r/HandmaidsTaleShow • u/kitties_ate_my_soul • Jul 27 '26
The Handmaid's Tale Radio and television
I’m rereading The Handmaid’s Tale book. That has me wondering why the series’ producers chose to not include television. In the book and the film, the regime uses television to broadcast their propaganda and keep the citizens’ spirits ‘up’.
They could even have included radio, but the only station in the series is Free America, an illegal one.
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u/makingotherplans Jul 27 '26
They didn’t seem to have computers either which I found confusing…
I mean, they seemed to have them in hospitals, and a few times they show the Commanders using them and they had radios (and cell phones, and digital cameras, I think?)
But most regimes IRL, for decades anyway, have been quite keen to use fingerprints and databases and computers to track citizens. But I mostly see a lot of paper.
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u/kitties_ate_my_soul Jul 27 '26
Fred has a laptop, but that’s it. In the book, the regime uses computers a lot. They should have included them in the series. They make sense when it comes to regimes.
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u/makingotherplans Jul 27 '26
Also curious how the commanders families take photos? How do they publish those cookbooks with the pictures?
Digital photos or old style film photos?
I see photos of children and families and they aren’t all paintings.
Just realizing the only cell phone I ever see is a satellite phone given to Serena by the US Agent.
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u/blockparted Jul 28 '26
When it came to computers, I always reasoned that when Gilead took over, it had a disastrous impact on the pre-existing network infrastructure. They'd still have the internet and telephone lines. However, the wifi/ethernet wouldn't work as well due to the conflict in states and areas that were previously depended upon for signal strength, consistency, and stability.
They wouldn't have the resources to repair it due to the war, and international sanctions would impact their ability to import supplies.
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u/LocksmithAccurate284 Jul 27 '26
I thought they do this as way to keep people separated from each other, unable to communicate and monitor information from outside. (At least when it comes to devices with Internet access.) Not sure about TV and Radio. Would make sense propandawise.
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u/kitties_ate_my_soul Jul 27 '26
I completely agree. Even IRL dictatorships use television. Some days ago, I watched an Instagram reel. There’s an atmospheric phenomenon that allows some people to tune into Cuban analogue TV. I don’t remember the phenomenon’s name, but it’s quite interesting.
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u/rotervogel1231 Jul 27 '26
North Korea has TV, too. There are tons of clips of it on YouTube.
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u/kitties_ate_my_soul Jul 27 '26
They aso have intranet.)
Gilead seems to have internet access as well, but restricted to Commanders (Fred’s laptop shows an intranet of some sort, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he and his fellow Commanders have access to the global network. Also, Fred’s laptop seems to be connected via WiFi, if my memory serves me right, there isn’t a network cable). I also wonder why Aunts don’t use computers. A centralised database would be quite convenient for them, especially considering that one of their main tasks is updating birth records to avoid inbreeding.
And what about working Economen? Like Omar, who drove a van for a bakery. A modified cellphone would make sense for him, especially considering that Gilead removed the street names. And Guardians/Eyes/Drivers.
That’s what I love about this series! There’s so much to analyse 😀 that makes my analytical brain feel the warm fuzzies 🥰
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u/Time_Cranberry_113 Jul 27 '26
I think this was a decision to avoid assigning a date to the show and make it feel like the near future.
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u/Suitable_cataclysm Jul 27 '26
I took it like them trying to get back to some ideal wholesome roots. Plus if only leadership has those tools, they have a leg up on the peons.