[ SECRET POST #1948 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1948 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01. [repeat]


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02.
[Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Touhou Project]


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03.
[Legend of Korra and The Hunger Games]


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04.
[Once Upon a Time]


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05.
[Bradley Whitford]


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06.
[Merlin]


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07.
[Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler)]


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08.
[Divergent, Hunger Games, Wither, Claymore, Princess Tutu, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Gurren Lagann]


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09.
[GRR Martin]


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10.
[Hetalia]


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11.
[Legend of the Seeker]


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12.
[Jeeves and Wooster]


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13.
[Katawa Shoujo]


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14. [broken]


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15.
[The Hunger Games]


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16.
[The Voice UK]


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17.
[Martin Freeman]


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18.
[Benedict Cumberbatch]


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19.
[Scandal]


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20.
[Leviathan]


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21.
[Once Upon a Time]


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22.
[Steam Powered Giraffe]


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23.
[Titanic]


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24.
[planescape torment]


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25.
[schindler's list]


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26.
[Dead Poets Society, House]


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27.
[vampire bloodlines]


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28.
[vampire: the masquerade: bloodlines]


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29.
[quest for glory]


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30.
[quills]


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31.
[Legend of Korra]


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32.
[The Pirates! Band of Misfits]


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33.
[Moebius, Leisure Suit Larry]


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34.
[Transformers G1]


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35.
[Knights of the Old Republic]


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36.
[Dragon Age]


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37.
[Dragon Age 2]


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38.
[Mass Effect 3]


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39.
[Mass Effect 3]


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40.
[Mass Effect 3]


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41.
[Mass Effect 3, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 026 secrets from Secret Submission Post #278.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[haro.livejournal.com]

She talks about the rest of the world a bit. Like it seems to be in good shape? There's the scene where Japanese tourists are visiting Gilead. The pure disconnect of the rest of the world going on as was and Gilead was a big turnoff for me.

Talking about everything being set in the US (Atwood is a Canadian author), this is one situation where that was really, really a damper on the book because it seriously damaged the plausibility of it. It could have been set in any country, because all it took was ONE powerful (but not even really large) group of religious fanaticists to pull off the coup. And... every country has at least some of those. And if she'd chosen to set it in America, she needed to create a PLAUSIBLE reason why it was able to occur. Which she didn't.

[loracarol.livejournal.com]

Oh, right, I forgot about them. But, yeah, the disconnect between Gilead and everywhere else just.... No.

You're right, she doesn't. It's really annoying. According to my teacher, it's because it was written as a reply to an actual movement at the time, but it still rings false to me...

[(Anonymous)]

Butting in here (I love A Handmaid's Tale and couldn't resist). It may just be because I'm not American and therefore seeing this from an outside perspective (which may very well be a skewed perspective, I'll gladly admit), but one of the things that I love about the story is how plausible it seems. To me, America has always looked like a country with a huge potential for extremes (such as e.g. religious fanaticism). I've always understood the coup as a combination of first introducing restrictions very slowly (and with the (mis)understanding among people that it's not necessarily something permanent), and then a quick strike at the right time once people are confused and unsure, closing off society completely and giving people very few opportunities to fight back. I really think that humans are surprisingly easy to placate and confuse, and that fighting back against a system that is so complete is much more difficult than you might think. I think it might happen in other societies as well, though probably with a different focus or implemented differently.

I think the book is an exaggeration, sure (and I definitely feel that it is debatable whether the timeline of how quickly everything has changed is entirely believable), but an exaggeration with a kernel of truth at the core. A lot of American political debate, compared to e.g. European political debates, contain religious elements. And just to be clear, I'm honestly not trying to antagonize, or say that America is more full of crazies than other countries (religious or otherwise), or that other countries might not be susceptible to something like this, but I do see American debates from time to time that make me think of A Handmaid's Tale. From my outsider perspective, there are elements of America that are frighteningly similar.

/my two cents

[haro.livejournal.com]

No offense, but yes, your perspective is extremely skewered.

No one is debating that a group that extreme could exist. That's not the point. What they're debating is the ability of it to take over and rule a country of 320 million people (a kind of notably rambunctious culture at that) with the largest defense sector in the world.

Atwood is a cowardly author imo, in her desire to place all the world's problems on one country which is a repeated theme in all of her books.

Also it wasn't a slow occurrence in the book. The entire switch to this new government occurred within a couple of years (and then stayed in place for decades and decades).

[(Anonymous)]

None taken. I know that the US is a very diverse place, and that the potential extremes do not at all represent the majority, but from the outside I do see that potential. I’m curious exactly what makes you think it skewed, if you want to tell me (I know why I think it is, but it’s interesting to see how others view it)?

One of the things that science fiction can do is literalize metaphors, and that’s how I read the book (I’m aware that Atwood doesn’t want to call it SF, but I still read it that way). It’s an exaggeration of the dangers of extreme systems of power, and of extreme points of view. Would it happen in reality? Probably not, but on the other hand totalitarian systems with large populations have existed and do exist. I really don’t think it’s unrealistic for a population (even a rambunctious one) to be lulled into accepting changes that ultimately lead to a system like that (and the system then being difficult to overthrow), if it’s done the right way and the circumstances are right.

I’ve only read two of her books, so I don’t have an opinion of her works in general. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with criticism in itself, but I can definitely see the frustration if it’s one-sided.

When I said slow I was thinking of it being implemented by degrees rather than all at once, but I’ll concede that I didn’t express what I meant very well. I can see how the timeline is problematic; I think there’s a degree of unrealiability in the narration that might explain some of it, but yeah, problematic.

I suppose we won’t agree on this, but that’s fair enough. You do raise some interesting points!