Between fiction and reality. A netnographic study on female viewers of the tv series The handmaid’s tale

The essay studies the Italian fan page dedicated to the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale, analysing female users’ dynamics of usage. Female viewers’ interpretations have been retraced through a netnographic analysis, which has had as object the conversations of the online community. On this public fan page users show at the same time a sense of identification and conflictual spirit. Two emotional levels in online interactions are identified: the community is profoundly compact when the events refer to the fictional story; it then transforms into a space of conflict when it makes reference to the impact on reality of the metaphors arising from a political interpretation.