Handmaid’s Tale: The Limited Perspective of Visual Language

Why movies, books or any artistic medium can be very unique? Because they all share the perspective of the creator. But how do you share a story in a brutally suppressed society where no one is able to go against the rules and say anything against the government? ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ is a perfect example of how artistically — both visually and verbally you can tell a significant story in order to show the horror the futuristic society.

The main character communicates with us through the voice over. It is a story that she tells herself in her head, but artistically we can hear it and experience her thoughts on the screen. The director shows it to us by using close up shots and the details. With that, we become closer to the character and get into her head with her. Margaret Atwood in her novel wrote that:

“If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending…
But if it’s a story, even in my head, I must be telling it to someone.
You don’t tell a story only to yourself. There’s always someone else. Even when there is no one.”

Offred doesn’t have anyone to share her story but she still does, and through the film we, the audience get to appreciate it. Using the flashbacks might seem as the very obvious technique, however as I progressed through the series, I began to understand the usage of it. Offred does not have anything that could remind her of her past, she has only memories. She can’t distract herself from painful thoughts by reading books, watching movies — it is prohibited in Gilead. Therefore, memories is the only thing she’s got. When she remembers all of what happened and examines it, we as an audience get to know the information about other characters and understand the situation in a society better.

“What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Perspective is necessary. Otherwise there are only two dimensions”.

Another technique that was criticized and seemed too obvious to many was the usage of a too low aperture to make that cinematic look that is overused in indie movies. However, the usage of it is also justified like the same as the flashbacks. It is hard to show the repression only through violence, it is also important to invent the cinematic language that can allow to emerge into the world of the film. ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ shows that it is possible. The blurred atmosphere helps us to focus on the main character and show that her perspective is not important — it is not in focus. Margaret Atwood describes that when you don’t have your perspective then,

“…everything is a huge foreground, of details, close-ups, hairs, the weave of the bedsheet, the molecules of the face. Your own skin like a map, a diagram of futility, criscrossed with tiny roads that lead nowhere.”

Not only the “Handmaid’s Tale” is able to tell her story through the voice over of the main character but also using the soundtrack. By the end of every episode, we hear the songs that resonate with Offred’s or other characters’ feelings or thoughts. For example, the song “You don’t own me” by Lesley Gore clearly shows Offred’s protest against the society she lives in:

“You don’t own me
Don’t try to change me in any way
You don’t own me
Don’t tie me down ’cause I’d never stay”.

Another song “American girl” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers shows how there are so many good places to go, but they seem so far away now.

“God it’s so painful when something that’s so close
Is still so far out of reach”.

‘Handmaid’s Tale’ is a perfect example of how all of the creative mediums are used towards creating the story that brought an unforgettable experience to me and too hundreds of others.