the Handmaids.. what?

[cods]

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/ ... fa7592128e

PEOPLE moving into one of Sydney’s newest suburbs thought they were moving into a biblical paradise but it’s quickly turning into a pop culture nightmare.

Just a short drive from Campbelltown, Lendlease’s new 703ha “Gilead” development is being turned into 2000 new homes.

The area was first named Mt Gilead as a biblical reference to a region in modern-day Jordan, the site of one of Israel’s finest farm regions, according to Campbelltown City Council.

But thanks to Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale and the hit dystopian TV drama of the same name, things have taken a darker turn
In the award-winning show, starring Elisabeth Moss, Gilead is the new name for the US, which is now a fundamentalist religious dictatorship.

“It might have been (like The Handmaid’s Tale) in colonial days but now it’s the total ­opposite ... it’ll be a utopian state where women have equal rights with men,” Campbelltown Mayor George Brticevic said.

But the new development has been criticised by some who ­believe it will destroy the habitat of koalas. Mr Brticevic said Lendlease’s Gilead estate would provide tunnels for koalas to cross the road safely.
However, federal member for Macarthur Dr Mike Freelander said issues around Gilead estate were “no laughing matter”.

“I wouldn’t say Gilead is like (The Handmaid’s Tale) but there certainly are issues,” he said.

Geographical Names Board secretary Michael Van Den Boss said naming conventions for ­places, parks and streets were getting stricter but relied on local community “sensitivities”.

In one incident, he said, the board surveyed residents living on Tittswobble Rd in Tuncurry to see if they wanted to change the name but as it turned out they were rather fond of it.

OPINION: Lessons in The Handmaid’s Tale aren’t about Trump’s America

The Handmaid’s Tale was published in 1985, set in a near-future New England in a totalitarian, Christian theonomy, according to Wikipedia.

A radio adaptation was created in the UK in 2000 and an audiobook emerged in 2013 before the TV smash arrived last year, with a second series having started recently.


not sure I would care to live in a burb called Gilead.....I dont follow the show but I have watched some.. its kind of dark and bleak for me..and everyone looks so unhappy......but to each his own...