“Under his eye”

tecniques of disciplinary poer in the series The handmaid’s tale

Abstract

The handmaid’s tale is a highly successful American television series in Brazil. Based on the namesake novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, originally published in 1985, the series was launched in 2017 and presents a dystopian narrative that takes place in Gilead - a fictional place where, in the 21st century, a theocratic revolution is taking place. Starting from this scenario and making use of frames from the series, this article aims to undertake an analysis of the instruments and techniques from which disciplinary power produces, in the dystopian plot of The handmaid's tale, docile bodies and, therefore, useful to the system. It is about identifying how a power device is organized that, from a theocratic state, normalizes bodies with a view to the sexual enslavement of fertile women. For this purpose, this article is anchored in the analysis of power proposed by Michel Foucault, more particularly in what concerns disciplinary power.