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Boston fans of 'The Handmaid's Tale' note a couple of discrepancies
By adamg on Sat, 04/28/2018 - 8:32am
The TV series has a focus on Boston - this season with Fenway Park and the old Boston Globe newsroom playing key roles. But a couple of local folks have Issues.
Suzanne B writes:
I have a hard time suspending my disbelief while watching #HandmaidsOnHulu because if it’s supposed to be taking place in Boston, there should be WAY more rude turkeys in every outdoor scene.
Kelly Connolly notes another discrepancy:
I guess my Handmaid’s Tale thoughts are that if they really lived in Boston their drugstore of choice would be CVS instead of Walgreens.
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Comments
When the Republic of Gilead took over ...
they banned Walgreens for being too green or something.
DD
I don't watch the show but is Dunkin Donuts properly represented with 1-3 shops on every street corner?
Has Councilor Flynn Weighed In Yet?
How do his constituents feel about this?
Turkeys!
It's official now.
Geographical Discrepancies Drive Me Nuts
Like in the movie Blown Away or Proud Mary where they necessarily go across iconic bridges that would take them to Cambridge and totally out of the way. Or thinking people can be fooled into thinking obvious Lowell scenes are not in Lowell.
They do, but also amusing
I lived on Inman St. in Cambridge when I was in college. An Unmarried Woman used an apartment on the corner of our block as a location (sadly, we didn't get to see any of the stars). We thought it was hysterical in the finished film when Jill Claighburg would walk out of the apartment onto Beacon Hill.
Then there is the mashup that is ...
... Leverage.
(shudders)
And Fringe!
Which was based in Boston and Cambridge, but yet, looked nothing like Boston or Cambridge.
I think I remember a scene in ...
... Mystic River when someone leaves Doyle’s, hops in his car and seconds later is suddenly careening down a street in Eastie. If only Boston traffic were so easy to navigate.... haha!
Pieces (1982)
And who could forget that timeless classic "Pieces" from 1982, where Boston has palm trees, and Mediterranean architecture, and street numbers that go up over 10,000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A97EOtxF2gA
...or when editing and
...or when editing and production decisions - assembling the narrative - clashes with some pieces of the narrative.
One of my favorites (non-Boston) was several years ago, when PBS or somebody did a documentary on Saint Anthony's school in Jersey City, NJ - well, mostly about the basketball program and their famous coach.
The documentarian did a good job, spending a lot of time in different settings - class, homes, commuting, fundraising - with the coach and several of the athletes.
I did laugh out loud, though, when part of the presentation was an on-the-team-bus discussion with one of the athletes when the team had a big game in nearby Newark or Elizabeth. Knowing the territory, I knew which highway they were on and which direction they were going just by the scenery behind them outside the bus window. I forget which exact way they tripped - (a) presenting it in the broadcast as a conversation that happened on the way to the game, but footage clearly showed they were driving back after, or (b) the other way around. It was funny to watch and realize they were passing the Statue of Liberty in the wrong direction.
Tobin
Isn't there some movie where some girl is going home to maine, and there's a shot of her driving over the Tobin but she's using the upper deck (which is the inbound side).
Or my fav.. anything to do with Ted and Chelsea. I think its nice Ted cleans up Chelsea some, but its totally unrealistic to how it really is.
Good Will Hunting
Wherein the protagonist commutes between South Boston and Cambridge on the Red Line, by way of Dorchester.
I'll give this a pass
For artistic license. Shot looked much better with the train out of the tunnel.
However that nonsense where the character is jogging on top of the old Sugar Bowl?
Good Lord!
also in Good Will Hunting
doesn't Robin Williams walk out of his Bunker Hill Community College office directly into the Public Garden?
Good Will Hunting is OK in my book
Just for the fact that it captured the late and much lamented The Tasty on film for posterity.
For the record
In the book, June and her husband live in Brookline, but work in Boston.
Was it filmed in Toronto,
Was it filmed in Toronto, like the first series?
A setting that was sort of like an American city, except everything was slightly off, added to the dystopian feel.
This Is What Boston Looked Like In 1868
( can you guess what show I've been binge-watching? )
Downtown Boston — 1868
( note "The Hiker" statue — the ubiquitous Spanish-American War memorial created in 1906 )
Boston Public Library — 1868
( those Massachusetts state flags — the design was adopted in 1971 )
Entrance to the Boston train station — 1868
( hint: a train to St. Louis is boarding on Platform 6 )
Great pics!
What have you been binging?
I WAS going to guess that!
It's the only show I could think of where someone would be travelling southwest from Boston in 1868.
But then, I wondered if someone would publicly admit to binging it....
Where was the BPL in 1868?
It was not where it is today. The McKim building opened in 1895.
From 1858 To 1895 — It Was This Building At 100 Boylston Street
( demolished in 1899 )
( on that site today — The Colonial Building - part of Emerson College )
The all-time geography-hopping show...
...was Spenser For Hire. Spenser would make a turn in downtown or Back Bay and suddenly be across the river in Arlington or Cambridge or in the middle of the Arboretum.
The all-time geography-hopping show...
...was Spenser For Hire. Spenser would make a turn in downtown or Back Bay and suddenly be across the river in Arlington or Cambridge or in the middle of the Arboretum.