Does anybody have it in them to watch The Handmaid’s Tale anymore?
ABOUT THE EPISODE
I remember trying to watch The Handmaid’s Tale when it first came out. I was pregnant with my first child and wasn’t able to finish the first episode. Now, I’ve returned to the show, have watched every season, and anxiously await the next one. But even then, the question still remains: Does anybody have it in them to watch The Handmaid’s Tale anymore? Let’s discuss it together on this episode of The Motherscope Podcast. I’m sharing some of the more problematic criticisms of the show and alternatives to add to your TBR list. Then, I’m finishing up the episode with opportunities for writers within the Motherscope community. Enjoy!
TOPICS DISCUSSED
Feeling guilty for how we spent the time with our children throughout the summer and the way we may process our children’s shortcomings and/or strengths
What it was like to try watching The Handmaid's Tale while pregnant
The frustration that can come from shows expanding past their original source material to the detriment of the story
Struggling with the fact that The Handmaid’s Tale is yet another show that is a story about women produced by middle aged white men
Dismissing white supremacy/feminism and racism in the world of Gilead and why this is so problematic
What it means for the show (and June Osborne) when Elisabeth Moss vehemently defends Scientology
Alternatives to The Handmaid’s Tale for those who love the show (or don’t).
Opportunities coming up via Motherscope for listeners who are writers and looking for community support
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Media Lit
Reading Recommendations:
Writer Talk:
WRITING PROMPT
Write about a moment in your life as a mother when time slowed down significantly – for better or worse.
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Jackie Leonard 00:00
So I've already got three pages of notes for today's episode on The Handmaid's Tale and none of those notes have anything to do with the episodes of the show. And maybe that's for the best considering the subject matter of the show. And also I think that lends itself perfectly to anyone listening whether you have been a viewer of the show The Handmaid's Tale, or have stayed far, far away from it. We'll just call this an episode inspired by the upcoming fifth season of The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu. So to kick off the episode, what am I feeling guilty of this week, if you're a new listener of the podcast this season has been highlighting mom guilt and our guilty pleasures, putting those two things together to see how entertainments and pop culture and the media feeds mom guilt by getting us to consume things that either inform us to shame the things we feel and do as mothers or the way others are conditioned to criticize and judge mothers based on what they do. So my way of pushing back on that is to put it out in the open that name it to tame it, as Dan Siegel says, and whether or not you want to call it mom guilt or something else. It exists. And I think it helps to talk about it. So I kind of went back and forth about what I'm feeling guilty about, I was gonna say something that I felt like, felt like the safer thing to admit. But for me, what's coming up for me that I have been feeling a little guilty about the past couple days, especially since my son is going back to school tomorrow is that I didn't do a lot of the activities with my kids that I wanted to do this summer. And with my son, I'm feeling a little insecure that I didn't do enough educational stuff with him over the summer, we didn't practice our letters and his name, the way that the teachers kind of suggested we could do throughout the summer to help them. As I say it aloud, I
Jackie Leonard 02:18
kind of think well, the summer should be for play. And we did a lot of play. And we did some fun outings and things like that. And I think that's what's most important, especially with how young my kids still are. But there is still a part of me. I mean, I was an overachieving students, as a child, and there's a part of me as a mom, that's thinking like, I want my son to be the one that that knows all the things and is prepared and, and we just didn't do a lot of practicing even the painting and the coloring that I wanted to do even the you know, the little crafts and art projects that I had planned to make time for I just, it's now September and they didn't happen the way that I wanted them to. And so I'm feeling a little insecure about that as he heads into school. Tomorrow, I feel guilty as a mom that I did not prepare my my child the way that I should have. And what I noticed about myself when it comes to what really induces the mom guilt, it's usually something that has to do with my child and the way others perceive either my child or me as a mother as a result of something to do with my child. And I think I'm sure other people listening who are parents probably feel the same way. But for each of us, there might be something specific that we notice induces the guilt, the mom guilt. And as I was speaking that aloud, I was like, Yeah, I guess that's that's where that's the root of it all worries about not being viewed as a quote unquote good mother or taking care of your children in an appropriate way. Which in a way actually feeds into a lot of what I want to talk about today with regards to The Handmaid's Tale and all the different topics and ideas that spilled out of my head as I started to prepare for this episode. And thankfully, because I have so many notes, I was able to sort of group them into four categories. And I'm sort of flushed out this format in the last few episodes that I've done of the podcast and it's worked really well I think for me to, to break it up in this way. So I'm going to start out by just talking a little bit about an overview of the show The Handmaid's Tale and the book that it's based on. Then I'll get into what I like to call my media literacy section. And this is where I share things that I encourage you to read. listen to or watch shows that will deepen your understanding of how the show was made, that people that are a part of it, critiques of it things that you might not notice or know about if you only watch the show, I think I mentioned this in the first episode of the season. But I know some people are annoyed by viewers like me who want to know so much about what goes into making a show or a movie, I have a hard time separating that from just watching something as entertainment. And I found it really fascinating. Because I'm that type of person to hear that there are people who are very, very conservative, who enjoy watching The Handmaid's Tale and do not see it as anything deeper than just basic entertainments, like pure fiction, they can tune out the political nature of the show, and just watch it as viewers and fans of these characters. I find that really fascinating because I do not have that, whatever that is. But that's not to say that I can't watch something and not agree with the and still take it in and find the value in it. So I,
Jackie Leonard 06:17
I everything that I watch, I really do have this magnifying glass on who made this. Who are the actors involved? What are they trying to say with the show? What is the impact of a show this shows message on other people or perceptions of the people represented on the show? Or movie? I can't turn that off. I mean, even when it comes to things like celebrity gossip, I'm always thinking about what is the say about, you know, say if it's a gossip about a mother and the criticism has to do with their child. I'm thinking about the implications, the ramifications of that on your everyday mom. When a celebrity couple has domestic violence allegations, I'm thinking about real victims of domestic violence and what they might be feeling when these stories become big headlines in the news, and, and so I can't separate it entirely. I can't say to myself as a person, these things don't matter. These stories do not impact or influence our daily lives, even in a small miniscule way. Those things do build and grow over time. So anyway, certain movies and certain shows, I could see the argument that we're just supposed to enjoy this have fun. This is a way to escape. We enjoy that. The Handmaid's Tale is not that kind of show. So before I go in deeper on the show, I'll read a synopsis for anybody who is not as familiar with it. As I am. The Handmaid's Tale is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was the United States. Gilead is ruled by a fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state and is faced with environmental disasters and a plummeting birth rate. In a desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual servitude. One of these women offered is determined to survive the terrifying world she lives in and find the daughter that was taken from her. So I read that synopsis for which was written for the Hulu series of The Handmaid's Tale. That's basically the same synopsis that I would give for the book The Handmaid's Tale, which was written by Margaret Atwood. I'll just share a little bit about Margaret Atwood, her bio, I kept trying to find a short bio, but they're just too long. She has been writing for a long, long time and has many many works that she's written and accolades that I could share. She is most well known especially now for the book The Handmaid's Tale. She's a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essays teacher, environmental activist and inventor. Since 1961. She has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short stories, eight children's books, and two graphic novels and a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction. AdWords works encompass a variety of things including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change and power politics. Many of her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales, which interested her from a very early age. Addition to The Handmaid's Tale. She is also well known for her book The Circle game, which was published in 1966, the Blind Assassin published in 2000, Oryx and Crake, published in 2003 and the 10th, published in 2006. She recently I believe it was released in 2009. tene published a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale called the Testaments. I have not read it but those I know who have have not had great things to say about it and I'll be honest, I'm not a big Margaret Atwood fan. I read The Handmaid's Tale I probably would say I didn't do a close reading I did a very fast read of The Handmaid's Tale and I've also read another book of hers Oryx and Crake. And it might be just the subject matter that she writes about, I just don't get very immersed in the stories and don't feel especially drawn to her characters in a way that I appreciate. In other books that I read and enjoy. Like I said, I think the subject matter might have something to do with that, but for whatever reason, I wouldn't call myself like a Margaret Atwood fan. I'm sure there are people out there who do really love and enjoy her writing. But I'm not one of them. As far as the Hulu series, Handmaid's Tale, I did watch it. Close to when it first aired back in 2017. I remember vividly being pregnant because it was released spring of 2017. And I tried to watch the first episode or two while I was pregnant, and I just couldn't do it. And so I, I put it aside, and I think I watched the whole season later, after, you know, months after becoming a mom. So maybe later in 2017, or sometime in 2018. I finally sat down and started to watch The Handmaid's Tale. But all that to say is it was something that I remember having a really hard time being motivated to watch. But also, there was a ton of buzz about the show back when it aired and, and that made me want to watch it. So eventually, I got into the show. And I think my experience as a viewer has been to be very, like anxiously watching it. And I remember I believe it was, after the third season, I just felt very uncomfortable. And I needed that next season to come out because it ended on a on a note that that just left me so anxious for what was going to happen next. So it's not necessarily something I would say I could say to somebody who asked me like, should I watch it? It's hard to recommend something that's like very difficult to watch. But now that I've been watching it, I am invested. And so I'm sure I will watch the fifth season. I actually made a note at the very top of the first note I wrote down on my preparation for this episode was the question. Does anybody have it in them to watch The Handmaid's Tale anymore? And I don't really know the answer to that. I did say just now that I plan to watch the fifth season, but I do feel really emotionally tired not just because this this season is airing after the Roe v Wade decision happened in June. It weighs heavier to think about watching a show now that's talking about reproductive control and forcing people to have babies feels just too close to home now, right. But I will say when it aired in 2017 it had that same very eerie vibe. And I don't think that is enough to dissuade somebody from watching something or at least me like I can push beyond that discover at at some point if I'm interested enough. I think my biggest sort of reservation for feeling excited or eager to watch this new season has more to do with the the making of the show and just some of the things that have been frustrating about the direction and the longevity of The Handmaid's Tale, as a TV show. So I probably should have said this at the top of the episode but The Handmaid's Tale as a whole is just a big content warning. There's just so much that is problematic and difficult and hard to listen to. So I am not going to get too deep into the storylines, but I am going to bring up certain critiques of the show and things like that. So I might share more about that later. And I just want to give people a heads up, the show does depict rape, it depicts violence, just horrific violence, physical sexual murder, you know, everything. And so even without talking too deeply about the show, these topics are going to probably come up as I share more. And so I just wanted to to caveat that before I dive too far in, but on that note, that's that's one of the first big critiques I have of the show.
Jackie Leonard 14:58
You know, I'm not a big fan of having to watch Do these things play out on screen? I can accept them in moderation to serve a story. But when you're getting into the fifth season of this world, it almost starts to feel like what are we? What are we trying to do here? Why do we have to continue to up the ante of this horrific story each season because the first season was frightening and horrifying and devastating. And just naturally, as we see in entertainment, you want to up the stakes each season and what what is frustrating to me as a viewer, but also very common, when you see something that's successful is the original source material was all pretty much in the first season. And when I finished watching the first season, I thought, oh, like that's it. That's that's where the book ends. So who you know, it left ended on a cliffhanger, but the book did as well. So I just thought that that was it was just going to be a mini series. And I don't know if people remember but around this time when when the show first premiered in 2017 2016. Around that time, shows were being released with big name actors that were presented as many series. So just contained episodic television, and not like a traditional show with multiple seasons. And so I believe when The Handmaid's Tale first came out, it was presented as a mini series. Another show that comes to mind that had the similar rollout was Big Little Lies, which aired on Showtime. It's the show with Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman and other big name actors. That show too was supposed to be a mini series. That was my perception. And then either the the amount of viewers they got or the awards they received for these shows motivated, whoever created them or had the power to keep them going to continue with multiple seasons, I think to the detriment of the story, and The Handmaid's Tale, in my opinion is another example of that. And yet I'm not helping because I continue to watch season two season. And obviously this isn't an ad to watch The Handmaid's Tale, I don't think I'm doing it any favors in the way that I'm presenting the show, but it has helped me over the years to learn more about who's creating the show who's responsible for the stories of the show, because even more so than the original season, these second, third, fourth and fifth season are mostly inspired by the people who are directly creating the show right now. And the two main people that I want to highlight who are responsible for this show, are the showrunner Bruce Miller and the lead actor who plays the main character off read. Elisabeth Moss and she I believe in the third or fourth season of The Handmaid's Tale became executive producer of the show, and she has also directed a number of episodes on the show.
Jackie Leonard 18:20
I've said before that the producer role is very powerful position in the creation of a TV show or movie. I just looked it up there are quite a number of executive producers attached to The Handmaid's Tale. So I don't know how active Elisabeth Moss is in the day to day production of the show. But I do feel as though her being a triple threat in that she has, you know, three big roles in the creation of the show does does play to her level of sway in in the storylines and the material that are created on the series. So Admittedly, I do not have a subscription to The Guardian and I maxed out my article content for the month. So I was going to reference a few parts of this article, but I'm just going to share with you that in the show notes I've linked this is an article that came out back in 2016, I believe, when The Handmaid's Tale was announced to be made into a series for Hulu. The headline is The Handmaid's Tale is coming to Hulu. With a white man at the helm. It's great news that the feminist dystopian novel will be adapted into a TV series, but why tell progressive stories on screen if we can't learn from them. So in it, it gets into just the fact that Bruce Miller is a white man who was hired to be the showrunner for The Handmaid's Tale and just how or much of a mess. That felt like when it was announced back in 2016. It still sits weird to me like I just don't understand why they couldn't have done it differently. As a showrunner Bruce Miller has been very vocal he's responded to people on like, I think he's known to go on Reddit and Twitter and defend things about the show and his decisions. And he's I used to listen to a recap podcast on The Handmaid's Tale. And he came on as a guest to talk about some of the criticism that people have about the show. I read a recent interview from him, and he's still doubling down that he felt like he was the best person to create the show. And he said something along the lines of if there was someone better out there, I would have gladly stepped aside, which just feels really dismissive to me that he couldn't admit that perhaps, a woman, somebody who directly could be impacted by this world that Margaret Atwood created would not be a better person to render this story. I find that really interesting that he would double down and say that, I guess he might have to, because otherwise, why did you do it? Like he doesn't just admit, like, I really wanted to do it. And I knew that possibly it should have gone to somebody else. But since I have the job, like, I'm gonna make the best of it. I think that's the subtext of of what he was trying to say, because he did share that he surrounded himself with women writers in the writers room, and how that was something that he had never seen or experienced before to be the only man in the room on a show. But something tells me that's a bit of an exaggeration, like I think, I think there are a lot of men involved in the making of The Handmaid's Tale. And I just wonder and imagine how cool it might have been if the people in power were exclusively women. I have to wonder also, I mean, I don't know Bruce Miller, personally, but to imagine that middle aged white man is the showrunner for this series, sitting in a writers room, even if they are all women with him in the writers room. How much agency do these individual writers in the room have to push back on an idea that Bruce Miller really wants to make happen? I'd be interested to know just how open and how much power were these writers given? Or was it just his way of trying to diffuse the criticism to hire more women writers?
Jackie Leonard 22:53
I don't know. There has also been a lot of criticism of the show with regard to it's essentially being a white feminist show and not an intersectionally feminist series. choices were definitely made to have more representation in the series than in the novel. But there has been criticism that essentially what that's translated to is a colorblind attitude to the casting because even though they have cast actors who are black and people of color, the characters do not directly address race relations or racism and prejudice in the series. And because it's central character, Elisabeth Moss is a white woman. The heroics are reserved for her. And so often, the black character in the show ends up being the one who gets killed or does something that just doesn't make sense, or is the follower of offering June in the series and so it doesn't sit well with people watching it, especially because it's not directly addressed. In a world where this kind of oppression is happening. It's hard to imagine that racism and white supremacy wouldn't be something that was a part of it. And that is the subject matter of the second reading that I wanted to share, which is from nylon that had the title of this article is THE HANDMAID'S TALE still hasn't fixed its race problem. The sub headline is and probably never will. This was written by Sally Bowen, and I'll read a short excerpt from the article. She says that women of color still only exist in this televised world via their proximity to white women. Even after two seasons of valid critique feels like a testament to a very white writers room. Y'all and Shane, a woman of color wrote three episodes of The Handmaid's Tale including the third up pisode of the third season which was directed by a black woman, but the other nine people who have written for the show over the past few years are white and it shows. Unfortunately, this could also be part of the key to the show's success. Jun is both the relatable victim of a problematic regime and the white savior who is going to burn the whole thing to the ground. Within the confines of the show was the white woman's experience and victory will also be hers, with some minor assists from women of color. This is to be expected when white people are charged with dreaming up their version of gender based oppression. So she goes on to say that it's very obvious that the show's creators are aware of its criticism and still haven't done anything to really reflect that they have actually listened and internalized what is being said in a meaningful way. The last bit of reading that you might find interesting, I shared a little bit about how involved the actor Elisabeth Moss is in the production of The Handmaid's Tale serving as an executive producer and also having directed a number of episodes herself. To date. I don't believe she's a mom, which doesn't necessarily mean she couldn't play one. Obviously on The Handmaid's Tale. I'm not arguing that per se, but what I will say about her that I find suspicious or odd, and has been written about is the fact that she is a Scientologist. And what I've learned is not just, you know, a regular Scientologists, they don't know the degrees to which you could be a Scientologist, but she was raised in Scientology, a very active member, her family, I believe, is pretty prominent in Scientology, and obviously, we don't know the ins and outs of her involvement in Scientology, but she has defended quite vehemently Scientology when she has spoken on it and use language that in what I've read from people who've decoded her language is very on brand with Scientology, she highlights that, for example, Scientology helped make her a better communicator, which people have said is this something that is commonly marketed through Scientology, and it's such a, such a positive thing that who could argue against wanting to be a part of something that makes you a better communicator, for example. I'm not going to get into the ins and outs of Scientology and all that there are a number of documentaries and podcasts that touch on this if you're interested in learning more about why Scientology itself.
Jackie Leonard 27:40
Somebody who is proud Scientologists would be a weird fit. For somebody playing the role of June Osborne and The Handmaid's Tale. People have argued that somebody who is a part of what is considered a pretty oppressive cult like powerful religious institution, someone who has also proudly at it and defends it. And considering her status in Hollywood, and her dedication for being in it for so long. She probably is at a very high status. In the Scientology rankings isn't maybe the best person to play. Somebody's trying to break free of a very similar, oppressive institution like Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale. So what comes to mind is Leah remedies documentary about escaping Scientology? I don't remember the exact name of that, but you may have heard of it. It went on to win an Emmy, there's actually a discussion in an interview I'm gonna reference where Elizabeth Moss touches on the fact that she I think she won an Emmy in the same year that Leah Remini won an Emmy for her expert essay on her experience in Scientology, and how at the time, Elizabeth Moss allegedly went to the bathroom while Leah was accepting her award, and it caused, obviously some drama in the headlines. And Elisabeth Moss kind of shrugged it off and says, It wasn't anything that that intentional. I could have sworn there was a an episode of the sounds like a cult podcast on Scientology that I was going to refer you to but they have not done one yet. They did went on Celebrity megachurches, which is similar to Scientology. They may reference it throughout the episode, but it's not the focus. I think what I remembered is actually one of the hosts of the sounds like a cult podcast, Amanda Montel, wrote a book before the podcast came out, called cultish, the language of fanaticism. And there is a chapter that dives into Scientology more so I'm just sharing all this with you in case you don't know too much about Scientology and are curious that's a good place to live. Look, in addition to the documentary if you're interested in it, but I'm going to link in the show notes, a New Yorker profile that was written on Elisabeth Moss earlier this year, titled How Elisabeth Moss became the Dark Lady of this small screen. It really spans her whole career and life and talks about different projects she's worked on. In addition to The Handmaid's Tale it references her family history in Scientology and her own relationship with it today. And I just think it's a pretty good read to understand the actor behind this very prominent role in The Handmaid's Tale. I really enjoy her in her role. I think she's a fantastic actress, she's really captivating in the way she plays the character at least while I'm gonna caveat that but in the first couple of seasons, I felt like she really was compelling as June Osborne, and says so much without even saying a word and that speaks to her craft and talent and work. But it's hard given the context of the show the material on the show, the important subject matter that they're facing to reconcile that she is also a Scientologist, and part of something that has been called out as an abusive institution. I remember when The Handmaid's Tale first came out, and they were doing press for it. Elisabeth Moss was asked something about Handmaid's Tale with regard to it being a feminist story. And she responded by saying that it was not a feminist story, the exact quote was, it's not a feminist story. It's a human story because women rights are human rights. And obviously, as a poll quote, you could pull out the Elizabeth Moss said The Handmaid's Tale is not a feminist story. And that alone could be, you know, cause a lot of people to scratch their heads because of the subject matter. But even with her sort of points about saying that it's not feminist because it's about women's rights and women's rights or human rights. It had very all lives matter vibes
Jackie Leonard 32:23
with her saying that, and obviously they're not the same issues, but for her to kind of say, Oh, this can't be feminist because it's about women and women are humans. So it's about everybody. And I'm pretty sure especially at the time that it was being promoted that The Handmaid's Tale was being marketed as a feminist show, and one that highlighted the injustices that could happen and were happening and have happened to women, honestly, since the beginning of time, but that was becoming a pressing threat, potentially, in our future for more women. So her comments are her statements in that interview, went against that, and she had to then do an interview with The New York Times later and said, That was my mistake in the sense that I should have been much clearer. What I should have said is that it is not only a feminist story, but it is also a human story. Obviously, it is, first and foremost a feminist story. I play a woman who has had her child and her family taken away from her and all of her rights as a woman stripped and who is essentially a prisoner. But I was trying to say that it was also a human story in the sense that there are other groups, other races, colors and creeds who are punished and maligned and are not given the right to be heard as well. So to me, I think I'll give her credit for going on and correcting herself, but it does feel like this was probably in response to the production of the show, wanting to make sure that its lead actor was consistent with their messaging. Who knows but I have noticed in the in the season since the first couple of The Handmaid's Tale, just feeling like June, Osborne, as a character was given so much focus and so many close ups. And there are so many other characters on the show that are so fascinating, and I know that originally it started out because of the character Jun Osbourne, you know, being the narrator of this show, but there were a lot of opportunities to highlight more characters in different ways. And it seems as though ever since Elisabeth Moss became an executive producer, it has just become so much more about giving her character, the front and center above everybody else. And so that that's left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth, alongside the Scientology stuff and everything else with regard to the show, especially with regard to being able to do something subversive, or really progressive, in light of our times, and with the people who are responsible to tell these stories. I feel like last week I talked about the movie pray, and how I felt like you could see how intentional the people who created that movie, were about representing and fully rendering and centering the stories of the Comanche people in the movie. And I don't see that same effort being made with The Handmaid's Tale. It feels more like token representation with not a lot of depth, or intention, or centering of the people whose stories have been silenced. Which, to me goes against what Elizabeth Moss says to the New Yorker as a correction to her earlier statement. So with all of that being said, I wonder if for me personally, watching The Handmaid's Tale has become more of a hate watch, or like an informative watch and no longer something that I feel is something I would recommend per se. But But yeah, I still I'd still think I'm going to at least continue to watch it for now. We'll see what they do with this this next season. I'm feeling a little weary because I don't think this will be the last season and and that is frustrating for the reasons I've shared earlier. I just think it needs to end. But maybe it's my fault as a viewer for continuing to support it by watching it at least. But to counter talking about The Handmaid's Tale, part of what I wanted to do with this episode is offer alternatives or just other stories that are out there. For anybody who maybe doesn't like The Handmaid's Tale or does really like it and once more, so I found three books that I wanted to recommend to you to read. Two of them
Jackie Leonard 37:20
I have begun to read, I'm very much a start and stop kind of person and I jump back in frequently with my reads. So these two books, one of them I just started reading, and I hope to finish by the end of this month, the other one I started to read and had to put back down but I do intend to finish I actually just got the audiobook version. So I think that will help me. And then the last book is one that I have not yet read but it does sound really interesting and has gotten a lot of praise. So so the first book, the one that I am currently reading, but only a couple chapters into is Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. And this is a book that has long been on my to read list, especially ever since The Handmaid's Tale came out I heard a lot about Octavia Butler being a writer who should have more acclaim and be more well known. So Octavia Butler, for people who do not know was an American science fiction writer, one of the best known among the few African American women in the field, she won both Hugo and Nebula Awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. I really liked this detail that I read on her Wikipedia page. It says Butler began reading science fiction at a young age but quickly became disenchanted by the genres, an imaginative portrayal of ethnicity and class as well as by its lack of noteworthy female protagonist. She is determined to correct those gaps by choosing to write self consciously as an African American woman marked by a particular history, what Butler termed as writing myself in Butler's stories, therefore are usually written from the perspective of a marginalized black woman, whose difference from the dominant agents increases her potential for reconfiguring the future of her society. So to go back to the parable of the sower, this is a synopsis of the book in 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a faithful journey toward a better future. Lauren, Hola, Mina, and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles, behind the walls of their defeated enclave. Lauren's father, a preacher and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs disease, war and chronic water resource shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path. Lauren struggles with hyper empathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others. When fire destroys their compound, Lauren's family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea. That may mean salvation for all mankind. So that's my first recommendation. The next I have talked about I remember I talked about it with regard to the episode on the movie The lost daughter, I believe, but this book, it came out earlier this year. The School for Good mothers by Jessamine Shan I'll talk about just mean a little bit later, but this is the book's synopsis. Freda Lewis struggling, she doesn't have a career where the upper Chinese immigrant parents sacrifices she can't persuade her husband guest to give up his wellness obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet. They're sure Rubik daughter does Freda finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has. But she is just enough. Until Freda has a very bad day. The state has its eyes on mothers like free to the ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground, who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now determine if freedom is a candidate for a big brother like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother's devotion. Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet freedom as proved that a bad mother can be redeemed that she can learn to be good. So this is the book that I have started reading. I started reading it earlier this year, and how to put it down it was kind of a lot
Jackie Leonard 41:42
hit close to home in certain ways. And so I do intend to pick it back up because I do want to finish it but it is a longer read. And the last book that I wanted to recommend is power by Naomi Alderman Naomi is an English novelist and game writer. She was born in 1974 in London, England. She is best known for a speculative science fiction novel The power which won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2017. One of President Obama's favorite books of 2017. And Bill Gates recently wrote a review after reading the book. So some very powerful men were intrigued by her book apparently so this is a synopsis for power.
Jackie Leonard 42:27
In the power the world is a recognizable place. There's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool, a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature, an ambitious American politician, a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense power, physical power, they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And with a small twist of nature, the world drastically resets from award winning author Naomi alderman, the power is speculative fiction at its most ambitious and provocative at once taking us on a thrilling journey to an alternate reality and exposing our own world in bold and surprising ways. So those are my reading recommendations inspired by The Handmaid's Tale. And the last thing I wanted to share. Inspired by the show Handmaid's Tale, is I want to talk about writing with regards to stories that are written by women, specifically mothers, that speak about the experiences of women and mothers and specifically, in the genre of speculative fiction or dystopian fiction. I shared earlier about The Handmaid's Tale show and how the showrunner is a white man, and how even when the show was first announced, that kind of got people scratching their heads and wondering why they didn't try to do something more progressive with such a controversial difficult show, specifically about mothering and birthing children. And so I found it really encouraging to see that there are mothers out there who are reading stories in this genre, and that they're getting more attention. And I spoke about Jessamine Chan's book The School for Good mothers earlier, which on its own, I wanted to highlight but even more so I recently read a New York Times feature on decimates mean Shan about publishing and her experience of publishing her first book after 40 and after becoming a mom, so I'll read her bio first for you jessamy and chance short stories have appeared in tin house and eat Buck, a former reviews editor at Publishers Weekly she holds an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Brown University. Her work has received support from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the bread loaves Writers Conference, the Wurlitzer Foundation, gentle, the Kimmel, Harding Nelson Center, the Anderson center, vcca and Ragdale. She lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter. So as I shared earlier, I already knew about just to be in Chan's book because I had started reading it earlier this year. But just last week, I believe I started seeing a quote floating around on social media. That said, I'd like people to know that it's possible for a debut author in her 40s, a woman of color, a mom who led a quiet life online, with no brand building whatsoever to have this experience. And I was pleased to see that that was a quote from Jessamine Chan, and her profile in the New York Times about her publishing journey. And if you're a writer, I especially encourage you to take some time to read it in full. What I've read some criticism, like people were saying, obviously, she was connected, she got her MFA from Columbia, and her BA from Brown. And she was working with Publishers Weekly, she had connections, and that's why she had her book published. But what I think she says, And the quote still rings true, she had not published a book herself until her 40s After becoming a mom, and she noticed that she was a woman of color, who led a quiet life offline with no brand building before taking on the task of trying to get her book published. I don't think she shies away from what her resources were and what she had to utilize to become a published author. And that's why I appreciate reading the full profile. But it really does get into the the nuts and bolts and the nitty gritty of her writing process and her publishing process. I think she had a lot of success in ways that other people do not along the way. But that speaks to the story that she told and just some of the Fortune that she had, in who she reached out to and who she was able to, to get as part of her team to make this book happen. I love especially a quote in the profile where she says my book really does have so many moms. And I appreciate the transparency of that statement, we talk so much about how motherhood takes a village and I don't read enough about how the act of publishing really does take a village and that most people who are publishing books today have a team around them that they have to assemble and that have to be on board, and that have a hand in crafting and creating the story beyond your final draft that you start to send out. The other reading for the writers out there that I want to share is also an interview with Jessamine chan for lit hub. And this is a great one, it really felt very motivating and inspiring to me, because in this Jessamine admits that after having her baby, she had to go back and essentially rewrite a lot of her finished draft for the school for good mothers. She had her full draft done before her daughter was born. And then when she went back to review it, she realized she had to make so many corrections. One example she gives us that she had the toddler in the book, speaking full paragraphs and learn very quickly that like that's not realistic.
Jackie Leonard 48:50
And she says, I didn't know that very basic things like getting a child out the door in the morning, where there's Gauntlets of emotion and that everyone would have high upper level feelings in those 35 minutes of getting out the door. Or when my daughter would just plant herself on the sidewalk at the park and refuse to get in the stroller and would make her body like a sandbag, which my therapist called the protests or resisting arrest to move, and which I totally wrote into the book. But in those moments when the whole neighborhood is passing by you and you're just there, raising your voice at your child and all of Westphalia was turning around and staring at me. I didn't realize how many buildings I'd go through and that 20 minutes, the book gave me an outlet for where those thorny or feelings could go. So to me, I really appreciated that because myself, there's some writing that I've been revisiting that I wrote long before I had children that that I myself feel very disconnected from and I'm trying to find ways to make it read more authentic and true, especially when the story is about mothers and children. So there's something really freeing and encouraging to hear a writer share that their lived experiences more time. Becoming a mother has made her a more aware writer for the story that she was trying to tell. And specifically, she originally started writing this this book The School for Good mothers before becoming a mother, and then realized after becoming a mom that there was so much more that she knew now that she could infuse into her story to make it better. And I feel like if that's not an argument for why I've been shouting essentially that The Handmaid's Tale and other stories that are so closely tied to motherhood should be told by mothers. So I hope you enjoyed all I had to say about The Handmaid's Tale and mostly what was inspired because of my thoughts on The Handmaid's Tale. My last little bit of information that I wanted to share with you, especially for the writers listening is this week, actually, tomorrow, if you're listening to the day that this episode airs, on Wednesday, September 14, at 10am Pacific Time, I am hosting an open house for mother scopes writers club, and this is our monthly weekly membership. That is really an ongoing support and community for any mom out there who writes. And that means it whether you're a published writer, or a writer who just likes to journal, privately, this is a space for writers to come together who are moms and support each other and encourage each other and hold each other accountable to prioritize their writing. So this open house event that I'm talking about is the only opportunity we've opted for people to come in for free to see what our creative workshops are like. And if you are interested, I'll drop the link for that in the show notes. Like I said, it's my my marketing is off because I should have talked about this last week. But if you're listening and want to join in, there's still time. If it's not yet September 14, all you have to do is sign up and you'll get the Zoom link for free to attend. For our creativity workshop. Tomorrow, we are going to be using food or drink something that you can taste to tell a story. So I hope you'll join us. And if you're listening after September 14, but are interested in joining our membership, I'd love for you to reach out to me you can DM me on Instagram and other scope or email me. My email address is Hello at Mother scope.com. And I'd be happy to share more with you about what to expect inside the membership if you're interested. So to wrap up, why would I give The Handmaid's Tale in terms of is it a mom advocates guilty pleasure or guilty of inducing a mom guilt? Honestly, this might be a little hypercritical, but I would give it the mom guilt stamp honestly, I do feel like it does say some interesting things. But I don't know that they've done it responsibly. The show doesn't seem to have a clear message and some of the inconsistencies and the things that they continue to not really address directly. I feel like it's become something that's more for shock value and entertainment value. And because it's handling such scary subject matter. I couldn't really call it a guilty pleasure and I couldn't say it's a mom advocate so it gets the mom guilt stamp for me. And to send you off.
Jackie Leonard 53:49
Here's this week's writing prompt, inspired by Jessamine Chan. Right about a moment in your life as a mother when time slowed down significantly. For better or for worse.