It’s a popular thought experiment among feminists: what would the world look like if women were in power? Politics, society and the economy still function (too) often according to rules made by men and from which they benefit. But would the world be a better place if women were suddenly the stronger sex in every respect? The new Amazon series “The Gift” plays out this scenario.
The novel of the same name by Naomi Alderman (original title: “The Power”) even inspired Barack Obama: The former US President put it on his personal list of book recommendations of the year in 2017. Teenage girls around the world are mysteriously gaining the ability to deliver electric shocks with their hands. More and more women are getting this gift – and only women.
At first, the girls use the electric shocks mainly for harmless games: shutting down the power supply or triggering a fire alarm so that the class work is cancelled. But soon there are more serious consequences, even if not always intended. A shy teenager defends herself against her violent foster father. A girl cannot control her powers and causes a plane crash. And as the world debates whether the videos circulating the internet are fake, women are becoming more aware of the power that is now at their disposal.
The Gift shows how young women in different parts of the world are using this ability. They use them for their own purposes, against injustice in the world, they have to learn to control them – and what actually happens when the women rise up against each other with electric shocks?
The series thus designs a world in which women are not only intellectually at least equal to men, but also physically superior to them. Characteristics that men have claimed for themselves for thousands of years. The time has finally come to put the patriarchy in its place and take revenge for the injustice suffered – but of course the men do not give up their supremacy without resistance. A bitter battle of the sexes seems inevitable.
Which brings us back to the question from the beginning: If women had such power, would they do everything better? A constellation that is definitely worth considering. In any case, showrunner Raelle Tucker reveals that her series doesn’t want to indulge in any illusions: “The Gift” tells of a world “in which women hold the power that men have had for a long time, but we women end up making many of the same mistakes repeat in our way”.
Prime Video released the first three episodes of the series in one fell swoop, with a new one of the nine episodes appearing every Friday.
