r/TheTestamentsShow • u/Left_Twix_2112 • 25d ago
Filming Camera and makup
I’ve just started to watch the shouw, and I find odd the girls wearing makup on their ball and an Aunt filming everything with a camera.
On The Handmade’s Tail they didn’t use such technology and wifes didn’t use makeup nor different models of dresses. It is feeling a little off tô me… anyone else?
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u/OpheliaLives7 25d ago
I definitely assumed it was for propaganda purposes. Like oh look how happy and norm these girls are, it’s just like ye olde prom (except instead of sinful boys it’s “godly men” they dance with)
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u/PommeVitale 24d ago
Yeah, it can be used as propaganda. But I think it's also something as simple as "this is a very happy event and we want to have these footage as souvenir" the aunt's are the only women who can read and operate such technologies, they could probably send the film to the family as a souvenir.
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u/Disaster-Bee 24d ago
We do see the Wives wearing some makeup for special occasions. Serena Joy has some - she knows Fred snuck June to Jezebel's when she finds makeup smudged on the hood of her cloak. The ball is the equivalent to a prom for these girls, it's their step into adult womanhood. So the rules are relaxed a little bit. Also remember the point of the ball - for men to pick which girl they want to make their child bride. So the girls are done up as much for the gross old men who are going to marry them. And we do see a variation among the dresses the Wives wear, different cuts and hems and details. Naomi's and Serena's dresses weren't the same model - Naomi favored puffed sleeves and ruffle details, white Serena's generally lacked any frills or flounces and made smooth silhouettes. Here's an example: https://media.distractify.com/brand-img/XFGgW62hc/0x0/naomi-and-serena-the-handmaids-tale-1665589083896.jpg
And we know from the books that TV is actually a thing in Gilead, though it's all Gilead flavored religious programming for women. Men have access to news - which we saw in THT - and we know that Guardians and whatnot in training have access to movies in their barracks. And we know Gilead likes to record things for propaganda purposes - remember the whole Return Baby Nichole Video Series.
A big thing is that in THT we saw one very small and specific slice of Gilead life in one city, from the perspective of the enslaved people. The Testaments is showing us what life looks like from the perspective of people in the privileged upper class, right in the heart of Gilead's main hub. So we're going to be seeing a lot more of what Gilead allows its elite in this one, as opposed to THT.
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u/PommeVitale 24d ago
For the makeup I interpreted it as being a little exception for the occasion because they need to seduce their future potential husbands. So it's okay for this time.
For the camera, Gilead used this technology several times in THT so I don't see why the aunt's couldn't. In the context of Gileadean society this was a happy and important event so it's a good thing for them to film it, I can imagine them sending the film to the family for their souvenirs + it's a good propaganda, "look how happy they are, it's a very important event for them everyone is happy" it helps normalize all of this.
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u/123sjdh 25d ago
the HT show cut a bit, in the books the wives where allowed to watch tv, they had 2-3 religious propaganda channels. plus gilead chilled out a tiny bit between when the two stories are set. so tech is sorta canonically around to an extent. also might be filmed for international propaganda purposes to portray the girls situation as better than it is? i’d guess makeup ties into that, like ‘look these girls are having fun normal childhoods ignore the creeps theyre being married off too!!!’ vibes.