The Handmaid's Tale - Season 1?

analysis
#1

I’m not sure about it, but I give a try:

Change, Start?, Beer, Intuitive?, Action, Optionlock, Outcome: ?, Good

OT: Situation
Concern : The Past
Issue: Destiny vs Fate

MC: Manipulation - Offred
Concern: Developing a Plan
Issue: Circumstances vs Situation
Problem: Aware, Solution: Self Aware
Sympthom: Inequity, Response: Equity

IC: Activity - Ofglen
Concern: Understanding
Issue: Interpretation vs Senses

RT: Fixed Attitude - Friendship/ cautious vs rebellious handmaid
Concern: Memories
Issue: Suspicion vs Evidence

I am uncertain about OT…
(Maybe OT-Fixed Attitude with problem of Order sounds better…Or the problem of Order in the context of Situation?.. I am really confused now. :smile: )
Any thoughts? What’s your opinion? :slight_smile:

#2

Considering that season 1 ends on a cliff hanger that continues season 2, can we even come up with a complete storyform? Not sure how it works with a series that isn’t over and doesn’t seem to have a story arc wrapped up in 1 season.

#3

Couldn’t each episode have its own storyform?

#4

I think much of the first season follows the book, but then fills out characters and details of the world. I did enjoy the book, but it remember thinking that the MC perspective was so intense and that the rest of the throughlines were thinly illustrated. But I could be missing something.

#5

My wife started watching this recently. Quick anecdote, she used to tell me she didn’t know how I could watch all the zombies movies and different things I liked because they were all so bleak and depressing (see, I’d say they were bleak and depressing at times, when needed, but mostly they’re just good fun!) and then she goes and starts watching this! As far as I can tell, it doesn’t get more bleak or depressing. I tried to watch it with her, and it’s not a bad show. But I couldn’t handle more than 1 or 2 episodes at a time while she wanted to watch probably 4 or 5 in a row one day.

When I quit watching she made a comment that I would like it more if it were about a man. My first thought was, ‘well, yeah, but it’s not what you think’. I was thinking, of course, that it can still be about June, but that I might be more into it if she were a linear problem solver. I assume she’s a holistic problem solver-she seems to be trying to balance life as a handmaid with keeping her daughter safe and her relationship with Nick and the Waterford’s and all. And, bleak and depressing as it is, I really think I probably would like the show better if June had a more specific goal that she was working toward. If she were tracking down her daughter, planning an escape, anything other than just waiting around letting these people be awful to her. Even if her goal is something awful, something bleak and depressing, like giving up on her old family, accepting life in Gilead, and working toward getting pregnant. Note that I’m not saying it would make the show better, just that I’d be able to get more into it.

Anyway, it seemed like a neat confirmation of Dramatica’s statements about problem solving style and how linear problem solvers have a harder time empathizing with holistic problem solving (now watch someone come along and tell me she actually is a linear problem solver! Haha)

#6

(if it makes a difference, I’m talking about the show in general, watching in season 2, so I don’t remember the specifics of every season 1 ep, but there is an escape attempt. I haven’t read the book.)

It’s bleak, but I find that the characters continuing to endure and find some way to emotionally survive is hopeful. A lifetime of cultural messages about how female (or other groups) = weak/inferior can take a toll on a person’s confidence, leaving one wondering “What if it’s true, or else why would this oppression have been ‘allowed’ to continue for so many centuries?”…yet, you can’t watch these characters and call them weak, even if they are held captive, and outside forces are trying to break their spirits and the pressure is cracking them, or attempts to rebel fail. Regardless of how much Gilead tries to rob them of self-determination, it’s impossible to completely own and control someone.

Even if one doesn’t belong to a marginalized group or live in a authoritarian dystopia, who hasn’t, at one time or another, felt trapped in a bad situation (maybe debt or a soul-sucking dead-end job), angered and frustrated by the world’s shortcomings (inequity, unfair laws, bad things happen to good people and vice versa), or by fixed attitudes (self-doubt, fear of failure, anxiety)? The audience is anticipating “how will the characters survive this?” and if the characters can show that it’s possible to do so, then the audience can also survive whatever traps them.

I think a lot of dystopian fiction would have some plot about big giant heroics of trying to topple some evil government, but even if you did, the scars would remain. Social change, or making changes in one’s life or attitude, are often slow and grueling, maybe without clear direction. Even epic heroes, like the common people just trying to get by like the audience tries to get by (though hopefully in less dramatic fashion), would be forced to find a way to cope with the depression and anxiety of daily life between coups and battles, which sounds like an even bigger challenge than blowing up a target. I struggle w/ anxiety and negative thinking, so I can relate to a tenuous relationship with hope and wanting to find direction, and feeling/fearing being unable to reach my potential. I’m suddenly reminded of the shows “Last Man on Earth” and “MASH.”

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#7

That’s how I felt too.

This was my impression too, but as a more linear thinker I always question myself on that.

I’ll be interested to hear what you think if you finish the series. The book, even more than the show, felt incredibly claustrophobic to me. This is obviously intentional on Atwood’s part. I’m not sure though if it’s because the MC is a holistic thinker or if, as I suspect, there’s not much OS in the book. Or else there’s something else structurally that I don’t understand.

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#8

There might be one, but that’s not what she’s trying to do throughout the season. She just kind of goes along with it when it happens. And if I’m remembering it right, any attempt made was set up by someone else leaving June to just kind of trust what everyone else is doing. So I think that’s still not a linear goal for her. The story of the people trying to get her out sounds interesting, but if any of that was shown, it wasn’t in the eps I’ve seen. It’s just, “hey June, trust these guys”.

Totally agree with the rest of what you said and don’t mean to take away from the struggles of these characters. It’s a valid story. I get it and sympathize with the characters. It’s just hard for me to put myself into June’s shoes. I’m just guessing that problem solving style is the reason for this.

#9

I haven’t read the books, and obviously can’t speak to a storyform for a season I haven’t seen, but seems like there’s lots of OS in the show. I couldn’t point with any certainty to who the Ic is.

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#10

I’ve just reread the book and finished season 1 and was wondering: could Gilead itself be the IC? I can’t pinpoint an IC/ character that really impacts Offred either but when I think of the potential ICs (Moira, Serena, Commander, Nick, Aunt Lydia, Ofglens etc.) they all seem to impact Offred through the way they deal with Gilead or the roles they play within the system. To me the system itself has the greatest impact on all, even the ones who conceived and established it. So is it possible for a state/concept to be an IC?

@Gregolas I have a hard time putting myself into Offred’s shoes as well although I consider myself a holistic thinker (of the scatter brain variety though). Not sure why. I think it has more to do with her actions, so it’s more of a personal thing. I’m pretty sure the story is with an optionlock and it’s my understanding that linear thinkers are less attracted to such stories. Or is that only for holistic + optionlock?

But I’m not really sold on her being holistic. Serena (in the series) seems to have a more holistic way of solving her problems (the way she balances when to speak and what to say, how she tries to balance her faith and her situation as a woman and her manipulation of Offred). But I haven’t come up with good examples of Offred as linear except that she doesn’t seem to be balancing much to me. Rather I see her reacting to her situation in a direct fashion: what are my options, which one is best, which steps are required. The stoning scene, how she gets the commander to take her back to Jezebel’s for example. Her relationship to Nick (in the series) reflects linear thinking to me as well (pregnancy = safety = Nick, Nick = Eye/Spy = untouchable = don’t have to worry about him, Nick cares for me = someone who is there for me, Need to feel alive = Nick). But these examples reflect how difficult it is for me to understand her :’( while I can sympathise with her I have problems to empathise. Maybe I’m not a holistic thinker after all!

(Possible) SPOILER ALERT for those who want to read the book!

It’s easier in the book: holistic to me. The first thing she occupies herself with when her posting at the commander’s house starts is investigating every inch of her room (to have something to do and gather any information she can about the Offred before her and the room itself and by extension the household and her future there). She weighs her actions to get things and always considers the repercussions, also Nick’s own dire situation. She also changes during the story while in the series she seems more steadfast to me in that she doesn’t lose her zeal. The series is altogether much more hopeful than the book, making me think the storyforms are quite different.

But alas I am still very new to Dramatica and the character and plot dynamics are among the things my brain resists understanding! I just wanted to enter this analysis fray because I am not ready to give in :joy:

@Lakis claustrophobic is really a great word to express the atmosphere of the book! Although the book is in summer and the series is mainly winter they are freer. The handmaids seem to be allowed to be spoken to by men and are allowed to respond. In the book even looking is punishable!

#11

I believe theory says that linear thinkers should be fine with either timelock or optionlock, but that holistic thinkers don’t get into timelocks as much.
Holistic thinkers, though, should be fine with holistic or linear stories while linear thinkers have a harder time with holistic stories.

From what I’ve seen (not all of it) I’m willing to guess the title is accurate. It’s the Handmaids TALE and not the Handmaids GRAND ARGUMENT STORY. But that’s just a guess.

#12

It would make sense that the book, at least, is well-crafted and skillful propaganda (in the Dramatica sense).

I agree that there’s more OS in the series. I guess one would have to really parse it out.

#13

If OT (OS) is all people of Gilead I too would say it’s in Situation.
If MC are all the women in Gilead I also see the MC in Manipulation
If IC = Gilead/all the roles within Gilead then I agree with Activity and I also agree with the relationship domain :slight_smile: (So basically in an episode or season June can be an MC and Offred can be her IC)

My gut tells me this is the base structure for the entire series.

I think I understand why you chose those Concerns, Issues and Problem but I’m not sure if I agree. I’m having a hard time filtering out what is part of the episode’s Storyform, what the season’s etc. And now I’ve started watching season 2 I’m starting to see things differently.

Currently, I see the MCTL as such:
MCTL: Women of Gilead
Psychology: the ways Gilead is trying to break them/ Manipulation as a means to survive
Becoming/ Changing one’s nature: trying not to be what Gilead wants them to be
Commitment: staying true to their beliefs, their compassion and their values, their resolve to hurt or nurture Gilead
Symptom: Avoid (being killed, being used, danger, being changed, acknowledging their responsibility)
Response: Pursuit (safety, resistance)
Problem: Lack of Faith (in their strength as individuals and as a collective) or blind Faith in the wrong thing (e.g. Aunt Lydia)

This will probably change though as I’m following hunches again

I just wrote a response to Lakis and Gregolas that turned into a “short story” and somehow managed to delete it :sob: :confounded: Maybe I’ll rewrite it tomorrow

But to summarise:
@Gregolas: I think holistic PS style in one problem and the other is that all men in the series are rather 1 dimensional, their issues are never really detailed and the issues focused on are very gender-specific. I was wondering if there were any episodes you managed to somewhat put yourself into June’s shoes. My theory is that the series and each season have a holistic PS-style (making it even harder for linear thinking men to connect) but the Storyform of each episode varies and sometimes she is (seems to me) linear (those are the ones where I feel her character becomes inconsistent and I’m curious if those might be easier for you/linear thinkers to get into).

@Lakis I too think one would have to really parse it out. But is it possible to find the Storyform of an episode or a season before the series is finished?

@actingpower: Are you watching the Handmaid’s tale?

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#14

Not episodes, no. But there were moments. I’d say I come closest during the flashbacks where she and her family are trying to get to Canada. And then I kind of feel like I can put myself in some of the other Handmaids shoes at times. Like when one of the Ofglens gets in a car and runs over one of the guards or when another…I think this is a season two spoiler, so if you’re not through season 2 skip ahead…sets off a bomb. There are probably some better moments than that, but those are off the top of my head. I haven’t watched it in a while and wouldn’t know what was going on if I started watching with my wife again because she’s probably watched a good eight episodes or so since I watched one.

Everyone keep in mind that I don’t think this is a bad show at all, and I absolutely sympathize with the characters. It’s just hard for me to get into it the way I would something like the earlier seasons of the Walking Dead or 28 Days Later or something equally as “bleak and depressing” and I’m guessing the PS style is part of it.

#15

I hate that you deleted it. Would love to see it if you do rewrite!

#16

Sorry, I’m not. I read the book, though; I thought it was pretty good, but I’m not sure it would have gotten full Grand Argument Story props from me. It has this weird sense of starting in the middle of the story and ending in the middle of the story. At least, that’s how I recall it.