Okay, that previous idea also got me thinking about this.
I mean, I think a lot of people already know what the whole “sexual abuse” thing entails—what the Does went through at Efrafa. I mean, it’s very likely that several of them ended up mating with the captains against their will.
And there’s something there I’d like to see in some of their POVs. Because despite everything, the whole idea about the Does still revolves heavily around them being “useful/necessary” for reproduction. And even they themselves seem *fine* with the concept.
And I get the “haha, they’re rabbits” joke, but on one hand, it’s not like they’re just that—they clearly can have their own opinions and desires, and to a certain extent they do, but the book keeps pushing that narrative way too hard.
Not just with things like our “heroes” going so far as to categorize the does on the farm based on whether they’re “good enough,” and that to a certain extent they only wanted them, and the suicidal rescue from Efrafa was mainly driven by that intention. (I’ll go back to what I said before: if Woundwort hadn’t chased the Watership rabbits to attack, they would most likely have just left the rest of the rabbits there.)
Even for Hyzenthlay, her own concept of “freedom” is based on being able to mate, but with “whomever they desire.” At the end even she does that, we didn't know with who but at least I hope she choosed her partner that time.
And look, there’s nothing wrong with them wanting to be mothers, wanting to have partners, etc., etc.
But what if some of them simply DIDN’T want to base their lives on that?
What if there were does who dreamed of becoming members of the Owsla or captains of the Owsla (I’m not necessarily talking about the Efrafa)? What if there were others who just wanted to tell stories and preserve history? What if one of these does (whether the ones we know by name or some other made-up one, I don’t know) simply dreams of being able to run freely through the fields without thinking about anything else? What if she didn’t want a mate? What if she didn’t feel comfortable or ready to have a litter of hers? What if she didn't want to dig warrens for kits?
What *would* our protagonists have done then? What kind of *stress* did they have to endure in slavery for having such thoughts?
Imagine how some of the does at Efrafa were then forced to be “re-educated” into believing that their only privilege in life and their worth lay solely in being able to bear kits and nothing else, that their entire existence was based on how “good” they are or can be for the bucks.
And it’s sad, then. Because later, when they’re freed and are supposed to be “free” to choose, they can no longer believe that things have really changed and will be resigned to watching the bucks continue to fight to mate with them. Because that's how things are, right?
I don’t know, it’s a concept that came to mind from a series I watched for a moment and from overthinking things that happen in the book and in Tales.
Imagine if an adaptation tried to explore that.
It could be an interesting retake of that old comentary about the book being sexist due at the does being "only breeding slaves" (not that I believe on this, but it has some true on it at certain point)
