A Feminist Approach to the Universe of Handmaid’s Tale in Relation to its Sociopolitical Genesis

DOUTORANDA Sara Tabuyo Santaclara
TITULO A Feminist Approach to the Universe of Handmaid’s Tale in Relation to its Sociopolitical Genesis
DIRECTORA

Belén Martín Lucas
LIÑA DE INVESTIGACIÓN Feminario
RESUMO

My thesis will be focused on an analysis of the universe of The Handmaid’s Tale, including the novel by Margaret Atwood published in 1985, the 2017 television adaptation by Bruce Miller and the sequel to the first novel published in 2019: The Testaments. In this analysis I will mainly explore these works in connection to the context in which they emerge and analyze representations of class, gender and race. The thesis will be divided into four main points. The first section will analyze the texts as works of speculative fiction, which take inspiration from real events to create their narrative and I will focus on how the sociopolitical context of each moment of publication has influenced each of the media productions. The following section will address how class is represented with a hierarchical system with strict gender roles loosely based on biblical texts and on surrogacy practices. The next part will be focused on the currents of feminism that can be seen across the three works of fiction and through different characters. Finally, the last section will provide a comparative analysis of the portrayal of race in the universe of The Handmaid’s Tale, which has been criticized both in the first novel and the series. The objective of my project is to provide a thorough analysis of the above-mentioned points while using a combination of feminist, postcolonial, queer and globalization studies as a critical lens.

 
ENTRADA NO PROGRAMA 2019
PALABRAS CLAVE The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, Dystopia, Feminism, Postfeminism