We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The Protester’s Tale – The Handmaid Costume as Feminist Dystopian Protest Rhetoric.
- Authors
Birkin, Laura
- Abstract
After the release of the first season of Hulu’s adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale in April 2017, feminist activists in the US and abroad swiftly adopted handmaid costumes to protest various policies and politicians. In this essay, I argue that the handmaid protest costume has functioned as a form of what I term “feminist dystopian protest rhetoric” by drawing on images of an iconic feminist dystopian future to advocate for a better world today. The handmaid protest costume embodies the complex interplay between utopia and dystopia that has been unfolding in recent years, utilizing a now iconic feminist dystopian image to condemn oppression and injustice, reflect a belief that contemporary wrongs can be overcome and foreground oppositional voices and subjectivities even under the most oppressive systems, all without the formulation of a unitary utopian agenda. I discuss key elements of the costume’s success, including its spreadability, iconicity, coherent visual identity and impact, before outlining its connection to defamiliarization, a common feature of dystopian works. Lastly, I consider some of the issues that users of the handmaid protest costume may have to grapple with if the handmaid costume is to continue to be used as a form of protest.
- Subjects
DYSTOPIAS; HANDMAID'S Tale, The (Book : Atwood); HULU LLC; COSTUME; FEMINISTS; RHETORIC; UTOPIAS; OPPRESSION; SUBJECTIVITY
- Publication
Femspec, 2022, Vol 22, Issue 1, p25
- ISSN
1523-4002
- Publication type
Article