[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.88,0:00:11.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Margaret Atwood's near-future novel,\N"The Handmaid's Tale,"
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.07,0:00:15.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Christian fundamentalist regime\Ncalled the Republic of Gilead
Dialogue: 0,0:00:15.09,0:00:19.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has staged a military coup\Nand established a theocratic government
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.49,0:00:21.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the United States.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.51,0:00:24.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The regime theoretically \Nrestricts everyone,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.24,0:00:30.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but in practice a few men have structured\NGilead so they have all the power,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.12,0:00:33.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially over women.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.33,0:00:37.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Handmaid's Tale is what Atwood calls\Nspeculative fiction,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.71,0:00:40.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,meaning it theorizes \Nabout possible futures.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.71,0:00:42.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a fundamental characteristic
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.58,0:00:46.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,shared by both utopian \Nand dystopian texts.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.18,0:00:50.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The possible futures in Atwood's novels\Nare usually negative, or dystopian,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.86,0:00:57.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where the actions of a small group\Nhave destroyed society as we know it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.41,0:01:02.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Utopian and dystopian writing\Ntends to parallel political trends.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.27,0:01:05.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Utopian writing frequently depicts\Nan idealized society
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.62,0:01:09.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the author puts forth as a blueprint\Nto strive toward.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.52,0:01:11.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Dystopias, on the other hand,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.32,0:01:14.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are not necessarily predictions \Nof apocalyptic futures,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.72,0:01:18.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but rather warnings about the ways\Nin which societies can set themselves
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.60,0:01:21.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the path to destruction.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.90,0:01:26.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Handmaid's Tale was published in 1985,\Nwhen many conservative groups
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.34,0:01:30.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,attacked the gains made \Nby the second-wave feminist movement.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.26,0:01:34.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This movement had been advocating greater\Nsocial and legal equality for women
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.38,0:01:37.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,since the early 1960s.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.62,0:01:40.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Handmaid's Tale imagines a future\Nin which the conservative
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.60,0:01:43.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,counter-movement gains \Nthe upper hand
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.59,0:01:47.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not only demolishes the progress\Nwomen had made toward equality,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.38,0:01:51.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but makes women completely \Nsubservient to men.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.80,0:01:55.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Gilead divides women in the regime\Ninto distinct social classes
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.58,0:01:59.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,based upon their function\Nas status symbols for men.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.07,0:02:01.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even their clothing is color-coded.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.48,0:02:03.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Women are no longer allowed to read
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.21,0:02:05.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or move about freely in public,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.58,0:02:08.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and fertile women are subject\Nto state-engineered rape
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.76,0:02:13.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in order to give birth to children\Nfor the regime.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.70,0:02:16.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Although The Handmaid's Tale\Nis set in the future,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.09,0:02:19.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of Atwood's self-imposed\Nrules in writing it
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.20,0:02:21.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was that she wouldn't use any event\N
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.51,0:02:25.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or practice that hadn't already \Nhappened in human history.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.39,0:02:28.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The book is set \Nin Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.36,0:02:30.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a city that during \Nthe American colonial period
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.99,0:02:34.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had been ruled by the theocratic Puritans.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.63,0:02:37.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In many ways, the Republic of Gilead\Nresembles the strict rules
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.70,0:02:40.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that were present in Puritan society:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.41,0:02:41.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rigid moral codes,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.67,0:02:43.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,modest clothing,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.16,0:02:45.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,banishment of dissenters,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.04,0:02:50.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and regulation of every aspect \Nof people's lives and relationships.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.35,0:02:53.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For Atwood, the parallels \Nto Massachusett's Puritans
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.71,0:02:56.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were personal as well as theoretical.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.40,0:02:59.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She spent several years studying\Nthe Puritans at Harvard
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.35,0:03:01.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and she's possibly descended from\NMary Webster,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.92,0:03:07.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Puritan woman accused\Nof witchcraft who survived her hanging.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.55,0:03:10.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Atwood is a master storyteller.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.18,0:03:13.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The details of Gilead, \Nwhich we've only skimmed the surface of,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.64,0:03:17.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,slowly come into focus through the eyes\Nof its characters,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.55,0:03:20.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mainly the novel's protagonist Offred,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.40,0:03:23.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a handmaid in the household \Nof a commander.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.69,0:03:25.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Before the coup that established Gilead,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.74,0:03:31.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Offred had a husband, a child, a job,\Nand a normal, middle-class American life.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.90,0:03:34.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But when the fundamentalist regime\Ncomes into power,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.58,0:03:37.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Offred is denied her identity,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.21,0:03:38.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,separated from her family,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.50,0:03:41.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and reduced to being, in Offred's words,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.20,0:03:46.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"a two-legged womb for increasing \NGilead's waning population."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.23,0:03:49.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She initially accepts the loss \Nof her fundamental human rights
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.27,0:03:52.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the name of stabilizing \Nthe new government.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.87,0:03:57.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But state control soon extends\Ninto attempts to control the language,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.28,0:03:58.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,behavior,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.14,0:04:01.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and thoughts of herself\Nand other individuals.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.64,0:04:03.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Early on, Offred says,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.63,0:04:07.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I wait. I compose myself.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.20,0:04:13.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My self is a thing I must compose, \Nas one composes a speech."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.41,0:04:17.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She likens language \Nto the formulation of identity.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.36,0:04:21.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Her words also acknowledge \Nthe possibility of resistance,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.65,0:04:26.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's resistance, the actions of people\Nwho dare to break the political,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:26.36,0:04:27.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,intellectual,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.32,0:04:28.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sexual rules,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.62,0:04:32.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that drives the plot \Nof the Handmaid's Tale.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.27,0:04:37.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ultimately, the novel's exploration\Nof the consequences of complacency,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:37.40,0:04:40.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and how power can be wielded unfairly,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.42,0:04:45.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,makes Atwood's chilling vision\Nof a dystopian regime ever relevant.