Women’s Work in the Dystopian West: “The Colonies” in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This paper examines the ways the Colonies in the American streaming service Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale utilize western myth to reimagine the American West as an entirely female space. Relying on popular understandings of the significance of the mythic West, traditional conceptions of the West as masculine, and the narrative function of the western, it argues that the Colonies offer regeneration and renewal for the women whose agency has been stripped in the hypergendered oppressive nation of Gilead. By reinstilling a sense of power and freedom in the women sent there, the Colonies operate much like the West of the imagination, allowing these women to escape the confines of Gilead and the chance to both return to their authentic selves and foresee a better world.
Source: Journal of American Studies
Author: KARA L. MCCORMACK
Institution: Bilkent University
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4405420501