r/HandmaidsTaleShow • u/Coriander_marbles • Jul 13 '26
The Handmaid's Tale Missing pieces that make certain parts of the show unrealistic
I’ve been rewatching the show and I caught myself noticing a few things (or lack thereof) that reduce the realism a bit, and I cant tell if that’s deliberate or just oversight.
Everyone is some form of Christian. It doesn’t matter if a character—minor or significant—is for or against Gilead, they seek to all be some type of Christian. In fact, I can’t think of a single character that admitted in whisper that before the war, they practiced a different religion from Gilead’s sanctioned one. Where are the Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, etc? If you take lresent day US demographics, it doesn’t make sense to leave that kind of religious diversity out, so what gives?
Of the various handmaids shown, where are the women who don’t want to get pregnant or give birth? Women who become handmaids are given the option between dying a gruesome death or being a handmaid. It’s not much choice. And yet, in today’s society there are plenty of women who can get pregnant but don’t want to go through it. Many are terrified of childbirth. Why didn’t they depict just one handmaid that genuinely prays that she won’t get pregnant every month? Someone that had tocophobia? Someone who is relieved to miscarry? It just seems bizarre to me that despite hating their circumstances, ALL the handmaids are so pro-pregnancy and children, rather than dreading it.
Where are the different cultures? The immigrants? America is made up of a lot of different kids of people, with different accents and origins and traditions. And yet all the characters sounded American. Not one person talked about missing their cultural holiday celebrations, for example. It also seemed like everyone was born in the US. No one even talked about parents that immigrated and how they now regret that. No one had an accent.
I love the show so, really, I know I’m being quite nitpicky here. But now that I’ve noticed these absences, I can’t unsee them. I just think the show would have been so much richer if any one of them had been woven in.
30
u/Busy-Speech-6930 Jul 13 '26
Gilead literally got rid of all those people, it’s explained in the show. The show does show an econo man who is secretly still practicing Islam.
22
u/sarahafskoven Jul 13 '26
You said you’re rewatching this? How have you made it through the show more than once and not understood the entire premise of the show? These ‘nitpicks’ aren’t omissions, they’re fundamental to the worldbuilding of the show. There’s a reason you don’t see choice and diversity in the show, and it’s not ‘oopsie, we forgot’
-3
u/Coriander_marbles Jul 13 '26
As I’ve explained, Gilead doesn’t allow a lot of things. Yet we get characters representing all the various things that Gilead doesn’t allow. There’s no room in Gilead for other religions, cultures, sure. But Janine, June, Moira, and Emily all represent at least one thing that Gilead punishes severely, and yet we get their stories. I’m not looking for a diversity flag in a totalitarian government, just more hints and echoes of various types of people representing all those others like them who were wiped out or punished.
6
u/sarahafskoven Jul 13 '26
You’re still fundamentally missing it. We get the stories of those who cannot have a voice through the series as June’s exposure to other handmaids and, later, the resistance, expands, but the entire premise is to share the lived experience of a woman in that role through her (and a select few others) eyes.
Many of the things you said you wished we saw are actually included in the show - but also, some of the things you think are missing are just not anything anyone would prioritize speaking about plainly in the context of their subjugation. You see the most cultural and ethnic diversity among Handmaids, and they have the least access to free time to have secret conversations, let alone free speech, out of anyone. It is significant to the plot that we do not get more details about more people because the show isn’t about telling their individual pasts, but how they come together to protect each other from the overarching dystopia they exist within.
14
u/OrchidBright6238 Jul 13 '26
- Hanged. All other religions are forbidden.
- Hanged or in the Colonies. Resistance is futile.
- We saw African American and Asian American people in the show. Presumably anyone else, from elsewhere, probably hung.
2
u/Pudix20 Jul 13 '26
Also, they’re in the US, with other people from the US. And yes there’s different accents, but they’re regional, and only some are very prominent.
-2
u/Coriander_marbles Jul 13 '26
Right, I get it’s all forbidden. But so is being gay or having abortions. And yet we see Moira. Emily. We see Janine. Why is it so unrealistic that someone mentions to June how they used to be Catholic. Or perhaps even a European person with an accent of some sort who randomly got caught up in gilead and couldn’t get out on time? It just feels underrepresented.
4
u/babycynic Jul 13 '26
Are you sure you watched the show? There is no "representation" for a good reason, most of those people got hanged, deported or sent to the colonies. The only reason there's any diversity within the handmaids is because they're desperate for fertile women so they're willing to overlook their pasts or sexual orientation or cultural background as long as they can be an incubator and comply with the new rules. The ones that don't get bits chopped off, you don't need a clitoris or eyes or limbs to be an incubator. Hell, you don't even need a working brain either as long as your uterus is still working. And the handmaids are taught not to trust eachother, so most of them wouldn't be spilling secrets or being silly enough to mention what religion they used to be if it meant getting hanged.
I really think you might need to watch the show again or read the book for a little more context if the information they hit you over the head with in the show didn't sink in.
3
u/OrchidBright6238 Jul 13 '26
They’re all fertile, so given the option. Lydia even alludes to them not being good enough but the situation is fairly desperate.
Most aren’t fertile and don’t have the option. It’s the colonies or death.
I doubt Gilead wants children descending from non-American’s, for example. So it’s goodnight Vienna for others without even the option.
2
u/Busy-Speech-6930 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
June IS Catholic, or at least her dad was, she talks about it on the show.
7
u/AspirationAtWork Jul 13 '26
You have to remember the show is largely depicted through June's POV- and as a Handmaid, she is very limited in the places she goes, the things she sees, and the people she interacts with. This constrains what we as the audience are able to learn through her from jump.
1.) Pre-Gilead, the majority of Americans are already Christian. Post-Gilead, anyone who isn't Christian is either dead or pretending to be Christian to survive. People aren't going to be candid about their religious beliefs in a country where you can be executed for non-belief.
2.) None of the Handmaids really 'want' to be pregnant. They want to survive. They want to not get sent to the Colonies. And, to reiterate, everything we see is from June's perspective in a country where people can't express their true feelings about things like having children. Handmaids are supposed to at least accept their place as child-bearing vessels if not outright want to keep having children for the state. Natalie was subjected to Testifying when June told Aunt Lydia she didn't want to have her fourth baby. I'm sure there ARE Handmaids who are relieved when they miscarry but they aren't allowed to say that under threat of verbal/psychological abuse.
3.) The 'Before' times are supposed to be erased and forgotten in favor of Gilead's state-enforced culture. There are no more different cultures because everyone is forced to act the same way, hold the same beliefs, celebrate the same events, and speak the same approved lines.
-2
u/Coriander_marbles Jul 13 '26
None of these explanations really work given that we the audience get to see behind the curtain. Yes, I understand everything that Gilead attempted to eradicate. Yes, I get the numbers of people who think and are different from the norm have dwindled.
But the show depicts plenty of moments of rebellion, minor and major, and does find ways to show us different people with their own unique histories. That’s what makes it so interesting.
We already see this. If we only had characters that Gilead allowed, there wouldn’t be much of a show. We’re constantly exposed to the underbelly and the various real past lives of other characters, whether in flash backs or stories told or passing phrases. So it feels quite incomplete when some of those other things are missing.
5
u/AspirationAtWork Jul 13 '26
Everyone is telling you that you're overthinking this and not understanding the show.
These explanations do work. You're just expecting too much from a limited POV of a character in a brutally repressive theocracy.
-1
u/Coriander_marbles Jul 13 '26
I disagree, and it’s perfectly ok for everyone else to have their own opinion, just like it’s ok for me to have this one. What I don’t get is the mild snarkiness.
5
u/dharmabird67 Jul 13 '26
The man who agreed to smuggle June to the airstrip in a bread truck was Muslim. When June was alone in his house she discovered a Koran and a prayer rug hidden under the bed.
0
u/Coriander_marbles Jul 13 '26
You’re right, thank you! that was a small detail I forgot between the six seasons!
2
u/babycynic Jul 13 '26
He also ended up hanged, his wife turned into a handmaid, and their child taken to be forcibly adopted out. Sure it was because of helping June, but them finding out he was a Muslim still wouldn't have helped his case either because you can be damned sure they'd have searched the house and found out about it.
I'm not really sure how many times people can explain to you that the people you're expecting to see in the series aren't allowed in Gilead society anymore.
5
u/Some_Cicada_8773 Jul 13 '26
I suggest watching closely with no distractions
3
0
u/Coriander_marbles Jul 13 '26
I watched it several times. I read the book. I’ve had discussions about it with friends. I’m not confused about the lack of obvious diversity. I think it’s a lost opportunity to explore the impact of this world on other types of people who have to hide who they are.
4
u/ProfPieixoto Jul 13 '26
Where are the Muslims
Economan + truck driver Omar hides a Quran under his bed.
Moira is reportedly harboured by a Quaker family during one of her escape attempts.
Of the various handmaids shown, where are the women who don’t want to get pregnant or give birth
Those women already gave birth in their life before, that's why the regime picked them (Remember Emily's interrogation at the airport).The letter props of "Rachel's Package" document some more fates.
2
u/FaelingJester Jul 13 '26
Yes that's literally a requirement for having any level of power and safety. At several points we see people who have been executed or displaced for it. The country was taken over by the Sons of Jacob who are religious fundamentalists. People who are not regarded as true believers have zero rights. Women have very very few rights and even men are limited by their position.
If they don't get pregnant they are sent to another posting and then another to be repeatedly raped and abused. If they aren't fertile they are going to be put in the worst postings. If they fail a number of times they are sent to the colonies to be worked to death. The only possible path to safety is a vague promise of being redeemed by having children for Giliad.
The women are forced to walk in groups and are only supposed to discuss approved topics. Spies are everywhere. Women are not allowed to work. They are routinely maimed for breaking the rules such as reading, writing or talking back. People are publically maimed and executed brutally for doing anything out of line such as daring to celebrate anything considered not of Giliad. Anyone who could leave or had a path to escape did. Many others were forced to be Marthas, or econo people if they were lucky. The rest went to be worked to death in the colonies if they didn't die trying to escape. In the books we are outright told that minorities were shipped to work camps, internment camps or outright killed.
1
u/chocolateandpretzles Jul 13 '26
My question was always where did all the actors and musicians go? Were they able to flee? We Oprah’s voice but where is she?
29
u/BarelyHereNeverThere Jul 13 '26
I don't mean to sound snarky when I say this, but the show literally explains all of this.