Fra fiction e realtà. L'uniforme di The Handmaid's Tale come icona culturale

• Main Author: Antonella Mascio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Associazione Ocula 2020-04-01
• Series: Ocula
• Subjects: icona culturale; cultural icon; the handmaid's tale; serie tv; audience; uso politico; tv series; political use
• Online Access: https://www.ocula.it/files/OCULA-22-MASCIO-Fra-fiction-e-realta

In the current media scene, the TV series are a flagship product. They tell exciting stories, following a cinematic logic (Mittell 2015) and attract an ever wider audience. In some cases a not well defined temporality is called into question, a sort of near future, often accompanied by a dystopic view of events within that interpretative/definitive framework defined as «speculative fiction» (Thomas 2013) and which sometimes leads to a reading of the real. The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu 2017-) falls perfectly in this climate: it explores the themes of the submission of women and the ways used by a political regime to enslave the female body and its reproductive functions. Through a study based on online discussions and articles published by the media, the uses that certain groups of audiences have made of this TV series emerge, starting from its broadcast in the spring of 2017. The red uniforms used in the series are quickly became the cultural symbol of a female resistance scattered throughout the world.