Olivia Rodrigo has enabled an unexpected crossover with The Handmaid’s Tale, and the credit goes entirely to her latest track titled Serena Joy. But why did she choose this very title? What is the story behind her new song? Completely unexpected, it was released in support of the fundraiser for Daisy Chain Fields, a music festival entirely dedicated to fellow artists, organized in Orange County over the weekend. But how does it connect to The Handmaid’s Tale and why?
Olivia Rodrigo Brings The Handmaid’s Tale Into Focus in Her New Song Serena Joy
Serena Joy is a valuable and controversial figure in The Handmaid’s Tale, a highly acclaimed TV series adapted from the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Those not familiar with the story might think Serena is the protagonist of The Handmaid’s Tale, whereas she is in fact one of the main antagonists. Before the United States became the Republic of Gilead, Serena was a political extremist; she had written numerous manifestos about the true “place” of women in society, but once Gilead arrived, Serena was among the first to lose any influence, becoming an oppressor who ends up a victim of a system she helped to create.
Serena is one of the women who helped build a society founded on rigid control of other women, on their bodies and on their rights, blindly believing in the system and choosing to support it until she realizes that all those limits also affect her life.
Although she contributed to the founding of Gilead, once placed on the other side of the role of Wife, Serena loses the ability to read, write, participate in any form of public life, confined to her home. Serena’s example highlights a figure who helped promote a regime based on the oppression of women, discovering in the end that those same rules apply to her as well. And she feels compelled to show loyalty to her husband, convinced that her proximity to power will keep her safe. And the notion of submission to patriarchy understood as a form of temporary salvation is also addressed in Olivia Rodrigo’s track. The former Disney star, through this song, tells of people who have accepted repressive systems because they believe they will not affect them, of how something terrible is happening to others and not to themselves until it reaches their doorstep.
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