It's Margaret Atwood's birthday (b. 11/18/1939), which reminds me of a location sequence that I stumbled on during the filming of Volker Schlöndorff's 1990 movie version of Atwood's 1985 novel, The Handmaid's Tale.
I was working in Perkins Library at Duke University, and came out the front entrance for a break just as a column of black armored cars filed up the circle drive toward the large Gothic style Duke Chapel. What the hell, what the heck? I asked around, and learned that a ceremonial hanging sequence was about to be filmed on the far side of the spire.
After circling around the various campus quads on foot, I joined some others to witness the hanging of Jezebels and heretics. Ah, so this is how we'd live under the Christian Taliban. Cheap entertainment -- public hangings and black-clad vehicles.
Schlöndorff and Harold Pinter converted Atwood's novel to the screen with mixed results. The visuals are stunning -- that part is scary. They missed some of the deeper and darker feminist aspects of her vision. But never fear, we can see some of those in the works in 2006.
Happy Birthday, Margaret Atwood!
Just say no to religious fanatics of all stripes.
4 comments:
I agree, just say NO!
i actually have pictures of those cars and some of the players when they were filming at Duke. It was great fun taking those snaps. Atwood is so right on as an observer of American culture. KIP
Atwoods writing is much better than the movie.
I love the short story "Hairball" by her. Simply disturbing and brilliant!
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