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this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2026
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Political Memes
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curious question: why do people tend to use this meme or show as if it portrays some form of documented history? i mean to say that i understand all the things atwood wrote about have happened but this image is, clearly, a simulacrum.
it gets the point across, sure, so maybe that’s why. but there are real examples to use, too, that i think people should be aware of.
i dunno. just rambling.
It's because The Handmaid's Tale puts it all into an American context, which makes Americans more receptive to the potential future.
for sure. i just wonder how often it makes the jump from “drama on tv” to “oh wait this is based on a real event…” and then “lemme research that.”
a silly aside but thats how i found a lot of classic movies: the simpsons. bart of darkness being a take on “rear window” etc.
I don't think people are using it in this specific way.
The answer is, the handmaids tale is popular fiction of today. I know the books are decades old but the TV show is what people have "experienced". Additionally, most people's understanding of history is poor.
My education was reasonably good, but we only ever learned about Australian colonial history. I mean we did learn about First Australian's history prior to European arrival but only briefly because not much is known. We also learned quite a lot about the suffering of First Australian's during (and since) the settlement era.
My point is, we did not learn about fascist governments outside Australia.
That being the case this meme is immediately recognisable and carries meaning, while something historic might not.
I also dont know for sure. But most (american) state executions are not live streamed. Handmaidens tale was VERY popular here, and althought the story is old, most of us dont realize how many of those tactics have been a part of American culture for, iunno, about ever? Never minds rest of the world.
So using a pop show based on oppression, to meme about current oppresive practices... well it seems understandable to me at least. Dont get me wrong, id rather op was printing a 3d gun with dumps name on all 36 bullets...
Margaret Atwood never really made anything up in The Handmaid's Tale. Just set it in a collapsed USA.
because the map has become territory. we're culturally unbound from reality (or at least trying really, really hard to fake it that way) and we're paying ever higher prices to maintain these fictions.
everything she wrote did happen, but what's really, truly important, is that we recognize the aesthetic and use that as judgement, apparently.