My Enemy’s Fear Is My Fun: Print Columnists’ Mixed Reactions to the Frights of Religious Dystopia

ABSTRACT

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel by Margaret Atwood that has won numerous awards for its frightful dystopian imagery. It was recently adapted for series television, an adaptation that has led some to see beyond the confines of the printed word. Columnists for a number of newspapers and magazines have suggested the television series provides insights into contemporary politics and religion. This study examines the way these essayists wrestled with various interpretations of the show. Some writers based their fearful reaction to the show on the Trump administration. Others, though, scoffed at this interpretation and seemed to enjoy doing so. In this study I examine how these dissonant interpretations might raise very good questions about how scholars think about media, religion, and fear.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Both sets of authors capitalize this term.

² Cohen’s (2002) terminology is similar, suggesting that the reactions of those engaged in moral panic are “fundamentally inappropriate.”

³ For a variety of reasons, I’ve chosen to describe the comments of the essay writers in present tense.

⁴ On one occasion she mentioned “the left” and in a sarcastic parenthetical correction apologized and referred to them as “The Resistance.” This certainly connects the fearful columnists discussed earlier with the political movement against the Trump presidency. As noted elsewhere, one esthetic aspect of resistance in the era was wearing handmaid costumes to important political events (such as the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings).

⁵ He also critiques motion pictures for National Review.