The 2017 Emmy Awards were extremely attentive to the most controversial and thorny topics of this historical period, awarding The Handmaid’s Tale as Outstanding Drama Series: snubbed by Netflix and Amazon, the series was broadcasted by Hulu, which transformed it into a worldwide success (it will be available in Italy from September 26 on TIMVision). Based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, the series tells a dystopian nightmare, in which women are reduced to handmaids whose sole role is to procreate, due to a grave infertility that has decimated the human race. Brilliantly played by Elisabeth Moss (who also won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress, together with her colleagues, Ann Dowd and Alexis Bledel), the series had a great impact, especially in Trump’s America, so much so that in the past few months a feminist group protested the Trumpcare in Washington, the reduction in funds that the President made against Planned Parenthood, the organisation supporting women who decides to abort.
The other big winner is Big Little Lies: the HBO series won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for the protagonist, Nicole Kidman. Created by David E. Kelley and based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, the series investigates the issue of violence against women, happening everyday but ignored by most people, in the muffled background of Montery, a wealthy American town overlooking the sea.
Even Netflix won something: the streaming giant received the Emmy Award for Outstanding TV Movie for San Junipero, the episode of cult series Black Mirror which has been recently acquired by Reed Hastings’ platform. And here too, the attention is focused not only on feminism but on civil right issues, redefined in a sci-fi version by the British series that always focuses on the delicate relationship between humanity and technology.
An all-female win in the comedy field too, where Julia-Louis Dreyfuss won with her VEEP, now at its ninth season.
There is no lack of surprises, especially about the excellent losses: no awards for Westworld and Stranger Things, while favourites This is US (nominated for Outstanding Drama Series), Atlanta (Comedy Series) and The Night Of (Limited Series) settle for the awards of their performers, Sterling K. Brown (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series), Donald Glover (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series) and Riz Ahmed (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series), respectively.
The complete list of winners is available here.
