“Under His Eye”: Religious Appropriation and American Civil Religion in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale
This study explores how the Hulu streaming series The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-) extends Margaret Atwood’s novel by depicting the aftermath of the transformation of the United States by the fake theocracy of Gilead through visual cues that evoke American civil religion, a performative system of symbols...
| Authors: | ; ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
2022
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| In: |
Journal of media and religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 21, Issue: 2, Pages: 55-68 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ The handmaid's tale (Television program)
/ Civil religion
/ Figurative language
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CD Christianity and Culture CH Christianity and Society KBQ North America ZG Media studies; Digital media; Communication studies |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This study explores how the Hulu streaming series The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-) extends Margaret Atwood’s novel by depicting the aftermath of the transformation of the United States by the fake theocracy of Gilead through visual cues that evoke American civil religion, a performative system of symbols and rituals that reifies national values and unites a pluralistic society. A textual analysis of the episode “Household,” set in Gilead’s capital of a reimaged Washington, D.C., found four main themes regarding the onscreen depiction of Gileadean theocracy and its surface victory over the United States and its accompanying symbols of American civil religion: (a) religion used as a façade, (b) desecration of sacred sites in American civil religion, (c) silencing, and (d) surveillance. This study adds a unique contribution to the study of American civil religion through its examination of visual images in a fictional televisual text. |
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| ISSN: | 1534-8415 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of media and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/15348423.2022.2059301 |