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For all you avid readers and consumers of traditional media, chew on the title of Gossip Girl episode six “The Handmaiden’s Tale.”  Very odd, don’t you think?  So strange that I’ve looked to literary references to see if the title means a little more.  Try this on for size: there is a famous novel called “The Handmaid’s Tale” that has some interesting parallels to what the spoilers are saying about episode six. 

For example, we know N is going to accidentally kiss J at the masquerade ball in episode six of Gossip Girl.  According to sparknotes, the protaganist of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Offred, also kisses someone named Nick which foreshadows their eventual affair.  Gossip Girl readers know that N and J certainly do hook up in the books - is the show going the same direction?  Other points of interest: the character named Serena Joy and a central theme “The Handmaid’s Tale” shares with the Gossip Girl series - “the struggle against the totalitarian restrictions of society.”

Why does it matter you ask?  Because reading classic literature is fun and important, and references made to literary devices in movies and TV shows can foreshadow what’s to come.  It’s kind of like getting a major spoiler but having to dig and draw parallels in order to catch it.  After all, the upper east side isn’t just about glamour and excess - it’s brains that get some of us into those Ivy league schools.

By the way:  Every episode title so far has been a play on words (except for Pilot, obviously).  Should the episode titles be taken at more than face value?

• The Wild Brunch = The Wild Bunch - a movie made in 1969
• Poison Ivy = a film, a Batman baddie, and a leaf that causes the itchies
• Bad News Blair = Bad News Bears - another movie
• Daredevil = a movie, same title
• The Handmaiden’s Tale = The Handmaid’s Tale
• Victor, Victrola (ep 7)= Victor-Victrola is a phonograph
• Seventeen Candles (ep 8)= Sixteen Candles, a classic

What do you think?  Can you think of any other references to other media in Gossip Girl?

Sources: Sparknotes, Wikipedia 

Categories: Spoilers, The Handmaiden's Tale
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