By Simran Kaur, Staff Writer
The new additional track released after Olivia Rodrigo’s new album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl so in Love has a distinct connection to the Margaret Atwood dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Placing this new song in context to the current political climate today reveals a lot about the actual meaning of the pop star’s newest single.
Serena Joy is a main character in Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. She is a former conservative Christian media star and activist who actively promoted the traditionalistic, conservative, and patriarchal ideology that overthrew the U.S. Government and created the totalitarian regime of Gilead.
What’s evidently ironic about her backstory is that once the regime, Gilead, was securely in place, the oppressive system she built and helped design stripped her own rights, voice, and freedoms from her, leaving her trapped and regretful.
Essentially, she thought she was protected from the system that oppressed other women because she helped create it, and expected to reap the benefits she thought would come with heavily advocating for the new system, however, she ultimately ended up trapping herself and having to face the consequences that arise from this regime.
Olivia Rodrigo’s song is called “Serena Joy” and was originally intended to be in the album, but due to its ‘out of place’ feeling within the album she decided to withdraw it and release it by itself as a standalone charity track to support her women’s only musical festival, Daisy Chain Fields.
The song uses the character Serena Joy as a metaphor to critique privileged conservative women who use their platforms to support anti-feminist agendas and repressive systems, rejecting their belief that they are above or protected from oppression, since in reality they will all have to practice what they preach.
On social media there are currently many social media influencers, specifically women, who are pushing for a more patriarchal society, claiming that it is a part of Christianity to submit to their husbands, and have men be the providers. They push a narrative that feminism is evil, is oppressing men, and affecting traditional values.
What most of these influencers fail to realize is that without feminism, they would not have the ability to speak up about their support of oppression. Women would not have the rights that they are using to push the agenda meant to oppress them. These women ironically advocate that they would give up their rights to vote, move to a system where only the men of their household can vote, but still voice their political beliefs all across the internet.
These anti-feminist women advocate for the oppression of women, the exact same way Serena Joy from The Handmaiden’s Tale does, but let the power and promise of being exempt to the oppression of women make them believe they will keep their privilege.
In Rodrigo’s most spoken about lyric she says “If you can’t throw a punch, you can learn how to spit” a reference to Dr. Martin Luther King who preached and practiced passive resistance where followers should never engage in violence first when marching in unity, Rodrigo recognizes this, claiming that many cannot fight their oppressors but that civil disobedience allows for a message of displeasure to be shown.
This line takes the perspective of Serena Joy, essentially saying the exact opposite, as it sides with the oppressors and invites her followers to ‘bother their neighbors’, that if they can’t act in physical violence they can still participate in the oppression by showing their disapproval, showcasing how in an authoritarian regime there will always be a group of people who support and participate in their own oppression.
Olivia Rodrigo’s song is very topical with the current state of the United States government, where people, especially in marginalized groups, are feeling as though they are still being oppressed. With ICE agents being allowed to still racially profile and kill individuals with no probable cause, social media agendas pushing conservative and patriarchal views, and the labeling of feminism as the downfall of society, it’s really no wonder as to why Rodrigo would feel compelled to write this song in particular.