Author Margaret Atwood Says ‘The Harvey Weinstein Moment’ Will Last
Nerdette Recaps With Peter Sagal
WBEZ
4.6 • 924 Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“I think it’s going to last more than a moment,” said the celebrated author on this week’s Nerdette. “But how much more than a moment, it remains to be seen."
Nerdette co-host Greta Johnsen talks with author Margaret Atwood about the recent TV adaptations of her novels Alias Grace and The Handmaid's Tale, how her take on feminism has changed in recent years, and what needs to happen to make sure the “Harvey Weinstein moment” isn’t just a moment. Plus, we explore one of Atwood's nerd obsessions: The 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner.
Transcript
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| 0:35.1 | From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette. |
| 0:36.3 | I'm Tricia Bobita. |
| 0:39.5 | And I am Greta Johnson, and this week's guest is Margaret Atwood. Can we just take a minute and just like breathe in that notion? Because that's |
| 0:45.1 | pretty exciting. It's happening. Margaret Atwood is the author of most of my and probably most of your, |
| 0:52.5 | dear listener, most of your favorite books. Everything from history to speculative fiction to there was a comic book that was really amazing. |
| 0:58.7 | Yeah, man, a bunch of poetry, just like all the good things. |
| 1:01.6 | She was actually on Nerdette many, many moons ago back in 2014, but a lot has happened for Margaret Atwood and her work since then. |
| 1:08.6 | Yes, just in the last year, two of her books have been adapted |
| 1:11.3 | into interweb series. We had Handmaid's Tale on Hulu, which came out earlier this year, |
| 1:16.5 | and Alias Grace, which is a mini series that just came out on Netflix a couple weeks ago. |
| 1:21.0 | I think of all the things that have been written about me, that I am an inhuman female demon, |
| 1:29.7 | that I am an innocent victim of a blackguard forced against my will and in danger of my own life. That I am a good girl with a pliable |
| 1:35.5 | nature and no harm is told of me. That I am cunning and devious. But I am soft in the head and little better than an idiot. |
| 1:47.8 | And I wonder, how can I be all these different things at once? |
| 1:58.1 | That's a clip from the Netflix show, Aalius Grace, which is based on the book by the same name, written by our guest Margaret Atwood. |
| 2:04.8 | We talked with Margaret about the show's feminist themes and how both of the recent adaptations of her work have been so eerily timely in this Me Too moment. |
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