Five years ago, Xiaomei once saw a stunning scene in an American drama -
The wife sits opposite her husband, a strange woman dressed in red lies under her wife's crotch, the husband stands on the edge of the bed, and the three of them form a "six-pointed star" to complete the mysterious "mating ceremony" together.
This scene shocked many small partners who chased the drama.
However, people who have chased the entire season may understand that this is just a small scene in the play that makes people shudder.
The woman is no longer an individual and more like a walking "fertility tool".
Many people commented that it is not a science fiction film or an erotic film, but a "horror film" that points directly to the moment.
Now this phenomenon-level American drama has finally returned after two years -
The Handmaid's Tale Season 4
The Handmaid's Tale Season 4
The play is based on the original novel of the same name by writer Margaret Atwood.
At the American Drama Oscars Emmy Awards, he won five heavyweight awards for best drama series, best actress, best supporting actress, best director, and best screenwriter;
At the same time, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama and Best Actress.
There is no dissatisfaction in the country, the first season 8.8 points, the second season 8.9 points, the third season 8.4 points.
Set off a craze for drama chasing around the world.
Viewers who don't know the first three seasons don't have to worry, because the plot is developing slowly, and the background can be roughly reviewed.
The story of the series is set in a future world where the birth rate has plummeted and the environment has been severely polluted.
After a revolution, the United States established a totalitarian religious society of men.
The government was overthrown and a dystopian state, the Republic of Gilead, was established.
Gilead pursued a policy of polygamy, treating women as state property.
Among them, fertile women are called handmaidens.
They wear uniform uniforms with no dignity to speak of.
The meaning of their existence is to take turns bearing children for the archbishops in power.
Those who cannot have children can only become maids.
Eventually, he was exiled to a radioactive colony to work.
The maid completes the weird "fertilization ritual" mentioned in the opening chapter during ovulation every month until she becomes pregnant.
Any form of resistance will face punishment, ranging from going out an eye to circumcising.
It doesn't matter if you cut off your hands and feet, as long as the uterus is still pregnant.
Since then, childbirth has become a "rule" that cannot be violated, and those who contradict fertility are illegal.
Moreover, in order to make women willingly accept this system, a special institutional department has been set up to brainwash.
Over time, these women, like boiled frogs in warm water, gradually became numb, acquiescing to this cruel reality as the norm.
And our heroine Joan is a typical rebel.
She originally had a harmonious and happy family, but after the coup d'état in Gilead, she and her daughter were arrested on the run.
Since then, she has changed from Joan to "Handmaid" Ofred.
She was forced to lose herself, and even her name carried the meaning of "obedience to the bishop".
The story of the first season revolves around Joan, telling the story of her self-struggle on the road to awakening.
Imprisonment, enslavement, and brainwashing did not bury her desire for freedom.
By the second season, Joan became acquainted with the Resistance, which grew in strength, and even the Bishop's wife, Serena, began to awaken.
But at the moment when she is about to escape from hell, Joan chooses to stay in Gilead for her daughter and goes back into darkness.
In the third season, Joan took the initiative.
In order not to let the children born by the women repeat the same mistakes, they planned and successfully sent away dozens of children from Gilead.
At the end, Joan is shot by the villain, causing many people to break out in a cold sweat.
But she wasn't dead.
The new season follows the end of the third season.
The maids rescued Joan and fled to live on a farm.
The bishop of the family was an elderly officer, and the affairs were mainly taken care of by Mrs. Case.
This lady looks childish on the outside, but her heart is not ordinary fierce.
After hearing about Joan's deeds, she had long been looking forward to seeing Joan and expressed that she wanted to kill with Joan.
It turned out that Mrs. Keith had also suffered inhuman treatment, and was repeatedly humiliated by the men brought by the bishop.
After catching a soldier who had insulted Mrs. Case.
Joan encouraged Mrs. Case to slash the enemy with her own hands.
The two women, supporting each other and caring for each other, reached the deepest resonance, which was very moving.
And Joan's road to resistance this season is even more difficult.
She learned that the bishops had gathered to discuss the military reconquest of the children who had been sent out of Gilead.
She resolutely ran to the club and poisoned several bishops.
She contacted an anti-Gilead organization and watched as the group was about to usher in the dawn of freedom.
But at a critical moment, Gilead uses Joan's daughter to blackmail her into saying where she is safe.
Are these oppressed women going back to hell?
Against the clutches of totalitarian powers, will Joan succeed in her counterattack?
To be sure, this season's Joan is ready to go on a killing spree...
Many people classify The Handmaid's Tale as a dystopian society.
Atwood, the original author of The Handmaid's Tale, once said:
"Remember, all the details I use in this book have happened in history.
In other words, it's not science fiction. ”
The absurdity of women being reduced to fertility machines, the numbness of the world under the totalitarian manipulation.
These are not fantasies and fabrications, but reflections on reality.
Women's plight is pervasive on a global scale, but to vary in degree from place to place.
Science fiction works like "The Handmaid's Tale" are actually meant to be wary of the present and avoid historical regression and recurrence.
Over the past few seasons, Xiaomei has been pondering a question:
Does Gilead care about fertility and children?
It seems to be.
They do whatever it takes to reduce women to a "walking womb."
But in the fourth season, the bishop spoke his heart:
Gilead does not care about children, Gilead only cares about rights.
In such a totalitarian society, all means of oppressing the world are directed to one end: the seizure of power in one's hands.
This is also what fascinates the show "The Handmaid's Tale".
It calmly tells us about the hidden humanity behind the absurd reality.
A woman, awakened in totalitarianism, leads everyone to the light and breaks through the shackles.
This injects a shot in the arm for all those who suffer from strange vision and unfair treatment.
It is worth mentioning that the actor who plays Joan, Elizabeth Moss, has become the director of the fourth season from the main actor of the first three seasons.
In this season, the protagonist's aura becomes severe, even a little bit of a personal hero myth.
It is indeed unrealistic to create a "superhero", but after suppressing the first three seasons, this season will give us a lot of hope and comfort.
Whether the future will be beautiful or absurd depends on each and every one of us