There has been a steady rise in feminist dystopian TV shows, but why are we still reverting to shows like The Handmaid’s Tale? Dystopian TV inevitability mirrors reality, as it exploits the cracks within our own broken system before society descends into anarchy. The genre poses the question of what would happen if we subverted the structures that confine us, or if we regressed into a more repressive regime. Typically, dystopia does not favour women. Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale degrades its women to handmaidens (servants) or wives, who exist to fulfil men’s needs and their biological duty to bear children.
Elisabeth Moss and Alexis Bledel as the Handmaids Offred and Ofglen in Hulu’s new limited series, The Handmaid’s Tale.</em
Mistreated, abused and murdered at the hands of men for their sex, the Emmy-winning series follows these women as they begin the steep, somewhat futile task of overthrowing their male oppressors.
New forms
Thankfully, a new form of dystopia is emerging, where women are being given the authority that they’ve historically been denied. Amazon’s adaptation of Naomi Alderton’s 2016 best-selling novel The Power has just concluded its first season, which followed a handful of young women who developed the supernatural ability to shoot electricity through their fingertips. Like The Handmaid’s Tale, The Power explores similar themes of misogyny, rape and violence against women from the opposing stance of women being assisted out of their horrific circumstances with an otherworldly gift to annihilate the patriarchy. In The Power, Allie (Halle Bush) murders her abusive foster father who sexually assaults her, while Roxy (Ria Zmitrowicz) avenges her mother’s brutal death by destroying her killers. These young women also awaken the power in the elder generation of their gender, to allow every woman to access their inner ability to electrocute people with one single zap.
Toni Collette stars in The Power. Credit: Prime Video
It’s rare to see one woman be angry on-screen, let alone watch all of them explore such a visceral and violent emotion. This historically ‘unfeminine’ trait is typically only explored within superhero shows like WandaVision. As a woman, it was refreshing to watch my on-screen counterparts break out of their subservient positions and lean into their new-found dominance. It’s empowering to see women challenge a system that has endangered and exploited them, to the extent that we’re fearful to walk home alone. At a time when we should be celebrating this emerging sub-genre and the depiction of more strong women on-screen, there’s barely any buzz at all. The most problematic part about The Power is not the chaos that the superpowered women cause, but the fact the show has completely slid under the radar.
Creative differences
It seems that dystopian series where women are suppressed (and have to fight for their basic right for autonomy) are more palatable than when women are not subjugated or controlled. After all, a free woman, who is not constrained by and exists outside of the patriarchy, threatens not only the on-screen social system, but our own too.
The Handmaid’s Tale. Credit: Hulu
The mixed reception to The Power could be due to the quality of the Prime Video series, which doesn’t quite live up to the high standard set by Hulu’s Atwood adaptation. Ironically, The Handmaid’s Tale director Reed Morano was originally at the helm of the show, and even shot the first two episodes with actors Leslie Mann and Tim Robbins. Yet, Morano (along with Mann and Robbins) exited the project, due to ‘creative differences’ with the streaming giant. As a result, the ten-part series was condensed into nine episodes, steered under multiple different directors. However, the series is not short on star quality. Led by Toni Collette, the cast also featuresTed Lasso’sToheeb Jimoh, as well as The Menu’sJohn Leguizamo. Alongside this, The Power similarly to The Handmaid’s Tale had the benefit of an existing audience from its time as a New York Times bestselling novel and boasted a hefty Amazon budget. Therefore, the tepid reaction seems to be part of a wider reaction to the up-and-coming sub-genre of feminist dystopias. There was also an underwhelming reaction to Hulu’s Y: The Last Man. The 2021 science-fiction series followed the aftermath of a mysterious cataclysmic event that wiped out every mammal with a Y chromosome. What was left behind was a world of women and one surviving man, Yorick, along with his (male) monkey.
This one-series wonder was not renewed for another season, which does not provide much hope for The Power’s undetermined future. Meanwhile, The Handmaid’s Tale, boasts five seasons to the one book with a spin-off series in development based on Atwood’s 2019 novel, The Testaments.
Where do we go from here?
There is clearly an appetite for this genre, but it’s disheartening that these progressive, feminist dystopias are being decommissioned, as potentially women-led stories won’t be funded at all in the future. It’s extremely worrying that there is still more of a fascination with watching a repressed woman attempt to fight back in dystopian TV, than an empowered one exerting her authority. The women’s electrical sting might be a threat in The Power, but it poses no off-screen impact, other than to shine a light on the gender-based injustice women still face every day.
The Power. Credit: Prime Video
Sure, the series examines how the patriarchy could be dismantled, but it also hammers home the harsh reality that this uprising could only happen if women were given a physical ability that enabled them to rival a man’s own physical strength. Therefore, while it should be fun to witness women relish in a life-altering power that frees them from their own circumstances, it is tainted by the audience’s inability to stomach the thought of women holding unlimited power and freedom.
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Mistreated, abused and murdered at the hands of men for their sex, the Emmy-winning series follows these women as they begin the steep, somewhat futile task of overthrowing their male oppressors.
It’s rare to see one woman be angry on-screen, let alone watch all of them explore such a visceral and violent emotion. This historically ‘unfeminine’ trait is typically only explored within superhero shows like WandaVision.
As a woman, it was refreshing to watch my on-screen counterparts break out of their subservient positions and lean into their new-found dominance. It’s empowering to see women challenge a system that has endangered and exploited them, to the extent that we’re fearful to walk home alone.
At a time when we should be celebrating this emerging sub-genre and the depiction of more strong women on-screen, there’s barely any buzz at all. The most problematic part about The Power is not the chaos that the superpowered women cause, but the fact the show has completely slid under the radar.
The mixed reception to The Power could be due to the quality of the Prime Video series, which doesn’t quite live up to the high standard set by Hulu’s Atwood adaptation. Ironically, The Handmaid’s Tale director Reed Morano was originally at the helm of the show, and even shot the first two episodes with actors Leslie Mann and Tim Robbins.
Yet, Morano (along with Mann and Robbins) exited the project, due to ‘creative differences’ with the streaming giant. As a result, the ten-part series was condensed into nine episodes, steered under multiple different directors.
However, the series is not short on star quality. Led by Toni Collette, the cast also features Ted Lasso’s Toheeb Jimoh, as well as The Menu’s John Leguizamo. Alongside this, The Power similarly to The Handmaid’s Tale had the benefit of an existing audience from its time as a New York Times bestselling novel and boasted a hefty Amazon budget.
Therefore, the tepid reaction seems to be part of a wider reaction to the up-and-coming sub-genre of feminist dystopias. There was also an underwhelming reaction to Hulu’s Y: The Last Man. The 2021 science-fiction series followed the aftermath of a mysterious cataclysmic event that wiped out every mammal with a Y chromosome. What was left behind was a world of women and one surviving man, Yorick, along with his (male) monkey.
Sure, the series examines how the patriarchy could be dismantled, but it also hammers home the harsh reality that this uprising could only happen if women were given a physical ability that enabled them to rival a man’s own physical strength.
Therefore, while it should be fun to witness women relish in a life-altering power that frees them from their own circumstances, it is tainted by the audience’s inability to stomach the thought of women holding unlimited power and freedom.
