Kylie threw a Handsmaid Tale theme party, why is this tone deaf?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never watched the show so please enlighten me. It seemed like a fun, extravagant, themed party

Probably because it trivialized the message in the book/movie/series.

Except the theme of the series at this point in time is that a woman/women are fighting back and winning. So...

and... her mom was a fighter... who ended up being killed/enslaved and she was "a lazy spoiled teen" for not fighting back and now she is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I guess that's one way to think about it.

What about all the protesters who dress up like those characters?

I actually read the book a million years ago and discussed it in multiple classes in high school and college. My takeaway was that the heroine was just that: the heroine. She survived, she persisted, she won. I didn't see her as a victim.

Did you really read the book? In the epilogue, I thought it was pretty clear she did not “win.” That it appeared likely she was recaptured as there was no record of her getting to Canada and that her daughter probably was never freed. I found the book super depressing.

I also think it’s different than dressing up as Sansa Stark. Sansa is a strong female character who was raped, Dressing up as unidentified handmaidens is different to me because the hand aids have been stripped of identify and their sole purpose is as vessels to be raped and owned as punishment for perceived transgressions. I just don’t see a “let’s celebrate the handmaiden” vibe in the same way I’d see a “let’s celebrate the awesomeness of Sansa Stark” vibe.

But the show has gone beyond the book. June the TV character has already become more than the book and all the other handmaid's will full fleshed out personalities.

The handmaid costume has been coopted by feminist protestors. This is true. Because it is a nice metaphor that comes with an even more powerful dramatic visual statement. But the US is not Gilead and this did not really happen to June. She is a fictional character. She is not Anne Frank she is Ophelia or Juliet. She is a tragic literary figure.

But the women hold all the power: the power of life/reproduction, and the power of sex. Society and men specifically want/need both...which is why they go to extreme lengths to make women subservient. But a savvy reader understands this...and that's precisely why female protesters wear the costumes.

#TheMoreYouKnow

I don't think I said anything that conflicts with this. I think the extremely powerful visual red costumes are a big part of why it has caught on with protesters though. What you're talking about is how we learn about it in school when we read the Handmaid's Tale. I think most protesters are wearing it as a striking symbol of oppressed women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never watched the show so please enlighten me. It seemed like a fun, extravagant, themed party

Did you expect Kylie and Klan to have even read the book, OP?

[Anonymous]

There is a good article in the WP about this today (I get the print edition so don't have the link). I'm quite liberal and i think this faux outrage over Kylie is "much ado about nothing".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never watched the show so please enlighten me. It seemed like a fun, extravagant, themed party

Did you expect Kylie and Klan to have even read the book, OP?

OP back. Wow I’m not even going to read the last two pages of bizarre argument.

I just don’t see how dressing as the characters is tone deaf. It’s a popular show right now. She wasn’t in black face for God’s sake. Everyone wants to be mad at everything, it’s absurd.

[Anonymous]

The show is fantasy. It isn't real. We let our kids dress up for Halloween as Darth Vadar, Stormtroopers and other star wars bad guys who killed millions and destroyed whole planets. I don't see the difference here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The show is fantasy. It isn't real. We let our kids dress up for Halloween as Darth Vadar, Stormtroopers and other star wars bad guys who killed millions and destroyed whole planets. I don't see the difference here.

This.

Heck, there are Freddy Kreuger and Chucky costumes! I'd rather have my daughter dress like a handmaid than a slutty nurse or any of the millions of slutty teen costumes.

[Anonymous]

people are just offended by everything these days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never watched the show so please enlighten me. It seemed like a fun, extravagant, themed party

Did you expect Kylie and Klan to have even read the book, OP?

OP back. Wow I’m not even going to read the last two pages of bizarre argument.

I just don’t see how dressing as the characters is tone deaf. It’s a popular show right now. She wasn’t in black face for God’s sake. Everyone wants to be mad at everything, it’s absurd.

I'm not slamming you, OP. But really, do you think they have the attention span or intellectualism to get through a book of this caliber? Atwood ain't no dummy.

So to the Ks, it's all about the costumes. Lol

[Anonymous]

The OP and most of the undereducated viewers of the show, including the kardashians, think that handmaid’s tale is just a fun new tv show. It’s actually a very important literary statement on the misuse of women, by men and society and other women.

Margaret Atwood is either broke or using the public’s mass consumption of the tv show - but in large part ignorance of the boom and all of her other amazing books - as evidence of our society’s moral and intellectual decline.

[Anonymous]

Another thing, it’s a gross and insulting oversimplification of the message of the book (and the show) if you think it’s about the costumes. Did the K’s sit around talking about reproductive rights and the destruction of our health due to environmental damage as they wore their costumes? No, they probably didn’t. But that is what they SHOULD HAVE been discussing at the “handmaid’s tale” themed party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another thing, it’s a gross and insulting oversimplification of the message of the book (and the show) if you think it’s about the costumes. Did the K’s sit around talking about reproductive rights and the destruction of our health due to environmental damage as they wore their costumes? No, they probably didn’t. But that is what they SHOULD HAVE been discussing at the “handmaid’s tale” themed party.

Why? Because you say so?

There are deep messages in many tv shows, movies, books, etc. But sometimes it's just entertainment. Atwood's book isn't the same as the show. Sorry, it's just not.

And while you're stewing in your bizarre outrage, why not spend some time thinking about the stupid actress in the show who is a well known crazy-ass scientologist. Have you wondered about their treatment of women in real life? What about their attitude of worshipping and bilking celebrities while at the same time manipulating regular people, forcing them to work for free, basically stealing their money by selling them training and crap, destroying families, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing, it’s a gross and insulting oversimplification of the message of the book (and the show) if you think it’s about the costumes. Did the K’s sit around talking about reproductive rights and the destruction of our health due to environmental damage as they wore their costumes? No, they probably didn’t. But that is what they SHOULD HAVE been discussing at the “handmaid’s tale” themed party.

Why? Because you say so?

There are deep messages in many tv shows, movies, books, etc. But sometimes it's just entertainment. Atwood's book isn't the same as the show. Sorry, it's just not.

And while you're stewing in your bizarre outrage, why not spend some time thinking about the stupid actress in the show who is a well known crazy-ass scientologist. Have you wondered about their treatment of women in real life? What about their attitude of worshipping and bilking celebrities while at the same time manipulating regular people, forcing them to work for free, basically stealing their money by selling them training and crap, destroying families, etc.

^Not to mention their anti-LGBTQ and anti-mental health treatment stances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing, it’s a gross and insulting oversimplification of the message of the book (and the show) if you think it’s about the costumes. Did the K’s sit around talking about reproductive rights and the destruction of our health due to environmental damage as they wore their costumes? No, they probably didn’t. But that is what they SHOULD HAVE been discussing at the “handmaid’s tale” themed party.

Why? Because you say so?

There are deep messages in many tv shows, movies, books, etc. But sometimes it's just entertainment. Atwood's book isn't the same as the show. Sorry, it's just not.

And while you're stewing in your bizarre outrage, why not spend some time thinking about the stupid actress in the show who is a well known crazy-ass scientologist. Have you wondered about their treatment of women in real life? What about their attitude of worshipping and bilking celebrities while at the same time manipulating regular people, forcing them to work for free, basically stealing their money by selling them training and crap, destroying families, etc.

^Not to mention their anti-LGBTQ and anti-mental health treatment stances.

Seriously PP is a moron. I studied Atwood's book and am very well educated (not that that matters but clearly does to her). Books can have deep impacts on people, as well as movies and television, and still not be immune from being other things to other people.

I have always disliked elitism in media consumption. People who yell at adult women for reading Twilight because it doesn't MEAN something. Yet here we have a group of incredibly influential young women who are actively promoting this story to the millions of young women who follow their every move. How many 15 year olds might read and think critically about the Handmaid's Tale because Kylie Jenner likes it? If that is even 10 then good for Kylie. But I bet its a lot more.

Getting young people into the Handmaid's Tale is, IMO, only a good thing, no matter how they consume it. These ideas will sit in their formative young minds and make them think because its a provocative and thoughtful concept. Making there be a 'right' or 'wrong' way to consume great stories will only serve to limit the number of people who hear/read/see them which will only serve to make us a dumber population.

So no not criticism but kudos to Kylie Jenner for upping the popularity of the show in the teenager world.

[Anonymous]

It’s incredibly naive to think Kylie Jenner is getting anyone to read.