background preloader

LLCE - The Handmaid's Tale

Facebook Twitter

From 'The Handmaid's Tale' to 'I Love Dick,' the female gaze is thriving on television. Two girls, one guy.

From 'The Handmaid's Tale' to 'I Love Dick,' the female gaze is thriving on television

It’s the stuff a million pornographic fantasies are made of — except as depicted in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” During one of the most talked-about scenes from the Hulu series, a young woman known as Offred (Elisabeth Moss) engages in a ritualistic act of intercourse known as “the ceremony.” Lying on a bed, she stares wide-eyed at the ceiling while a powerful man known as the Commander (Joseph Fiennes) mechanically thrusts himself into her. Offred’s head rests between the thighs of the Commander’s wife, Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), who looks on without expression. The male gaze in movies and television. The Gaze: How Men and Women Look. Analysis: Dehumanizing and Objectifying Women  – Power: Origins, Instances, and Protest. The dehumanization of women occurs when there is an emphasis on treating women as objects and stripping them of their identity.

Analysis: Dehumanizing and Objectifying Women  – Power: Origins, Instances, and Protest

Examples of this treatment are present in both literature and media. In The Handmaid’s Tale, an elaborate fornication ritual that minimizes nudity while enabling sexual intercourse called the “Ceremony” occurs. The protagonist, Offred, claims “it has nothing to do with sexual desire, at least for me,” which suggests that the individual who takes the forefront is the man (Atwood 82). While the ritual is stylized for literary purposes, it encompasses the idea that men equivocate women to objects of sexual and physical pleasure (Boswell and Spade 139).

Given the lack of intimacy, Offred’s existence is confined to her genitalia, which strips her of her humanity and transforms her into a “faceless” victim. Analysis: Dehumanizing and Objectifying Women  – Power: Origins, Instances, and Protest. The Radical Feminist Aesthetic Of "The Handmaid’s Tale" The television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s iconic novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which debuts next week on Hulu, is filled with small, barbed revelations.

The Radical Feminist Aesthetic Of "The Handmaid’s Tale"

Even if you’ve read the book, and you know what you’re in for, there’s so much to startle you: there's Elisabeth Moss’s face, which, through roles in Mad Men and Top of the Lake, has become an emblem of women persevering in the face of sexual violence and abject sexism. There are jarring moments of presentness — the way the characters offhandedly reference Craigslist, or Tinder — that make it impossible to pretend this is a scenario of the distant past or future.

There’s the quiet profanity of Offred’s internal monologue — her use of “fuck” and “cum” in particular — which is so dissonant with the sunny, shining world that surrounds her. It joins a growing body of visual texts — primarily, but not exclusively, created by women — that are feminist not just in their subject matter, but in their aesthetic.

Male gaze what is it. From 'The Handmaid's Tale' to 'I Love Dick,' the female gaze is thriving on television. Nouveau Roman. TikTok: WitchTok has billions of views. Witches explain why. Kiley Mann was 10 when she was gifted her first set of runes, a Nordic divination tool, which sparked a lifelong journey into witchcraft.

TikTok: WitchTok has billions of views. Witches explain why.

"I've been studying spirituality and religion for about a decade now," she says, explaining witchcraft for her is the duality of both. Now 19, Mann shares what she's learned with her 883,000 TikTok followers, from divination forms like tea leaves to working with tarot cards, runes and bone throwing. Known by the username @oracleofthemoon, she is one of many TikTok users part of WitchTok, a niche section of the video-sharing app that revolves around magic and witchcraft. The hashtag #witchtok alone has amassed more than 19.8 billion views. How economic prosperity spared witches. Chelsea Follett | Opinion contributor You might see a fair number of witches out and about this Halloween; they're a staple of the season.

How economic prosperity spared witches

But odds are low that you’ll see any of them burned at the stake or hanged. Protesting the US government is one thing—but trying to hex it is another. Ever since Donald Trump’s election to office in November 2016, the witches of America have been trying to curse the US president and bind his power.

Protesting the US government is one thing—but trying to hex it is another

Last year, witches gathered outside of Trump Tower to hex him and cast spells; Breitbart postulated that it’s part of a feminist conspiracy related to a rise in witchcraft. Other groups have continued to lay on the hexings, including Lana Del Rey, who tweeted invites to a worldwide anti-Trump ritual. The explosive growth of witches, Wiccans, and Pagans in the US. Spirituality is now firmly placed in mainstream culture.

The explosive growth of witches, Wiccans, and Pagans in the US

The growing interest in astrology driven by millennials, as well as the popularity of crystals and tarot cards via the ballooning wellness industry, have brought mysticism from the fringes, and right into your Instagram feed. Pinrose However, as the cosmetics giant Sephora recently found out, mysticism and its more formal manifestation, witch culture, are not topics to be taken lightly. Sephora's "Starter Witch Kit" by Pinrose has crystals, sage, and tarot cards. In some good news for area witches, Sephora will soon emerge as a mainstream purveyor of witchy accouterments.

Sephora's "Starter Witch Kit" by Pinrose has crystals, sage, and tarot cards

Representatives for the cosmetics giant confirmed a report in the Glossy that the trendy perfume brand Pinrose will launch a “Starter Witch Kit” in stores and online on Oct. 9, in plenty of time for Halloween. The nine-piece set, which will retail for $42 plus tax, includes fragrances, as well as standard witch paraphernalia—”tarot cards, sage, and a rose quartz crystal“(paywall). Pinrose Pinrose isn’t the first beauty brand to peddle mysticism alongside its core offerings. Modern witches across America: Intimate photos - CNN Style. In partnership with This is an edited version of an article originally published by Refinery29, the leading next-gen media and entertainment company focused on women.

Modern witches across America: Intimate photos - CNN Style

The opinions in this article belong to the author. "I met a woman in a spiritual center in western Massachusetts. It was summer, and there was no one there but us," American photographer Frances F. Denny recounts. Women in horror: Victims no more. At the end of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, actress Jessica Chastain – who was serving as a jury member – said that she found the portrayals of women in the festival’s films “quite disturbing.”

Women in horror: Victims no more

To many, this isn’t exactly news. The lack of women in film – in front of and behind the camera – has been at the forefront of Hollywood criticism in recent years, with scholars and writers detailing the various ways women tend to be underrepresented or cast in stereotypical roles. University of Southern California communications professor Stacy Smith, who researches depictions of gender and race in film and TV, found that of the 5,839 characters in the 129 top-grossing films released between 2006 and 2011, fewer than 30 percent were girls or women.

Meanwhile, only 50 percent of films fulfill the criteria of the Bechdel Test, which asks whether a film features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. She was declared a witch at Salem. These middle schoolers want to clear her name. More than three centuries after being tarnished by the hysteria of the Salem witch trials, a Massachusetts woman convicted of witchcraft could finally receive a pardon from the state because of the lobbying efforts of an unlikely constituency: an eighth-grade civics class. The woman, Elizabeth Johnson Jr., who lived in what is now North Andover, Massachusetts, was one of 28 members of her extended family who faced allegations of witchcraft in 1692, according to historians. She was born around 1670 and may have been mentally disabled. She was sentenced to death in 1693 after she confessed to being a witch, only to be granted a reprieve by the governor of Massachusetts at the time.

She died in 1747, at the age of about 77. The theory that may explain what was tormenting the afflicted in Salem's witch trials. Three hundred twenty-five years later, there are still some unresolved questions about the Salem witch trials. The questions aren’t about whether the people killed in 1692 — 19 executed by hanging and one pressed to death — were actually witches (they weren’t). Rather, what was it that plagued the young girls whose physical “fits” precipitated the first accusations of witchcraft? The fatal frenzy in 1692 began after the 9-year-old daughter and 11-year-old niece of Salem’s Puritan minister, Samuel Parris, started behaving strangely and erratically. The “fits” soon spread among other young girls in the village.

Modern society still fears witches. Inevitably this Halloween, among the pint-size ghosts, pirates, princesses and vampires, and the trendy Pocahontases and Power Rangers, there will be a pointy black hat. Perhaps offset by a carefully applied green wart or two and accompanied by an ordinary household broom, the hat calls forth one word: Witch. American girls, in a tradition as enduring as trick-or-treating, still eagerly adorn themselves as witches.

When they do so, they drape themselves in more than an oversized pointy hat and black garb. A 17th-century, accused witch inspired Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' When Margaret Atwood wrote "The Handmaid's Tale," published in 1985, she took inspiration from the rise of the Christian right in America during the 1970s and early '80s and the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. But another, much older source of inspiration for Atwood was the story of a real-life woman in 17th-century New England named Mary Webster, who may or may not have been related to Atwood. “Some days, my grandmother would say we were related to her and on other days, she would deny the whole thing because it wasn't very respectable,” Atwood says. From Circe to Clinton: why powerful women are cast as witches.

During the 2016 US presidential election, American social media was flooded with images of Hillary Clinton wearing a black hat and riding a broom, or else cackling with green skin. Her opponents named her The Wicked Witch of the Left, claimed they had sources testifying that she smelled of sulphur, and took particular delight in depictions of her being melted. Given that the last witch trial in the US was more than 100 hundred years ago, what are we to make of this? In the late 19th century, the suffragette Matilda Joslyn Gage asserted something revolutionary. The persecution of witches, she said, had nothing to do with fighting evil or resisting the devil. Half hanged mary. ‎La Poudre : Épisode 80 - Margaret Atwood - (doublé en français) sur Apple Podcasts. Why the Witch is the Pop-Culture Heroine We Need Right Now. Yes, This Is a Witch Hunt. I’m a Witch and I’m Hunting You.

The Real Witches of Salem, Massachusetts. Why the Witch is the Pop-Culture Heroine We Need Right Now. Women in Puritan Society: Roles & Rights - Video & Lesson Transcript. Qanon is a religious cult, not a political movement. The insane belief that Trump was sent by God is not a weird side effect, it's the core belief of Qanon cult members. : QanonKaren. Qanon are dangerous religious fanatics, just like the Taliban, Al Qaeda or ISIS. : QanonKaren. [No spoilers] Has anyone been following Britney Spears' recent events and noticing the parallels with the handmaids/THT? : TheHandmaidsTale. [Spoilers All] The “Magdalene Laundries” [Asylums] of Ireland and similarities to THT : TheHandmaidsTale. From the US holocaust museum : coolguides. The American Taliban wants to turn the US into a theocracy : BadChoicesGoodStories.

America’s Next Authoritarian Will Be Much More Competent. Trump was ineffective and easily beaten. A future strongman won’t be. : DarkFuturology. Colonial America for Kids: Salem Witch Trials. Tles 5 - AMERICAN PARANOIA (fiction et réalité) Q Conference. Louis Theroux Interviews Christians on Religion. Donald Trump Jr. Book Club. The Puritans (film) Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The Witch (2016) - Explained. How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials. Why witchcraft is making a comeback among US feminists.

Ugly History: Witch Hunts - Brian A. Pavlac. Ugly History: Witch Hunts - Brian A. Pavlac. Why 'The Witch' is the scariest historical film ever. Video player. The Witch (film, 2015) The Witch (film, 2015) Bouddhas de Bâmiyân. Taliban. Gilead: Could This Happen Here? Louis Theroux at Westboro Baptist Church protest - America's Most Hated Family in Crisis - BBC Two. Science-fiction et didactique des langues. Is dystopia realism ? Breaking: ISIS and Al Qaeda just issued a statement saying their end goal is to end separation of church and state and build a kingdom of god in the U.S. Oh, my bad, that was Amy Coney Barrett, the judge at the top of the list to replace Ruth Bader Ginsbu. Pretty Much Pop #10 Examines Margaret Atwood's Nightmare Vision: The Handmaid's Tale.

Trump and the Puritans. People Are Comparing Chilling Capitol Building Coup Attempt To The Handmaid's Tale. Trump-supporting protesters are wearing handmaid's outfits – do they not see the irony?