The fifth season of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale‘will air from September 14 in the United States, on the Hulu platform. The series – set in a dystopian future in which a large part of humanity is unable to conceive children and fertile women are “assigned” to a master – it will arrive in Italy in the following months, on Tim Vision. Waiting to see the new episodes, here five curiosities on this successful production.
1. The secret of the headdress
One of the symbols of the series, is the typical white headdress used by the handmaids. Margaret Atwood imagined it thinking about donne depicted on the packaging of Old Dutch Cleanser, a popular detergent in the 1940s. This garment it was made on set in such a way that the actresses couldn’t look at each other. The handmaids in fact, they often walk with their eyes turned towards the floor, as a sign of submission. The headgear she helped the interpreters to act only by listening to the voices of her colleagues.
2. The importance of costumes
The colors of the clothes that women wear in the series also have a meaning specific. The wives dress in blue, a symbol of purity, one hue reminiscent of the Virgin Mary. The mantle of the handmaids is instead rosso and is linked to the blood of childbirth and to Mary Magdalene. If it is true that ‘The House of Paper’ has made the Dali mask a symbol in protest, even the red cloak of the handmaids has become an emblem of demonstrations of feminist movements.
3. Margaret Atwood’s cameo
Margaret Atwood immediately expressed the wish to somehow appear in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. The author of the book from which the TV series draws inspiration appeared in the pilot episode playing one of the aunts, the older women and unmarried engaged in the management of the maids. There Atwoodspecifically, she took on the role of the aunt who slaps June – the protagonist – upon her arrival in Gilead. The idea of giving her this role was from director Bruce Miller.
4. The inspirations
The author of the novel from which the TV series is draft has always claimed to have been inspired in the drafting of the book by the famous opera ‘1984’ George Orwell. ‘The handmaid’s story’, however, also draws inspiration from reality and a more or less recent past. At the home of the Comandante Waterfordfor example, there are works of art stolen from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This particular creates a parallelism with the Nazi army: stealing paintings from museums was in fact typical for high officials and hierarchs The Gilead Secret Service in the series is based in the Great Harvard Library and in ancient times, the bodies of executed witches were exhibited right on the external walls of this University.
5. Amanda Brugel and the bond with Rita
In the TV series Amanda Brugel she plays Rita, the Waterford house mart. The martas – in the society described in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ – are the single women, sterile and poor, employed as maids in the homes of the rich. La Brugel – before embarking on the career of actress – graduated from the University of York. To access the courses and get one Scholarship presented an essay on ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and, in particular, on the character of Rita.