Maria IB English 05/31/12 How do the scenes, of both the book and movie, of The Handmaid´s Tale made changes for their own benefit? The Handmaid´s Tale book by the Canadian Margaret Atwood is a dystopian novel, science fiction first published in 1985. It won so many prizes such as the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Nebula Award, among others, that this novel was adapted to the big screen. The movie adaptation, named the same as the book, was directed by Volker Schlondorff and made in 1990. As every book with its corresponding movie adaptation they have differences and similarities, in the Handmaid´s Tale we can observe those in the arrangement of the scenes and changes in the scenes itself. We will now analyze those changes. There …show more content…

This chapter in the book is presented in a calm way, Offred never moans and after the commander is done she stands up, goes to her room quietly and puts some butter in her skin to make it softer. On the other hand in the movie Offred moaned and lamented during the entire ritual and when the ritual was done she went off crazy, threw a milk glass to a wall and went desperate and cried. I believe that the point that the book wants to portray by not having her whine is that they want to illustrate Offred as a mature woman that is starting to accept the Gilead, maybe not accept but just tolerant to the rules. However what the movie tries to convey, that is the complete opposite form the book, are really strong emotions, by the moaning we feel her, it feels much more realistic and her reaction to it provokes a much stronger shock to the audience. While in the book they want to show a lost and defeated by the rules woman in the movie they want to display a desperate woman that just lost her freedom and dignity. The movie and book of The Handmaid´s Tale contain diverse scenes that expose poles apart of meanings. As mentioned before the book has more ambiguity and shows Offred as a woman who gave up fighting while on the other hand in the movie some individualism is shown, the naïve innocence of Offred is taken away and she is a strong