*Note: This piece contains spoilers for Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, as well as the Hulu series by the same name.
Science fiction stories such as The Handmaid’s Tale, which returned to Hulu for its third season in June, offer audiences the chance to imagine how society morphed from its present state into the strange dystopian future described in the fictional scenario. By doing so, the genre allows audiences to consider what they want the world to look like decades from now, says Moya Bailey, an assistant professor at Northeastern who’s teaching a new course on science fiction and feminism for undergraduates this fall.
The exercise is an “important tool” that science fiction is uniquely poised to harness, Bailey says, because it prompts audiences to consider what they want for the future and how to get there.
