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“A Woman’s Place”: Myth, Body, and Nation in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale

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Date Issued:
2022
Abstract/Description:
This thesis investigates the role of myth in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Through an analysis of concepts such as the body and nation, I investigate the mythical underpinnings of gender, race, social reproduction, and capitalism in Gilead as well as the veritable history of oppression and imperialism in the United States that informs the Gileadean imaginary. I interrogate myth’s utility in creating nations and worlds, real or imagined, and the mechanisms of myth that make this possible. Using the works of authors such as Roland Barthes, Kalindi Vora, Achille Mbembe, and others, I read The Handmaid’s Tale series as a text that reveals how truth can be distorted by myth but can be demythologized to belie intention, historically contextualize, and inspire resistance. Written in the midst and wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, this thesis is also a meditation on auto-ethnographic and textual resistance.
Title: “A Woman’s Place”: Myth, Body, and Nation in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
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Name(s): García, Madeline Elizabeth, author
Sim, Gerald , Thesis advisor
Miller, Andrea , Thesis advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 2022
Date Issued: 2022
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 101 p.
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: This thesis investigates the role of myth in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Through an analysis of concepts such as the body and nation, I investigate the mythical underpinnings of gender, race, social reproduction, and capitalism in Gilead as well as the veritable history of oppression and imperialism in the United States that informs the Gileadean imaginary. I interrogate myth’s utility in creating nations and worlds, real or imagined, and the mechanisms of myth that make this possible. Using the works of authors such as Roland Barthes, Kalindi Vora, Achille Mbembe, and others, I read The Handmaid’s Tale series as a text that reveals how truth can be distorted by myth but can be demythologized to belie intention, historically contextualize, and inspire resistance. Written in the midst and wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, this thesis is also a meditation on auto-ethnographic and textual resistance.
Identifier: FA00014111 (IID)
Degree granted: Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2022.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Subject(s): Women's studies
Gender Studies
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014111
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.