Once preposterous, now immediate; Atwood on ‘Handmaid’s Tale’
NEW YORK: Margaret Atwood did not have any creative control over the latest adaptation of her dystopian novel “The Handmaid's Tale”, but she was very clear what she didn't want.
“That they not make a sort of soft porn film called ‘Maidens in Leather' or something, which has always been a temptation to certain kinds of filmmakers,” the Canadian author told Reuters.
“The whole thing about such a puritanical society is that sex isn't supposed to be fun. I've seen some people taking a crack at (‘Handmaid's Tale') and going in that direction and it was always wrong,” she said.
First published in 1985, “The Handmaid's Tale” imagines a totalitarian near future when fertile women are forced into sexual servitude in a bid to repopulate a world facing environmental disaster. Women are forbidden to read, cannot control money and are forced to wear modesty clothing. Everyone spies on everyone.
Thirty years on, the new TV miniseries for Hulu, premiering Apr 26 and starring Elisabeth Moss as Offred, seems relevant.
Atwood, 77, calls it one of her “speculative fiction” novels but said every scenario was drawn from real events – from Puritan society to environmental pollution, infertility, the fight for women's rights, the Cold War, book burnings and wretched slavery.
Even so, the premise of “The Handmaid's Tale” seemed farfetched in 1985.
“It seemed preposterous even to me. But I don't mean to say it was preposterous. I didn't think it was going to happen in that moment,” she said.
“When politically inclined people say they want to do such and such, I always believe them, so why be surprised?
“Then the 2016 US election happened and all this became much more immediate,” she said
In an hour-long conversation, Atwood never mentioned Hillary Clinton, US President Donald Trump, nor any political party.
Her passions are more fundamental and widespread, ranging from innovations in biotechnology to North Korean literature and the protection of birds.
While she is widely regarded as one of the foremost living feminist writers, it is not a label she would choose.
Women's rights and civil rights are inextricably linked, she says, but women have become complacent in the last 20 years.
Atwood, who has a background in amateur theatre, has a small cameo in the 10-part TV series. — Reuters