here, so why don't you just kill yourself already"?
FFS, that scene was JUNE giving her BEST FRIEND the kick in the backside she needed to try to SAVE HERSELF and help the underground to save other people.
And it worked. Moira saved herself, with zero help from any Martha network, and now she's living with Luke, taking care of Holly, and helping the refugees who make it to Canada. If June hadn't talked to her that way in Gilead, none of the good things Moira accomplished after that would have happened.
They tried to give June a very Harriet Tubman like story line
Yes like changing the underground railroad you're not slick producers
Great points -- and perhaps the route they have chosen to show - really highlighting WWP (White woman Privilege) is what they want to show.... because we see it on a daily in real life... and there are many individuals who believe there is no such thing as White Privilege… so, the show, while it has minimized blackness - people of color - is showing the absurdity of WWP and how it exists even in this type of Dystopian society. Seeing how much power June STILL has -- is telling...not shocking at all... but still telling that even when they are 'abused' they still possess, retain and exercise a modicum of power.
I was thinking the same thing!
I was barely holding on because I have no empathy for June or Serena. The scene showing dude threatening his Black wife for confronting his White mistress/June took me too far. I get to see those ww tears & privilege, in some form, EVERYDAY. I cannot watch a show built upon it. Thank you for proof that I don't need to start the current season. I'm done.
😂😂😂
The show is great.
You're just a racist.
Stop being silly lol that’s like me saying I don’t like seeing women getting raped which I don’t but the whole point of show is to show you what it would have been like and it doe that very well at making us feel sick and uncomfortable and also if you read the book black women was treated way worse so if anything they’ve cut a lot of stuff out and that’s facts I think it’s great they’re showing this kind of stuff? If they was treating all the black women fine everyone would be saying why they treating them fine they wasn’t supposed to like black women as much or whatever? So they can’t win either way it’s a good show.
Chanel Sapp- Young it feels like the writers don’t even like June anymore. They added a lot of the stuff that makes June unlikable and I think they did because they’re sick of her shit too.
That episode hurt to watch. Like the black woman was the punchline once again. I hate that shit.
That's when I stopped watching! I had no sympathy for June after that.
I thought I was the only one annoyed with June - she's not helping a soul. Not even her own daughter.
In regards to race, I felt like I was ripped off because this is supposed to be the aftermaths of an American society but race relations aren't brought up at all. Black, Latinx, Native American etc. none of it is mentioned or dealt with. I would have liked to see how those Evangelicals would have dealt with black/latinx handmaids producing their mixed race children.
I blame the show. I read the book in high school. And the writers take a lot of liberties. Originally people are killed by being stoned. I believe whoever is writing is doing whatever they want and either purposely or accidentally using the trauma black people have faced. But no one will make enough noise for them to acknowledge it.
And June, who we shouldn’t even know her name because she forgot but in the book they’ll hint at what her name may be but I digress, wasn’t as dumb. She mostly wrote of her thoughts of escape. She doesn’t get to until like maybe the end of the book.
But she didn’t even try really. She was too busy enjoying gifts from her Commander and maybe imagining Nick beating up the pussy.
The show is basically a superhero show with June as the hero and the Waterfords/Gilead are the villains. I prefer the treatment in season 1 when there were no black people. I was disgusted to see a black couple as a wife and commander. And the black handmaid is the only handmaid who's apparently freely giving up her children.
The way they bullied her in that last episode was so stupid. And instead of going after June, she attacks the only person that was being nice to her.
Inserting black people in the show randomly to be stupid and be killed was not the way to handle race.
@@125loopy I actually thought maybe her being black made her more fearful of the consequences and caused her to "act righr" that is what made her snap so hard at the end?
@@Belihoney Mmmm I don't think so. There was another black handmaid - maybe more that I saw in the background. They made it seem like all the other handmaids were on June's side so why was OfMatthew the only one acting "right"?
BelizeHunni I totally agree! The problem is they took modern women to live in a constricting conditions. We have June; a white woman who has lived her life in her full white woman privilege. Then we have a black woman who has experienced God knows what just for being black. I don’t believe she REALLY wanted to live by the rules but that was her only means of survival. You can tell by the way she broke down. She was exhausted. Can you imagine code switching all day everyday lol I’d go hysterical too!
@@kekesays1755 and a few episodes ago she broke character and told her she was happy her baby had safely escaped to Canada. but like right after she said that her mask was back on. I hadn't been sure before that but as soon as that happened I realized she was just playing the game, like the rest of them. I wish her story didn't get cut short like that :(((
i immediately liked the lighting if that helps
I like it too but there's not enough contrast
One thing that I realized with OfMatthew’s mistreatment by June and the other hand maids ... I don’t believe that June was upset by the death of the Martha... the Martha was the only way to her daughter Hannah and she lost that when the Martha was hung and the family disappeared with no trace.... I seriously don’t think her anger was because the Martha was killed. June’s selfishness and not thinking about the safety of others because she keeps breaking the rules to see her daughter is costing the lives of others and it costed OfMatthews as well.
Omg! I was just reading about episode 9 when you uploaded this! I was thinking that of course they make one of the only black women on there a brainwashed, sell out who eventually dies by the same people she praised.
Yes but we know that we have those types of people out here.
J Renee wait she dies??! Omgg
@@Sonturist but this is also the only type the non blavks promote character wise they prefer to over show thos type in works of fiction
@@daughterofyah6209 No, she does not die. I would tell you more, but don't want to spoil it for you:)
spoonks1 uhhh yeah she does, why you lying?
I feel the same, I keep waiting for the black characters to be developed further and fleshed out but it does not happen. They kill them off. According to the rules of Gilead the black handmaid should have been subdued without killing her but apparently the rules are the same for her as they are for us with the authorities our lives and that of our offspring are negligible. I don't know if they will address the race issue because aunt Lydia does mention when she is sitting at the "round table of handmaids" that a particular couple does not want a handmaid of color. Maybe this may be the introduction to the race who knows ?
Thank you for this. I have been becoming increasingly aggravated with the whole show, June's careless/selfish character as a whole, Hannah's Martha, and now Ofmatthew's treatment... It's sick. It perpetuates the illustration that black women are expendable.
Lol.
It's hilarious that black feminists, after all that happened in 1921, still expect representing from white feminists.
@@lytaavbl4223 Remember that Elisabeth Moss is a Scientologist and had her knuckles not quite literally wrapped by Margaret Atwood herself when she told the press that The Handmaid's Tale is not a feminist novel.
It damned well is, and who should know better than the woman who wrote it?
BTW, June didn't get Hanna's Martha killed. That's on Natalie. If she'd kept her mouth shut, both those women would still be alive.
I agree with the OP. There’s so many examples of this. You’ve mentioned a lot of them already, including:
1) disrespecting Luke’s first wife, who is a dark skin Black woman (important to point out because of colorism in media) that is portrayed in a negative light/stereotype, i.e. jealous and angry.
2) Hannah’s Martha who is eventually hanged by predominantly WHITE or light skin women.
3) Ofmatthew’s descent into a mental health crisis because of a WHITE woman’s bullying.
In addition to the show only using Moira and Rita as tools, because they’re never really given a good background unlike the white characters.
But something that still sticks with me- where I first noticed the unfortunate racism in the show- was the show’s decision to lynch a dark skin Black Muslim man (the one that took in June even though his wife didn’t want her) because the character helped her... It sticks with me because it made me uncomfortable how the Black character’s death- especially the lingering shots of his lifeless bloody shoeless body- was used to ONLY further a white woman’s character/plot.
And I remember thinking- this feels a little too much like Black trauma porn, and so after Hannah’s Martha was lynched, I also remember concluding that the writers/producers must have a fetish for lynching Black characters.
The writers already do a poor job about explaining race and racism in the show so to have two minor characters that were portrayed by Black actors who are then hanged seems really odd to me. Even if it was a thoughtless writing decision, it is still a bad thing because it shows the lack of diversity with the writers. Black writers would have handled the Black characters’ death scenes better (relative to the show’s world) because what the (predominantly) white writers did in Season 2 was a form of Black trauma porn.
It’s just sad that this show chooses to believe/perpetuate the idea that all the handmaid’s are treated equally as bad, regardless of color... Even though some of the characters, like Emily/Ofglen, are visibly treated worse because of their sexuality... So why they choose to ignore race and racism is confusing to me..?
Don’t get me wrong- given that Gilead is already effed up for enslaving women, it would be great to imagine that the non-white women wouldn’t be treated worse... And although the
show doesn’t actually have explicit racist rules in Gilead, the writers have still found a way to be racist.
The writers’ consistent pattern of killing AND lynching Black people screams anti-Black racism. And that’s not surprising- and can’t be ignored- given that, from the HULU clips I’ve seen, the writers are WHITE women or white adjacent/passing/perceived women, i.e. East Asian women.
My comment is all over the place... But I just wanted to add to the conversation because Season 2 really bothered me- and as a non-Black person I can’t imagine how traumatic and/or invalidating this show has been and can be.
Edited for easier comprehension, i.e. grammar and spacing.
@@smtmrndmdnght Moira's backstory is explained in the novel. The show may or may not have a flashback planned to show this. So if you want Moira's backstory, read the book. JFC, it's beyond annoying how people bitch about this show so much when it really helps to have read the novel as well, because it explains things the show doesn't, or at least hasn't yet.
This is the only reason why I'm not upset (yet) that no aboriginal women have turned up in this series. I know they do in the novel. Eventually.
So you equate East Asian women to white women? I'm sure they'll be thrilled to know that, given all the bigotry going on with them as well.
This is a show about WOMEN, and how theocratic dictatorships run by men treat women. It's not a fucking documentary.
@@Shan_Dalamani Moira isn’t Black in the book. The show is different to the book- it CHOSE to have a diverse cast ONLY so that it can check off the “diversity” box.
In the book, at least Margaret Atwood addressed race/racism in Gilead by having all the people of color shipped elsewhere BECAUSE the Christian fundamentalists were that racist. So I don’t understand why you’re telling people who watch and criticize the show to read the book when the show CLEARLY has different rules?.
And you said “This is the only reason why I’m not upset (yet) about Aboriginal women...” which means that YOU to some degree must understand why BLACK WOMEN are upset about the white feminism in the show and the, essentially, “color blind” racism from the writers. Why are you so bothered by the fact that Black women (and non-Black allies) are pointing this out? Are you saying that you’re not upset when Indigenous/Native “American” women criticize the show? You gotta’ unpack the anti-Blackness in your comment, even if you yourself are Aboriginal (or Native “American”).
On your last point- Asian people can be racist, and they can definitely be anti-Black... Just like Native people can be anti-Black, and just like “Latinx/e” people can be anti-Black. Me pointing this out is not racist towards Asians. You clearly need to read up on white adjacent/functioning privilege that people of all nationalities benefit from in the “USA”. I will not back down on my comment even though you’re clearly trying to delegitimize my comment by equating it with the hate crimes East Asians have been facing. No, I will not let you do that. TWO REALITIES CAN EXIST AT THE SAME. I recommend that you listen to Asian and Black conversations, especially popular during last summer because of George Floyd’s murder, where Asian people discuss the anti-Blackness in their communities (and benefit from it at times).
I, again, invite you to unpack your defense of this show BECAUSE it COULD discuss racism. It chooses NOT to. It instead chooses to have a diverse cast where Black actors play characters that “happen to” have Black skin, who are then eventually murdered and often times hanged. This is thoughtless and racist- ignoring America’s history of lynchings and how TRAUMATIC it is for Black viewers to see Black bodies lynched on screen. It is racist that they actively (because we’re now on Season 4) ignore their responsibility to be culturally sensitive and competent toward their Black viewers. You pushing back against this honestly is anti-Black and you need to unpack that.
I really liked the book when I had to read it during the summer before my senior year of high school. I kind of side-eyed how they kind of talked about what they did with the PoC in one sentence then kind of kept it moving, but the show dropped the ball with neglecting to flesh out multiple black characters. I tried to suspend some disbelief with June being able to survive everything so far and never really having to suffer any consequences for her actions. But now it's become ridiculous. She is so selfish and self-righteous. She doesn't care how many people suffer as a result of her actions. Idk what kind of mental gymnastics she had to do to come to the conclusion that it was Ofmatthew's fault that Hannah's Martha was killed. Like sis, you begged her for info when she made it clear that it was not safe and then your plan totally backfired. She takes no responsibility for anything she does. And the way she could sit there with that smug look on her face after throwing Ofmatthew in the middle of the circle when she admitted to having the same feelings June did regarding not wanting a child to grow up in Gilead? June is trash. I had to go back and rewatch the last scene when Ofmatthee got shot because I wasn't understanding why they would treat her so badly when they see babies as such a commodity ? The escalation within that scene was so jarring.
I'd like to think that June's character is commentary on how dangerous white women can "accidentally" be in a society that privileges them when they're selfish, entitled and engage lazily in political issues despite living in a golden cage and being oppressed by patriarchy - but the truth is that the show is just sloppily dealing with race and has been sloppy from the beginning. One issue to me is that race doesn't inform any of the characters of color - you could drag and drop any person into any of their characters of color because nothing in particular about their character implies being a ethnic person much less a specfic ethnicity. They wrote white roles and cast people of color imo and made no modifications or customizations. And yet it's interesting because the writer's view of race and their implicit bias CLEARLY informs how they write these characters once they're cast because they have no issue disposing of them in a way they don't do with white characters.
Remind us all again about Eden. She could have been handled in some other way than drowning, but she was killed.
How about the Martha who was Emily's lover? Black? Nope.
Oops, there go two examples that contradict this 'woe is us" whining going on here.
So I tried to explain this to someone yesterday and they didn't get it. I exited the conversation because it was never gonna sink in. The conversation was about gay representation. In short he tried to say why does it matter that they are gay? I talked about representation and resignation. He was just....not having it.
I said in That 90's Show all the characters act white. Why make them look different if they are going to all act the same?
Said argumentative guy tried to say well what is authentic blah blah
Great video. But am I the only one chuckling at how Jouelzy keeps calling the handmaids “the handmaids tales”? 🤣🤣 So Black.
S. B. She said what she said! You know what she meant. 😂🤣
I cringed a bit the 2nd time she said it, not gonna lie. lmao! Like I said out loud to the video "Sis, they're just called Handmaids! Still love you tho..."
Social Purgatory exactly. lol
AJ M 🤣🤣 that’s how we do though. We either gon completely change the name or make it plural. I ain’t mad at her lol
I caught that too. She was saying it as if they were actually tails. 🤣
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
By Harriet Ann Jacobs has heavily influenced Atwood I am SURE of it. Read it then read Atwood's book.
BelizeHunni yep!!
Hmmmm. I'm on it
Thanks for the recommendation!
Bingo!!!
Gotta look into this!
OfMathew’s real name in the show is Natalie. Aunt Lydia screamed it either while she was being shot or when she was pointing the gun around the store.. can’t all the way remember! But this was an awesome racial recap of the show!!
I've never watched the show, but I do follow several people who do. So my Instagram feed is usually filled with spoilers. Although the show is constantly being praised and I did watch the movie as a teenager because it randomly was on cable multiple times, I never felt an urge to watch the show mainly because of the spoilers. Every time there was some outrage and reaction of women (usually white women) going "Can you believe this? Can you imagine?" I thought, yeah. Because history... All I could think was, so this is a show where white women are being treated like black women in this country and women of color have been treated by colonizers across the globe.
When "feminists" discuss the policing of female bodies, and past trauma of 19th and 20th-century freedom fighters/white women who were force-fed and lobotomized are often brought up (while glossing over the rampant racism of so many suffragettes). I basically never hear about how the father of modern gynecology experimented on and essentially tortured black women to make his discoveries that save lives today. Or that although black bodies have been used to make progress in healthcare, yet their descendants in large parts do no to have access to the strides made because of those sacrifices. So someone could say, oh well that was a long time ago. Histories have been hidden. Blah, blah, blah. Ok, let's talk late 20th century. In the '80s and early '90s, there were controversies that were barely covered in American media of how women in 3rd world countries, particularly India and parts of Africa were being used to develop IUD's. Again essentially being tortured and often sterilized. The IUD's were brought to the US, and they were distributed in poor neighborhoods. Of course especially in poor black neighborhoods, and I remember listening to grown folks warning each other about not using them. Now I see commercials all over about how great they are, and yes they are a wonderful birth control option. But the suffering to develop them to be safe now only occurred 20-30 something years ago.
So much of the political focus of the show is about Trump, and it is framed as what if. Or this could be. You can tell the writer's room must look a certain way, because from the beginning a lot of the framing should've been not again or they (white women) historically stood by in large part so now that silence has made it their turn. It's biblical so it would've been amazing to see the sins of the father being visited upon (twist) the daughters. But who wants to acknowledge past reality and current privilege and the cost that is paid by those who usually receive almost no benefit.
Agreed I stopped watching at season 2 and will never go back.
Atwood has literally stated time over time since it was published that she wrote the book based on things that have already happened so these coddled yt women saying can you imagine this is hilarious
Great show.
Lol.
It's hilarious that black feminists, after all that happened in and after1921, still expect representation from white feminists.
Given that the novel was published in 1985 and the first season is based on the book, it's ludicrous to claim that Trump had anything to do with it (he wasn't even elected when the first season was filmed).
The first episode I was like “this ain’t nothing but black women who were slaves” lol... it’s to many similarities
Why Black women expect people to be the bigger or better is beyond me. Unless we write our own stories, we will always have our history used and abused while we are erased from it.
"The Handmaid's Tale" seemed compelling and I was going to get into it but I'm glad I saw this review. I won't even waste my time. Thank you.
This is the best comment i have seen so far.
Thank you A) a white women made book.
B) white movie studio and white writers.
It doesn't make sense that you would expect these white people to be detailed in the struggle of people of color. Their going to uplift and make story lines for their people. We are merely just basically extras and stand ends. Just to be seened not to be heard. No character development. Why get triggered black people black women wake tf up stop having these expectations for people who don't look like you or just stop watching and supporting the show. And make our own movies and books. I just watch the show for entertainment purposes and yeah I see a lot of stuff I dont like but I also know that this is a white ladies book.😉
@@jessicacannady1931
❤
@@jessicacannady1931 If more black (specifically American) women were like you, the would in general would be a better place.
@@lytaavbl4223 thank you
Why are you always reading my mind!! The episode where the walking partner is shot in the grocery store did NOT sit well with me at all. I had to pause it and run it all the way back because I was trying to see what the trigger was leading to her snapping and I felt like the show didn’t do her justice at all as far as tapping into what caused her to snap. And like you said, for her to be with child and killed like it was nothing was very telling.
Also, I tweeted last week about how June is just so annoying to me now. She has no consideration for other people and her motives are without care or thought it seems. The epitome of selfish. I can’t. It makes me upset watching it.
She's been selfish since season 1. But I try to ignore her aggy ass. It is a fascinating story
I think it might part of June's character development though, if you've seen the episode 'Heroic' Janine confronts June on her selfish and meaness towards Ofmatthew
Yeah this is weird for me too. Bc Emily/ofglen did not get shot for driving and running over a guard.I was like what?
June has 'I'm the main protagonist' armor and the writers are too scared to put her in a situation where she would have to face the repercussions of her actions instead they opt to go with the narrative
"Despite her clear involvement in rebellion and rebellious actions... she survived another event here inside Gilliad"
The way June talks back to most of the authority really undermines the state and the reality of her circumstances and highlights Junes arrogance and cockyness to me. June as a character almost knows that she wont get hurt or at least life threateningly hurt.
Edit: Friday 7/19
I kind of sat and wonder after watching this video. It poses a narrative question for me.
Does June have to be the saviour for her child? That's how i feel the story is set up currently.
However,
Could she trust that her legacy in Gilead will inspire her biological daughters to find a way out of Gillead in the future. Hope that her daughter will not resent her as a mother for making a choice to fight outside the walls of her old country.
Or, is handmaids tale a story of her undoing?
I thought I was the only one that got tired of them ignoring race... SO MUCH! I'm over it at this point. I'm trying but.... 🎶It ain't workin....IT AIN'T WORKIN🎶🎶🗣🗣🗣
This is the review I’ve needed! As much as I like the show something hasn’t say right with me about the handling of visible POC especially Black women. This season was just sooo blatant like how do we finally get a Black Handmaid in the group and she’s down with Gilead, gets another Black Woman killed, and is then allowed to die slowly after a shot to the shoulder. It’s semi hurtful to be a fan of something and then be so disrespected by it. And they elude to racism with Aunt Lydia saying one house won’t take a Handmaid of color but that’s it.
Daleesa Alfred I also noticed how all the black male characters on the show, there have only been two, are romantically linked to white women.
offmathaew treatment really bothered me as well, especially the scene when the other handmaids whom were all white were singling her out. But I wonder if all the cruelness targeted at the black characters is the shows way of addressing the race criticism, though poorly executed. Because all those things you said were valid essentially the white characters facing less repercussions for the same kind of crimes as their black peers, which is actually very realistic and it's so overt that it can't be ignored. I do think in a society like that there would definitely be some token blacks, for example: the Herman canes, cadence owens, but as soon as they step out of line or make a mistake they would not be afforded the opportunity for even a modicum of sympathy. I just wish the show would actually let it be known through dialogue or June being called out by a black martha or something. Cause let's face it June is certainly the perfect embodiment of white feminism at this point stepping all over people to get to her agenda then completely ignoring the very real consequences those people have been left with because of her selfish actions. Addressing these issues head on, instead of these murky ways, if my interpretation is correct, would be a vast improvement of the show overall, along with flushing out it's black characters stories better especially Serena's martha the one who shes smacked around more than a few times, she made that glove for Serena to cover up that missing finger and helped June smuggle the baby out.
It's hilarious how nobody seems to understand that June and her friends would have targeted ANYBODY who snitched on her, no matter if they were black, white, purple, or plaid.
@@Shan_Dalamani girl let’s not with the purple, blue people thing. It’s dated and obtuse.
I think THMT has a race problem but they bully ofmatthew coz she’s a grass not coz she’s black
Yes and I was repulsed as to how they did her when they were operating on her like this shows the myth that black people can't feel pain and that our pain is not genuine. Like what the heck producers working on a near dying person
Yes I think the racism is implied as well. She missed the part where ms. Lydia specifically says a commander doesn’t want a handmaiden of color.
I agree completely! It totally went past me how June was coddled during pregnancy despite all of her crimes. Protecting the baby is top priority, spairing the women who can bring life is such a top concern until the Handmaid who acts out of hand is a Black woman. The Black characters throughout this series are merely thrown away as pawns. As for June's plot armor here's a copypaste of my Tweet on that;
●Man, #HandmaidsTale gives June too much plot armor. How can she constantly get caught and barely have any punishment compared to the other girls :/ Pinkies & clits get cut off, hands scorched and eyes removed but oh let's just whip June and make her scrub floors.
I just want to say that the BOOK which was written in '85 pays more attention to race than the film. In the book, it is hinted at that all women of color are sent off to the colonies and only white women are deemed worthy of being handmaids. I think the show's ignoring that element, making the show "colorblind" cheapens things, and it's also inaccurate as far as how i think things would play out if gilead were to come to pass.
My thoughts exactly
Did you read the book? People of color were banned from the country altogether, not sent to the colonies
@@liorasitelman1856 except for the Martha's who are just surviving
Maybe the way race is being handled in the storyline is on point bc it is mirroring what is going on now...whether that's intentional or not. Although, I watched the 1st 2 seasons, I cut June off after she stated to her now husband, "I want you to leave your wife."
Heather Johnson hmmm makes sense. Because most white people do not acknowledge racism they act as if doesn’t exist but it’s embedded into America’s society
I got that vibe too. Like maybe Of Matthew were how white people actually want or expect black people to be and how careless they handle us (shooting her while pregnant) but I didn't know if I were tripping.
I agree, think it’s intentional as well. In the 3rd season you also see Aunt Lydia skip over a black handmaid because the couple didn’t want a mixed (black) child. Definitely reminds me of how race is treated in real life.
@@JBundia it's like we don't exist, right?
You'll notice that Luke immediately said "Okay." He agreed, and she wasn't holding a gun to his head. So why aren't you complaining about Luke's behavior? He's actually the one who committed adultery. June wasn't married at that time.
Black women are just props, just here to advance the development (I use that term loosely) of June and highlight her "heroic" and rebellious spirit. There should be more on the Marthas and the Black handmaids now, BW can't overwhelmingly represent the underclass and the racial dynamic can't be ignored anymore especially with how OfMatthew was treated.
masseiy not really Samantha Wiley character is so interesting and she won an Emmy for it
But... Moira is heroic and rebellious. More so I’d say than June. And it even refers to that in the story. So I’m confused with where you’re coming from.
You don't seem to understand that WOMEN are the underclass in Gilead. Regardless of their skin color or ethnicity. This show is not a fucking documentary on race relations.
I’m a white girl. I always thought there was something off about the way POC were portrayed. Like they put some folks purposely in the fold, where everyone is not racist. When society is brutalized, not everyone is equal. Everyone might get brutalized, but obvious stuff like color doesn’t disappear. How POC were brought in to consult on the show? How many are on staff?
They did represent the LBGTQ community ok. I think they tried to represent POC, but didn’t really develop them enough.
Jouelzy, girl, smh...I am so through with June. I have been watching this show and was enjoying it mostly until these last few episodes. June has really been feeling herself ever since she became Ofjoseph because she doesn’t have to participate in the ceremony, she can go and come as she pleases in a sense and because of the “influence” she has with the Waterfords (Nichole and the events surrounding her). She should have BEEN dead. OfMatthew, as with many of the handmaids, is in survival mode. Her method of survival was conformity. It is hard being a handmaid, I’m sure it is twice as difficult being a black handmaids but the show won’t explore that.
June is never given a choice over which Commander she's assigned to. It would have been Joseph himself who would have said he would take her, and his decision not to go through the Ceremony with any of his Handmaids.
June was originally OfFred, now OfJoseph. Also OfMatthew was Natalie. I think Aunt Lydia's back story was very telling. They could've done more with Samira Wiley's character though
The Lydia’s background story was great, well I thought so, until we got to why she turned obsessive about the kids and all that. Like girl, a man didn’t fuck wit you on the first date so you tie your hair and start acting like a psycho ? Doesn’t make sense to me 🤷🏼♀️
Aunt Lydia's backstory in the TV show is nothing like her backstory in the Testaments sequel. The showrunners are going to have to tapdance to make those match up.
@@fallenXangel96 As usual, nobody here seems to get it. Lydia wasn't so much upset that her advances backfired, as that she was suddenly appalled at what she considered her own slutty, shamefully inappropriate behavior. She felt she had done something dirty, and that her new quest was to help "clean society up" (this is a concept expressed in the 1990 movie in a conversation between the Commander and Offred). She started with the young mother she had befriended, by betraying her and making sure she lost custody of her child.
June is very selfish!
We spoke about this series in my Feminist Theory class and in the academic sense, it seems to be influenced by the 1st and 2nd wave of feminism which mostly celebrated white women feminism. It's sadly a white woman's story. And unfortunately, being that the June character is played by the exec producer, June won't be dying anytime soon
Nombulelo B Mini-Matsio Yea that Scientology lady ain’t going nowhere no time soon.
@@Social_Pugatory pardon me but who is the scientology lady
Nombulelo B Mini-Matsio the woman who plays June.. I forgot her name but she’s a Scientologist.
@@sabiedma5949 Elizabeth Moss. She is a Scientologist 😲😲😲. I did not know this at all
@@nomms9653 Research helps before shooting one's mouth off. Elisabeth Moss is in a cult that is anti-feminism, to the point that she incorrectly told the press that The Handmaid's Tale is not a feminist novel/show. Margaret Atwood corrected her on that.
I agree.....i really thought they were gonna develope Of Matthew's character to incorporate the black experience of regular America into the Gilead experience....i thought it would hint at black people's inability or hesitation to be in cohorts with white folks because of their self centered perspective.... but like you said it was a let down they showed her as merely a prudent snitch, when I thought they were gonna at least give a head nod to the black experience or perspective of going along to get along that some of us take on in real life.....but white people gone white people .
She wasn't killed because she's black. She was killed because she pointed a gun at people in authority and endangered a roomful of other Handmaids. Yes, they should have disabled her rather than kill her, but at that point they couldn't be sure she wouldn't shoot.
@@Shan_Dalamani that has nothing to do with what I said
@@marvaliciousLewinski You made it about race. It isn't. If you don't understand that, then you've missed the entire point of the whole series.
Not every show has to incorporate racism into its storyline
@@noone-wy8wz yes it does
These were my thoughts exactly! Even at the end when June said she was going to be the one to free as much children as she could for Gilead, as if to take on this “Harriet Tubman” role of being able to maneuver back and forth from Gilead to Canada because of her privilege. I was offended and disgusted at the same damn time!
It actually made me think more of that nurse who smuggled kids away from the Nazis in world war two, you know? The one who was caught, torture and her legs were so severely damaged that she was never able to walk again. Anyway, I'm so sick of June!
So you would prefer that no children were saved. Got it.
Why don't all you whining people raise some money and outbid the current copyright holders for the rights to this property and make your own fucking TV series out of it? Then you can have all black characters, all the time, because it's all about you. Even though Margaret Atwood has stated where she took most of her inspiration from, and it was NOT black American slavery.
I feel like I did a good job at removing my personal feelings from the way this show has gone out of their way to ignore the blatant racial undertones in this story. Yall wanna convince me this is in "post racial", evangelical, Americanized sharia law society - ok, but be consistent. Aunt Lydia clearly confirmed Gilead does in fact "see color" in s3e5. It was a quick scene & a passing comment but whatever handmaid couldn't be placed with whatever house because they "didn't want a handmaid of color". Not to be outdone by s3e7 where Ofmatthew (a black handmaid with no backstory, no character development-literally a prop) was shot & her dead, bloodied body dragged across a supermarket store. Shot dead when the whole point is to protect pregnant women at any & all cost? I am confusion.
SassShea all of this. If you gonna leave it out leave it OUT. This halfway bs is triggering and nowhere near post racial.
The show killed two black women back to back so that June could get it together and lose her attitude 🙄
I’m so glad you’re talking about this, cause this lady episode specifically was very careless, and upset me.
Yes it was very upsetting and disturbing.
Lighting looks good babe
Yeah, that show is a no from me, dawg. LOL. I loved hearing your thoughts on it though! 😬
💯👏💯👏💯👏💯so GLAD I never got bit by the bug! BUT Ms. Joulzey can breakdown/analyze a cereal box AND make it interesting, kudos to her!!!
In scrolling through these comments I accidentally tapped on your pic and opened your TH-cam page 😂. I guess it was meant to be so I hit the subscribe button 😊
Christen Addison aww!! Thank you haha 😬
Although you haven't officially started a book club, every book you mention I purchase and read. Thank for continually intricately weave pop culture, social dynamics and referencing books to the topics. Hoping you get into your Ph.D. program
Every Wednesday I wonder where the black characters are and I was so mad when Ofmatthew was the only black reoccurring Handmaid with the lines was basically a “pick me”
I hate the “pick me”. Kelly Rowland is a “pick me” after complaining about Colorism she defends Chris Brown after his hair texture Caremark!!
I think this is our (black womens) story. All I see in those hanging bodies are black lynchings... and it's interesting that they cover the faces so you mostly can't tell if the bodies are black or white. The show makes white women both the victim and perpetrator of oppression with Christianity as catalyst. Plus, it's their own husbands and fathers that persecute them. Nick's father-in-law turns his own teenage daughter in for execution, which surprises June.
It's good that white viewers see themselves suffering some of what black women suffered...and also perpetrating that suffering on each other. And you know the shooting of pregnant black handmaid is police brutality.
The Martha's who arranged for June/Nicole's escape were minority women. ...and Moira liberated herself. The Martha who cared for Hanna is black. Black women are heroic in the show.
Part of the story is how June is driven by her desires. She wanted Luke and she took him. She wanted Nick and she took him...and was kind of cruel to Nick's teenage wife. She was determined to get to Hanna and left a trail of victims in each case. Yeah, she is kind of selfish.
In the books no black woman is even a handmaid lol so if they copied the book, more people would be pissed that they aren't represented. I like the show but it's moving toooo slowly.
The book has a similar relationship to race (obvi). Reading it I was struck with a) how depressing it is and b) how exploitative I’d black history. Every non black woman who I’ve talked to about it hasn’t sensed the thing I did about it, how there was a visceral lack of blackness, and yet, it is s story that takes so much from our history. I kept thinking to myself, that white woman’s struggle, while valid, is 100% NOT comparable to black woman’s struggle and it’s irresponsible to think that that comparison can be made. I think the world that Atwood builds is very intreaging and frighteningly plausible, but I do wish that privilege had been taken more into consideration. Why follow June, a white woman, and treat her as the face of ALL contemporary woman, you know? Why can’t the mistreatment if black people in the show be and intentional examination of our experience in real life, and why can’t the black characters be given as much time as the white ones? Anyway.
The book shows what can happen if a right-wing theocracy comes into power, and is intent on exterminating what doesn't fit into their worldview and oppressing the classes of people required to serve the elite.
I recently jump into this serie (let’s say binge it lol) and I am really happy to saw this review on that cause I saw some of those things you were saying... The racial politics of this show have never been this...BAD😳.
Thanks you !
By the way you look gorgeous 😁 (sorry for my English, I’m a French speaker essentially)
Your English is great!
They basically put black characters in to get more black folks to watch it. I actually wish all the casting remained true to the book. I don’t like contrived black characters.
June’s White mediocrity really pissed me off in season 1-2.In order for her to even come across as this smart, conniving, seductress who convinces men to do as she wants was unbelievable to me when women more attractive and less rebellious was getting disfigured on left and right. I really feel like this was some weird way to fetishize the Black Slave Trade and pissed me off. Idk if this makes sense but I was throughly done with Handmaids Tale when they didn’t kill her after running away for the umpteenth time as if she was so special when she really wasn’t.
Kay Jay Yea I never bought June as some seductress either. Elizabeth Moss is an amazing actress but not the best looking woman. But sometimes seduction is not just about looks. Then there’s the fact she’s a white woman. Simply being a white woman makes her desirable in a Eurocentric society. Including to black and brown men.
Kay Jay Also notice that the only two black male characters on the show both had white wives.
I too ponder how June isn’t yet dead( or severely punished) for what she has done. I understand she’s fertile but so was the little girl who ran off with that guardian and Gilead decided to get rid of her. And it made NO sense to shoot a pregnant handmaid but there is a lot of uneven story on the show. June is mouthing off, escaping, slashing wives but......it’s just June being June, I guess.
I was actually surprised during the scene where the Aunts were talking about placing handmaids, Lydia rejected a handmaid for a couple because “they didn’t want a handmaid of color”. That was the first time I recall them openly allowing an obvious point to racism to be mentioned.
Thank you for this. I’m British & have felt so uncomfortable with the way that race has been handled. It seemed to me that the production staff felt that having a mixed race cast was enough of a thing to do, rather than the beginning of what they needed to do.
I don’t know American history as throughly as I would like to so thank you for filling some gaps for me. I found your video very powerful.
Yup, they patted themselves on the back for mixing the race of the cast then were done. Only they aren't doing the work to deal what race means within the world. The world is still mostly white. You can't play this colorblind angle with a few black faces.
Stopped watching when I saw Luke cheated on his beautiful Black wife with June who honestly pails in comparison to her. It just made me lose all compassion for June as a character and I started hating her tbh. That narrative is sometime I refuse to support 🤷🏾♀️
SimplyAkilah96 SAME. PERIODT.
Honestly though people do cheat with black women on white women too this is just stupid really? The show is supposed to make us feel sick and uncomfortable and it does that well it has from start I agree though June is turning into a bitch I can’t work out if she just don’t give a fuck and she wants her kid that’s it or she’s literally evil? Lol anyways it’s supposed to make us mad etc tho I’m not saying black women haven’t been treated worse than white ones in show they’re showing us what it would have been like and if you read book(I’ve only read parts) it was WAY worse in books for black women than in show they were just killed and not even deemed worthy of a child. So I do think they tried to tone it down compared to book but they are producing a show off a book which was racist as shit must be hard though in a way I do wish they showed some harsh points of book toward black women to show the sad reality of it that’s what makes a show more truthful disgusting though we still have to watch to know what happens.
In the book people are actually separated by race. So there would be no black & brown people. Moyra, June’s best friend was also white in the book. And it was written with June like this on purpose. During the coup and everything that happened she was too self cantered to really realise what was going on and leave the country in time.
Being Native American how do you think I feel ? Never anything in movies . Native Americans were treated just as bad as your ancestors . My ancestors were stolen from their homes , put into residential schools . Beaten to death , starved to death and even now the woman of Native American are the most killed . I try not to live in the past as what happened in the past and try to move forward . I’m glad none of these things have happened to me .
So pretty much native Americans are treated like crap all the time .
How does this relate to the video? Are you trying to tell her to ‘forget the past’? Be more direct.
Im sorry but what does that have to do with black people?
I just binge watched season 3 and I love this video. I am here for everything you are saying....so good!! It’s a lot but I think I get exactly what you are saying.....June the white superhero.
Just a side note
Its worth to keep in mind that Margret Atwood didn’t imagine Gilead and the Handmaids Tale from thin air. She made clear (several times) that the story is constructed from real events that happened to marginalised groups and especially women
Why is heavy black representation so needed in a white story? Nothing to get offended about. We should manage our expectations and focus on making our own stories.
THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID. This is such a stupid response. I made no comment about lack of representation.
Jouelzy stupid? Ouch 😣
Jouelzy your lack of emotional intelligence to a viewer making their comment is just as stupid and frankly is unnecessary and disgusting. Get off your high horse; you aren’t as smart as you think you are!
I stopped watching after she tried to escape in the newspaper place and got caught, I just couldn’t root for her anymore. I feel like it tried to insert black people randomly and without the care they reserve for WW. Just annoying and frustrating, shows shouldn’t bring in black characters if they’re not going to do them justice.
I stopped after 1st season. Because they should have burned down the whole town, escaped after 2nd episode after being raped. The rape I could not continue to watch it.
I don't even watch this show but you always drop gems so I tuned in. I'm learning so much from you.
I mostly liked seasons one and two but season three just reinforced the problematic pattern of characters of color either getting sidelined (Luke, Moira, Rita) or introduced as props to be killed a few episodes later (Omar, Francis, Ofmatthew). For a show that's trying to make a statement about oppression it's failing in more ways than one.
This season finally did it for me. I'm done watching the show. Gonna find something better to watch. Black women, don't expect a White show (which is similar but a less cruel reality to what Black women actually had to face in America) to do anything for you. Just stop supporting. Simple. I'm out.✌
Haven’t even finished listening but thank you because I know where you are headed and I have had problems with the show as well. Let’s see if you catch them as well.
I was also disappointed that the explosion in season 2 was not explored further.
I really enjoyed the critique of Handmaid's Tale. I really find in fantasy/sci fi storytelling black characters are given a rather flat character/story arc if at all. There is also tends to be slavery reference without the acknowledgement (check GOT)
GOT is the same way.
For Black well written Sci-Fi, check out "Octavia E Butler" or $Tanarevue Butler." I'm so over hearing wwypo try to write & describe our narrative w/care & compassion, like they do for themselves... sorry lol, long rant over! 😉
I never saw Game of Thrones and I never will because I heard that it has alot of tape scene it in and I try to avoid that stuff because it will trigger me on certain shit I experienced when I was a kid... The sad part about it was that my friend really wants me to watch it but I keep telling him that I can't support shit like that...
I already know the story because it's already been written in history. This just has white faces. It sounds like they made June unrealistically OP.
I think the show reflects similar issues that appeared during the women’s suffrage movement. That movement also used black women for numbers and organization but had no intention of giving us rights to vote. Stanton was adamant that voting rights were for white women only even though the movement needed black women to be successful.
Thank you, you've hit the nail on the head with this break down. I'm done with June too. The writers are protecting her character the same way the Power writers protected Angie. Yawn I'm bored of it. Btw re: OfMessy (Ofmatthew) her real name in the show is Natalie.
I’m late to this video, but watching this has been such a breath of fresh air! I was apart of the Reddit THT Community page and once in a while people would try to comment on these insensitivities and inconsistencies. The oblivious white women would deflect constantly and make multiple people who spoke out, appear anti-feminist and crazy. It was so disrespectful and ignorant for the reaction to be this way. Props to you for speaking the truth. I loved Season 1 and 2 of the show and while I tried to put aside my distaste for they handled race, I could look past it as soon of they introduced of Matthew. Was spoiled that she was killed soon after. I don’t regret no longer watching.
I had to take a break because it is just getting harder and harder to watch June's storyline. I found myself not even caring about her trying to rescue her daughter and actually saying out loud "ugh, just leave the girl alone!". I knew it was time.
I thought I was the ONLY person to notice this. One scene from last season or maybe a season ago was mimicking of the show Underground, when Jurnee Smollett gave birth on her own as they were being attacked. But I thought even a little further than that, it was mimicking of slave women giving birth. I wondered did anyone catch that. And the strength June had while doing so seemed familiar.
I've been thinking all of this while I watched the show. Thanks soo much for this video. Please don't stop making TH-cam content. I will miss your cometary so much. And while a podcast is nice I would miss seeing your beautiful face and animated expression.
I stopped in season 2 once she got that couple killed. I just can’t deal with her foolishness and the idea that she moves in this world with very little consequence and others pay for her bad decisions. The flash backs to how her and her husbands relationship started didn’t help me like her much either.
The Toni Morrison reference.
I would say the reason why you’re seeing all these flaws is because the actual book, the handmaid’s tale, only covers season one. The rest had been created by writers and was not part of the actual story.
Yes like the worst punishment she’s ever had to endure was getting her feet burned...like wtf people of colour be getting their tongues cut out, hanged, and shot just for aiding her or minor offences compared to hers. When OfMathew was pregnant she was shot and dragged and cut open but when June was pregnant as a punishment for her actions LITERALLY EVERYBODY ELSE GOT THEIR HANDS BURNT UP ON STOVES WHILE SHE SAT ON A CHAIR AND WATCHED!!!! She’s come into contact with numerous people leaving them worse off than when she met them. All these women are going through hell just as June is yet they all have to risk their lives and the lives of their children (cause mind you they got children they live for too) to aid June in her lone quest for escape as if she’s the only one going through this shit as if her predicament is the worse than any of theirs. 😤
Okay I'm back. I stopped watch Handmaid's after the first season even though I enjoyed the show.
I was always uncomfortable that I was essentially supposed to empathize with a white woman that interfered with a black couple's marriage. I'm just never going to buy into the image of a black man begging so overwhelmingly smitten with a white girl that he'd disrespect and then provide the stability and love to a ww after not doing so for a bw. The propaganda of it all.
I remember the scene where she sees her daughter and thinking "literally black women have had their children ripped from their hands for centuries, like...this is our story. But it only becomes problematic when WW are in danger of it??? Why aren't BW centered at all?
Then some knowledgeable person online sited an article that mentioned how the author is a bigot (to this day) and the writer acknowledged that American chattel slavery was the inspiration for the story but intentionally removed black people (as you mentioned) because she couldn't be bothered to actually talk about black people and their experiences.
Literally everyone around June is Black as a way for the TV to compensate for the book. But when has centering white people in black experiences ever actually been to benefit black people???
So, Joulzey you're right on the money as I expected!
The fact that they didn't address these issues speaks volumes for me. Thanks for opening us up to the discussion. Whether or not they intended to not put race as an issue in Gilead bothers me more than if they did. It gives me the chills when people of color are written out of the future in some peoples eyes...
Yea before I even got too deep into this review I had to comment... I had all these feelings about these turn of events involving the black hand maiden
This is another example of what happens when there isn't a diverse room of writers. Surely someone black would have said killing black people off the show is tired and done to death. They also would have educated them on white saviorhood and the effects it has on a show or representation, for that matter.
I’m soooo done with June. The fact that she causes the death of 3 black characters in a row made me done with the show🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
Let's face it, June is now a white Harriet Tubman.
Look up the Handmaid's tale writers. Mystery solved.
Neghie Thervil I would rather white feminists either hire a black writer to work with them or just exclude us from their shows altogether. They try to add black characters for the sake of being inclusive. But you cannot deal with sexism while excluding race. It’s unrealistic.
E M., I agree with you completely and it would make the story so much more compelling and believable and significant if black women were incorporated in the message of women being slaves in a society run by men. The writers really showed how dumb they are and women on here being much smarter than them. If all of this had happened to somebody in the past as they claim then excluding black women made this historical inaccurate. But the show missed its mark a long time ago, it was more promising in the beginning now i don’t know what it has become.
I'm only on season 2 episode 3 and I stopped routing for June in season 1 when she opened a package that she was asked to not open. When she found the letters from captured the women she went ahead spread them all over her room, I was so nervous about those letters being found ! From there on, it was downhill from there with her selfish decision. She is the most selfish and self centered person ever!
You hit the nail on the head with this review. Everything you said is exactly how I’ve felt watching it. The way they handle black bodies is so careless. The biggest issue for me is that this relates to even Hannah. All this attention is on Nichole and trying to get her back but June does shit that compromises her ability to see or get Hannah. At this point I feel like she don’t even care about the little girl because June is focused on all sorts of BS. there’s been so many episodes where Hannah isn’t even mentioned even though were supposed to believe that she’s June’s main priority of this season. The show has so much potential and they’re just wasting it
I stopped watching the show after she walked back into danger after getting the opportunity to escape. I was so livid she would do that after so many people risked their lives to save her and her baby. I was incensed and just couldn't make sense of it so I made the very emotional decision of just avoiding the rest of the show.
Gurl you done fucked up my mindless, thoughtless tv and made me think. Why did you wake me up?! Lol. Great vid. Keep em coming Sis
Hey, thanks for the video! I had not thought about the show from the perspective of a person of colour.. Your video was really interesting :)
So many great points touched on, finally someone said what I've been thinking, thank you so much. I do wonder what it'd be like ot June was a person of color, nothing against E. Moss but if you cast a white woman then address the dynamic. I think we're not supposed to side with June fully. Twice she's been close to leaving and has gone back, like she's a cog in the machine now. We see her go too far and hope she gets back on track. Ofmatthew's name is Natalie and she was super mistreated as opposed to June in her pregnancy. June got away with so much: Serena, a wife, lost a finger for touching a book; Emily was genitally mutilated; Janine lost an eye! She's somehow magic and special?
I did not understand this at all at first but I also think that, being white, I do not have jurisdiction over what does and doesn’t offend poc so I continued to watch and I’m very glad I did bc this broke it down so well. So incredibly articulate and knowledgable and really helped me understand. Thankyou.
Haven't seen the show, but from your review and the comments it seems as if the show's writers have been putting a post Trump layer over the original story. If it gives one a headache, such is the United States we are living in today.
EXACTLY!!!!!💯💯💯💯
As a Canadian you generally have to read this book at some point in high-school or university. I read it on my own as a teen a long time again and I remember it being one of the most scary and realistic portrayals of a dystopia coming to be. Race was not dealt with more than "they were shipped off" but also that seemed realistic at the time because I could not imagine a post race U.S. where these evangelicals wouldn't just do that and create a white supremest state in this dystopia. The original story was not designed to include or deal with race from the outset. I am not sure it could fully translate into modern day where we want full representation on the screen without it arriving at these problematic issues.
If they can so robustly get every other aspect of evangelical christianity down within the themes of the show, then they get it it's racism and anti-Blackness down too. Full representation would also be that there are no indigenous, differently abled, gender fluid or Asian persons featured on the show. It's not simply about me seeing myself represented. It's about a theme the show sets its premise on and then erases a large narrative of that theme.
@@jouelzy I think you raise a lot of really good points. I myself would have been more interested in a show that followed a black woman who was exiled. The aspect of race as incorporated into the show, I thought right from the beginning this going to be a problem, whether it's the material or white show runners fault, these can be debated but the issues folks are having do not surprise me. I don't watch the show. As a black woman I knew from the off this is going to be a very white-centric show and I just don't have more room on my schedule for that. I do, however, pay attention to the general zeitgeist around it. I am speaking more to the book and ability to translate to screen in 2019. Once again I do think you raise a lot of good points as well and as an avid watcher you can speak more to missed opportunities as presented now.
To be honest- the whole season so far has not had me engaged nor excited. I think this season so far is a general miss and I hope the last episodes redeem or maybe next season.