Handmaids Tale Comparison Between Movie and Book Essay

Maria IB English 05/31/12 How do the scenes, of both the book and movie, of The Handmaid ´s Tale made changes for their own benefit? The Handmaid ´s Tale book by the Canadian Margaret Atwood is a dystopian novel, science fiction first published in 1985. It won so many prizes such as the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Nebula Award, among others, that this novel was adapted to the big screen. The movie adaptation, named the same as the book, was directed by Volker Schlondorff and made in 1990. As every book with its corresponding movie adaptation they have differences and similarities, in the Handmaid ´s Tale we can observe those in the arrangement of the scenes and changes in the scenes itself. We will now analyze those changes. There†¦show more content†¦Secondly we can see that in scenes throughout the movie new names are introduced, names that are never mentioned in the book. For instance in the book we never really know Offred ´s name while in the movie her real n ame is revealed, which is Kate. What is more the daughter of Offred is also given a name, Jill. This is a critical matter since the characters that are given names are principal characters and by giving those characters names it takes away the ambiguity that the book is trying so hardly to convey. It takes away the uncertainty since by providing names one in providing identities, and the Gilead Society is the contrary of identities and individualism. As a matter of fact individualism is suppressed in this society and names are in a way censored. The handmaid ´s themselves do not even know the names of the other handmaids because they are forbidden to talk among themselves and their real names are never used, but new names that the Gilead Society awards them. The point that the book is trying to make by not giving them names is to suppress the freedom of women, and when in the scenes of the movie the names are reveled this displays hope in themselves and who they really are. So the giving of names in the movie defies the point that the book is trying to make. Lastly the scenes that contain diversity among the book and the movie is the one in which Offred isShow MoreRelated The Dystopian Society Depicted in Brave New World, V for Vendetta, and Handmaids Tale923 Words   |  4 PagesV, from V for Vendetta by James McTeigue and Offred, from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Attwood, are all characters in a dystopian society. A dystopia is the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and are characterized by oppression, corruption of government, and abridgement of human rights. Unfortunately, corruption is government is a phenomenon far too prevalent in today’s world. In the movie V for Vendetta, V is attempting to exact revenge for the many homosexuals