Wednesday, March 23, 2022

5462 - Firing Line on PBS


Margaret Atwood
“The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret Atwood discusses her dystopian classic and being a consultant on the hit Hulu series based on it. Atwood reflects on using fiction and essays to warn about authoritarianism, climate change, and other dangers.



I couldn't copy the video to blogger. This takes you to the WNET PBS website. 26 minutes. Worth the time.


13 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

Some of the very best authors use 'fiction' to alert us to real and present dangers. Which says nothing good about a population that gets their knowledge from fiction rather than science (though I thank the authors).

River said...

I didn't like the book and haven't watched the movie, so I won't watch the video either. Dystopian really isn't my thing, especially when it makes chattels of women.

Mike said...

Sue - But she's not talking about fiction. She starts off talking about Ukraine.

River - She's talking about modern-day problems.

Bilbo said...

Dystopian fiction is now shelved in most bookstores under "Current Events."

Kathy G said...

Some of the best authors use fictions to talk about the problems of the day (think Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn and George Orwell in 1984).

Mike said...

Bill - And that's what she is mainly talking about, current events.

Kathy - True.

all - Did anybody watch the video?

Cloudia said...

She wrote this spooky book years ago. Very prescient. And instructive. We have recently seen that step by step, horrible things like taking infants from their mothers become palatable in a certain system. Assimilarly interesting book called woman on the edge of Time back in the seventies general pronoun for all people: Per for person. It's a shame that plural pronouns are being used instead of a clever new one like per!

Kirk said...

The William F. Buckley show? I didn't know it was still on the air. I thought it died with Buckley.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Margaret Atwood is always worth listening to!

Mike said...

Cloudia - "step by step" Everything is creeping closer and closer.

Kirk - And Margaret Hoover is easier to listen to than WF Bucky.

Deb - I thought she had some good points.

jenny_o said...

Thanks for posting this. You're right; it was worth the time. When Ms Atwood speaks, it's always worth paying attention. She is a straight shooter, succinct, and easy to understand. I wish she got more publicity, that people paid more heed to what she is saying.

Mike said...

Jenny - She says some to the point stuff and if she doesn't know something, she says so.

Bohemian said...

You know, I don't know why ANY of Joe Public would fantasize that an Authoritarian Regime would be preferable and support a wannabe Dictator? The fact anyone has to warn about it and other dangers shows how prevalent stupid is in Society I guess.