Moira, The Handmaid’s Tale

Plot Overview

The Handmaid’s Tale is based on the novel with the same name by Margaret Atwood, and is a story set in a near-future totalitarian theocracy, where population is facing dangerously low reproduction rates, and in which women’s rights were taken away and society was reorganized along a hierarchical regime inspired by religious fanaticism.

Handmaids are fertile women assigned to men of the ruling class (Commanders) to bear children. They have no freedom, are routinely raped by their Commanders as part of the “Ceremony” and are forbidden to read. Marthas are older, infertile women who are used as servants.

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is punishable by death and referred to as “gender treachery”, although if women are also fertile, they are “sentenced to redemption” because “God has seen fit to make you fruitful, and by that we are bound”, and (re-)assigned as handmaids.

Moira (Samira Wiley)

(Season 1, Episodes 1-6)

Moira is Offred/June’s friend from college, before society collapsed, and a lesbian. In the first 3 episodes, she only appeared in flashback scenes, from Moira and June’s college days, or right after the women’s bank accounts had been frozen. Like June, Moira was at the Red Center where Handmaids undergo a rigorous training/brainwashing before being assigned to Commanders.

After finding out that they would be routinely raped once assigned, Moira and June tried to escape the center: Moira made it on a train to Boston, while June was recaptured (episode 1×04). In episode 1×05 she had another flashback appearance, from when June met her husband. There were no appearances/flashbacks in episode 1×06.

Offred was told Moira was dead and in the first 5 episodes, she did not appear in present-day.

Early Criticism

During a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival, the cast and showrunner drew criticism for not using the term “feminist” to describe the show:

“I don’t feel like it’s a male or female story; it’s a survival story,” – showrunner Bruce Miller.

“For me, [The Handmaid’s Tale is] not a feminist story. It’s a human story because women’s rights are human rights. […] I never intended to play Offred as a feminist. They’re women, and they’re humans. Offred’s a wife, a mother, a best friend. You know, she has a job. And she is a person who’s not supposed to be a hero, and she falls into it. And she kind of does what she has to do to survive, to find her daughter. It’s about love, honestly, so much of this story. So for me, you know, I never approach anything with any sort of, like, political agenda. I approach it from a very human place, I hope.” – Elisabeth Moss (Offred)

“That’s not the reason I got involved. I personally heard about all the other people involved in this show, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I need to be there.’ . . . I think that any story, if it is a story being told by a strong, powerful woman. . . any story that’s just a powerful woman owning herself in any way is automatically deemed ‘feminist.’ But it’s just a story about a woman. I don’t think that this is any sort of feminist propaganda. I think that it’s a story about women and about humans. . . This story affects all people.” – Madeline Brewer (Janine)

The ensuing blowback prompted several of the cast to call it a feminist work. Moss clarified her statements “I’m not sure that that was exactly what I was trying to say, or what we were trying to say,” hours before Hulu released the first three episodes to stream. “I wanted to say ― and I’ll just say it right here, right now ― OBVIOUSLY, all caps, it is a feminist work. It is a feminist show.”

Bruce Miller told Vulture: “This is absolutely a feminist show. I mean, I hope it’s going to be received that way! I’d be thrilled if it was perceived as a feminist show. I always considered it a feminist book and a feminist story, and it was one of the most important books for me in understanding how feminism works together with politics and religion and social interactions in ways that were illuminating to me. This is undoubtedly a feminist story.”

Appearances:

• 5 episodes. Flashbacks

No female love interests

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.