I loved those books, but I remember my mom telling me as we read them together that Ma wasn't very thrilled with all the moves they had to make (Pa was ruling the roost) and that she hated taking charity (Xmas eve gifts at church). They almost starved in the Long Winter (and weren't exactly "independent"), and they also relied on the Native Americans to give them aid and assistance. The truth about Laura and the Ingalls was very complicated, but the stories were enthralling, especially as I was the brown haired 2nd daughter Laura to the beautiful blond first child, Mary.
When I was in fourth grade, my English teacher used to read from the Little House series at the end of every day. It was the only thing she did that I approved of.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder books were some of my favorites; this series does not measure up for me. Laura and Mary fighting with each other - did not happen in the books. Ma and Pa openly hugging and kissing - I don't think so. The relationship to the books is limited to the characters names. I will finish watching the series, and will enjoy it for what it is, a nice, little family series with some good messages.
"In interviews, Sonnenshine has stressed that she was focused on Wilder’s book as source material"
As an author, this hit me as sourly insulting. If you don't want to interpret a deceased author's work in light of their own context, write your own damn source material.
The ways in which America's "creatives" usurp and steal intellectual property these days is truly crass and lazy. Everything is derivative now--even the stuff that looks fresh on the surface. I believe the film industry is digging its own grave.
I agree. I am watching the series "Dark Winds" which is wonderful as a stand alone series, but does not follow the Tony Hillerman books as to storylines and characters. Robert Redford helped produced this series and I feel did much better with his earlier versions that aired in the 1990's on PBS. They followed the books as written. Both of these book series are well known to many readers so film makers should be careful about doing what they call adaptations. They will always fall short in the readers eyes if things are changed, regardless of context.
I watched that too and loved it, not having read the series, but my partner did and told me where they diverged. There is no reason that a new writer could not get a shot at crafting a Native American crime drama along the lines of Hillerman's stuff without claiming any fame over it.
The problem today with book publishing and movie making is that the honchos all want a sure thing. If you don't produce a Harry Potter or Marvel tale, you don't get a shot. No writer can gain the experience needed to create superior fiction when they must follow a formula. Looks to me like the public was set up for AI-generated crap. It's the final step.
I don't think the question is whether the books or TV interpretations meet today's acceptable standards of expectations but more were they reflective of life at that time. I honestly don't think it was all sugar plums and let's make nice so why add the rosy glasses? Read the books to understand what life was really like at the time.
I did the same... my girls are nearly in their 40s now.
Also memorable for me is that I consistently mispronounced 'ague' (referred to as "fever and ague" in the books) when reading to my 4 and 5 year old girls.
I appreciate this review by Meredith Blake since I've been worried that this remake might have been heavily influenced by MAGAts. I cancelled NetFlix some time ago in favor of a subscription to the videos at PBS.com. I'm hoping that eventually there will be a way I can watch this series elsewhere.
My favorite part of Ms. Blake's review: "With his neatly trimmed beard and perfectly broken-in flannels, Bracey, the Australian who plays Pa, comes off as an L.L. Bean model who accidentally fell into a wormhole that transported him to the 1870s."
It would be very hard to make a TV series using only the books and nothing else. There's not enough "action" for modern audiences. There are also the problematic attitudes and characters.
These stories were written not only through Laura's carefully crafted memories with her idea of showing children during the Depression that hard times can be endured, but the Libertarian propaganda her daughter Rose wove in during editing. Re-reading the book as an adult, I saw that Pa was incredibly selfish, jeopardizing his family's security multiple times in chasing the "free land" dream and sneaking the family out of Burr Oak to avoid creditors. Ma, for all her bigotries and pride, got them through while enduring homelessness, food insecurity, loneliness, and the death of her only son that would have (justly) embittered anyone else. Also, Almanzo was in his mid-20s going after a barely-16 girl.
It's funny how people are screaming. "OMG WOKE!" over the Netflix series when the Michael Landon version was also woke AF at times in terms of things like racism, abuse, addiction, antisemitism, rape, and corporate greed.
Excellent post; I read it because I'm 50 and remember the TV series, although my family didn't watch it religiously. My sister had all the books (which my mom also enthusiastically read), and this past year I had a brand-new set sent to her in Oklahoma for her oldest granddaughter to read. I had bought a boxed set like the one my sister had (with yellow covers instead of blue) at a thrift store for my daughter when she was a toddler, but now that she's a teen, I doubt that she'll ever read them. This is the neat thing about pop culture - passing it along. Some of it sticks even if it's not updated for the times, and some of it doesn't stick even if it's given a more modern context. I'll never read the books, but I don't think I'll need to because this review has told me all that I need to know regarding what it's about, from the books right through the TV show and right on down to the streaming NETFLIX series.
I loved those books, but I remember my mom telling me as we read them together that Ma wasn't very thrilled with all the moves they had to make (Pa was ruling the roost) and that she hated taking charity (Xmas eve gifts at church). They almost starved in the Long Winter (and weren't exactly "independent"), and they also relied on the Native Americans to give them aid and assistance. The truth about Laura and the Ingalls was very complicated, but the stories were enthralling, especially as I was the brown haired 2nd daughter Laura to the beautiful blond first child, Mary.
I loved those books when I was a kid.
When I was in fourth grade, my English teacher used to read from the Little House series at the end of every day. It was the only thing she did that I approved of.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder books were some of my favorites; this series does not measure up for me. Laura and Mary fighting with each other - did not happen in the books. Ma and Pa openly hugging and kissing - I don't think so. The relationship to the books is limited to the characters names. I will finish watching the series, and will enjoy it for what it is, a nice, little family series with some good messages.
"In interviews, Sonnenshine has stressed that she was focused on Wilder’s book as source material"
As an author, this hit me as sourly insulting. If you don't want to interpret a deceased author's work in light of their own context, write your own damn source material.
The ways in which America's "creatives" usurp and steal intellectual property these days is truly crass and lazy. Everything is derivative now--even the stuff that looks fresh on the surface. I believe the film industry is digging its own grave.
I agree. I am watching the series "Dark Winds" which is wonderful as a stand alone series, but does not follow the Tony Hillerman books as to storylines and characters. Robert Redford helped produced this series and I feel did much better with his earlier versions that aired in the 1990's on PBS. They followed the books as written. Both of these book series are well known to many readers so film makers should be careful about doing what they call adaptations. They will always fall short in the readers eyes if things are changed, regardless of context.
I watched that too and loved it, not having read the series, but my partner did and told me where they diverged. There is no reason that a new writer could not get a shot at crafting a Native American crime drama along the lines of Hillerman's stuff without claiming any fame over it.
The problem today with book publishing and movie making is that the honchos all want a sure thing. If you don't produce a Harry Potter or Marvel tale, you don't get a shot. No writer can gain the experience needed to create superior fiction when they must follow a formula. Looks to me like the public was set up for AI-generated crap. It's the final step.
I agree and to reiterate - Darks Winds is absolutely wonderful. Well worth the time to watch it. Renewed for a season five also.
I don't think the question is whether the books or TV interpretations meet today's acceptable standards of expectations but more were they reflective of life at that time. I honestly don't think it was all sugar plums and let's make nice so why add the rosy glasses? Read the books to understand what life was really like at the time.
I used to read these books out loud to my kids when they were little. I got so absorbed in them that I would keep reading after they went to sleep. 😊
I did the same... my girls are nearly in their 40s now.
Also memorable for me is that I consistently mispronounced 'ague' (referred to as "fever and ague" in the books) when reading to my 4 and 5 year old girls.
I appreciate this review by Meredith Blake since I've been worried that this remake might have been heavily influenced by MAGAts. I cancelled NetFlix some time ago in favor of a subscription to the videos at PBS.com. I'm hoping that eventually there will be a way I can watch this series elsewhere.
My favorite part of Ms. Blake's review: "With his neatly trimmed beard and perfectly broken-in flannels, Bracey, the Australian who plays Pa, comes off as an L.L. Bean model who accidentally fell into a wormhole that transported him to the 1870s."
It would be very hard to make a TV series using only the books and nothing else. There's not enough "action" for modern audiences. There are also the problematic attitudes and characters.
These stories were written not only through Laura's carefully crafted memories with her idea of showing children during the Depression that hard times can be endured, but the Libertarian propaganda her daughter Rose wove in during editing. Re-reading the book as an adult, I saw that Pa was incredibly selfish, jeopardizing his family's security multiple times in chasing the "free land" dream and sneaking the family out of Burr Oak to avoid creditors. Ma, for all her bigotries and pride, got them through while enduring homelessness, food insecurity, loneliness, and the death of her only son that would have (justly) embittered anyone else. Also, Almanzo was in his mid-20s going after a barely-16 girl.
It's funny how people are screaming. "OMG WOKE!" over the Netflix series when the Michael Landon version was also woke AF at times in terms of things like racism, abuse, addiction, antisemitism, rape, and corporate greed.
Excellent post; I read it because I'm 50 and remember the TV series, although my family didn't watch it religiously. My sister had all the books (which my mom also enthusiastically read), and this past year I had a brand-new set sent to her in Oklahoma for her oldest granddaughter to read. I had bought a boxed set like the one my sister had (with yellow covers instead of blue) at a thrift store for my daughter when she was a toddler, but now that she's a teen, I doubt that she'll ever read them. This is the neat thing about pop culture - passing it along. Some of it sticks even if it's not updated for the times, and some of it doesn't stick even if it's given a more modern context. I'll never read the books, but I don't think I'll need to because this review has told me all that I need to know regarding what it's about, from the books right through the TV show and right on down to the streaming NETFLIX series.
Sounds like an excellent production. May it prosper.