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Oh man, something that jumped out at me as too clever by half in episode... 3 I think? In a flashback scene, taking place after women are robbed of agency and property rights by the new regime, people are massed in protest. There is a very salient, contemporary feel to people marching in the streets while riot cops equipped like occupation soldiers menace them. However in the show, a pair of the riot cops/soldiers armed with squad automatic weapons start tearing into the crowd with their weapons, meeting peaceful protest with overwhelming, terrifying violence. There's what I think was a clever trick here. Before they do, one of the protesters throws a punch or two at one of the machine gun cops. Casting out the wild haymaker, he must clearly be used to the old paradigm and expecting to be met with a truncheon, tear gas, whatever less than lethal means would have been on use of force continuum before Gilead replaced the US of A. What these punches do to the audience, at least to me, is awaken that deeply conditioned authoritarian follower response, a itch in the brain that says "If only he hadn't thrown punches." "What did he think would happen, that cop had a machine gun!" "He MADE them do that, things might not have escalated if he'd just stayed within the lines." And to me that adds to the effectiveness of the scene. OBVIOUSLY it's a hysterically monstrous over-reaction to meet a fist with hundreds of rounds from an M249 fired indiscriminately into a crowd. But-- but-- adding that flourish gives the viewer that little Good German tickle of "He was no saint" "he had it coming" "I'm not saying they were right but..." Owlbear Camus fucked around with this message at 01:32 on May 4, 2017 |
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May 4, 2017 01:28
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Tiggum posted:Fucker cheated at Scrabble. If you challenge a word and it turns out to be in the dictionary, you lose your turn. I look forward to a rigid patriarchy where women are things so I can blatantly cheat against them at tabletop games without repercussion.
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May 4, 2017 17:20
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Groovelord Neato posted:nah it's an important book and i would assume anyone interested in the show would have read it. I once no-poo poo got shrieked at for spoiling the then-upcoming Beowulf movie for someone by mentioning something from the thousand-year-old epic poem. I am kinda with you on "spoiler" hand-wringing, but people are very passionate about it so it's probably a bad hill to die on. Owlbear Camus fucked around with this message at 11:15 on May 7, 2017 |
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May 7, 2017 10:07
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McSpanky posted:It's really just a matter of time before there's an amazing "Why Everyone Is Wrong About Handmaid's Tale" thinkpiece. Yeah. It's pretty clever how they're running a cross-promotion by having the prequel series up at the same time on C-Span.
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May 11, 2017 03:37
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Yeah. The blown out antiseptic whiteness of the FGM clinic was probably a stylistic choice to communicate a subjective experience. I definitely don't get a vibe that it's telling a story about novel technology whatsoever.
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May 11, 2017 21:46
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Pocket Billiards posted:freudian slip to Offred I think I missed this.
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May 15, 2017 04:22
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I liked that they subverted our expectation that an outdoorsman hunter rural shitkicker would be on the side of Gilead and rat them out. "It's hosed up."
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May 26, 2017 17:23
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Show Gilead probably plays up how wonderfully post-racial it is to ah... whitewash the rest of the terrible poo poo. Kind of like how they crowed in the last episode about how they drastically reduced their carbon footprint (not mentioning it was in part through drastic depopulation, relocation, and liquidation).
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May 27, 2017 17:24
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Tiggum posted:Yeah, and that makes no sense, because Gilead's methods are not efficient at all. I mean if they were rational actors privileging fertility uber alles there's probably tens of millions of frozen embryos in clinics around the lower 48.
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May 28, 2017 15:43
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There were some asian dudes in suits in the subway during the flashback to June's failed escape.
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May 28, 2017 23:20
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Yeah black guards, but have we seen a bpacl "commander?"
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May 29, 2017 04:23
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I never thought they'd make her exploitation "worse" than the "ritual" but whelp. Taking her there was what, a veiled threat? A misapprehension that as a "fallen woman" before Gilead she'd be more comfortable around her own? Gross. The "who are they" exchange. First he thinks she's asking about the Important Men, then when she clarifies the question he seems positively thrilled with how they brought successful women low, like the wormiest r/redpill poster living out his fantasy. Man this show.
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Jun 1, 2017 15:12
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I guess it would depend on how sincerely they followed the Dick Dorkens Internet Atheism that tends to go with that kind of thing. I am sufficiently cynical about the depths of their convictions to believe they'd be willing enough converts to pay lip service to the Sons of Jacob if they thought it got them any status or authority to do bad things to people they felt deserve it.
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Jun 1, 2017 18:01
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business hammocks posted:Dick Dorkins calls himself a "cultural Christian" now. Ha, I did not know that, but if the Reddit Atheist Pope will go along to get along that sorta proves my thesis.
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Jun 1, 2017 18:06
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that cannot be real
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Jun 1, 2017 19:29
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A thought that's been occupying me as I think of the show: Obviously Gilead is going at it very wrong, but how would you deal with a global infertility pandemic as a government the "right" way, starting with the basic assumptions: (1) Continuity of the species at at least as close to replacement birth rate as you can manage is desirable; and indeed a paramount goal to avoid extinction or regression as a species and (2) Individual liberty, agency, and respect for affirmative consent have an incredibly high moral/ethical value and should be maintained Spitballing an answer: - Cash incentive for government-sponsored fertility testing. No obligation for individuals to act on this information, but it would allow citizens to seek out other fertile partners - Significant stipend and benefits for having children. In addition to taking care of the basic needs there would be a regular cash award over and above maintenance of the kid - Heavily subsidized and incentivized adoption for both the birth and adoptive families Like to the level of "well I don't like kids but if I have one and give it up that's enough to pay off my car note" or w/e Basically making use of the carrot versus the stick. I haven't thought these through all the way and maybe there are perverse incentives that would lead to a nightmare state in my dumb three-point plan, but it's an interesting thought experiment.
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Jun 1, 2017 19:55
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Thwomp posted:In a future where 90-95% of the population becomes infertile, you're pretty much looking at end times. What's the point of listening to the government if the government won't be there in a generation? Same for the economy. It's total societal collapse. It's attitudes like this that are going to make me declare martial law and set up forced conception camps. 
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Jun 1, 2017 20:07
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Baron Porkface posted:It really impeaches the journalistic integrity of totalsororitymove.com I mean the author waxes about the benefits of guaranteed sex with a hot dude, but enjoying something that deliberately joyless and mechanistic would have to be a really particular kink.
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Jun 1, 2017 20:10
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business hammocks posted:The human race was a giant mistake anyway, tbh. It's not really worth the effort of saving. I don't disagree which is why I included the caveat for the thought experiment that we take the normie position that humanity continuing is good and cool.
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Jun 1, 2017 20:21
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Lum_ posted:See: Children of Men. Maybe they take place in the same ~cinematic universe!~
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Jun 2, 2017 18:31
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veni veni veni posted:Children of Men is much more dire but I'd still rather live in that world than Gilead. I mean, Quietus is available off the shelf.
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Jun 2, 2017 19:32
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What happened with her first posting? Presumably she didn't conceive or that would pretty major plot point to omit. Do they just "rotate" every so often to roll the dice on fertility?
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Jun 12, 2017 13:45
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Yeah, that's how I picture it. Guardians in MOPP4 and environmentally controlled barracks overseeing unprotected decon crews with their skin sloughing off and stuff.
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Jun 13, 2017 16:43
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I was sincerely in suspense during the stoning scene as to whether June would comply to keep surviving or not. Very well done.
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Jun 15, 2017 17:02
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I don't think the social services for refugees thing the Canadian representative explained was that "trite and rosy." That's how a normal developed country should work. It seemed like pretty basic humanitarian services to me-- it's just that Moira was used to outright exploitation or at best transactional quid-pro-quo for anything she got. The idea she'll get a tiny stipend to live, agency to do as she pleased and access to basic shelter and healthcare just for being a human worthy of basic dignity was a tremendous juxtaposition to her life in Gilead. Now, how Canada remained a, more or less "normal developed" country when we know Mexico and the US are just disasters is certainly an unanswered question, but it invites any number of reasonably plausible explanations. Owlbear Camus fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Jun 20, 2017 |
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Jun 20, 2017 16:24
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