"Little House on the Prairie": Feminist and Subversive

Little girls running with their braids in the wind across the American prairie? What nonsense! Mocked for its naivety and the legendary scene of the little girl collapsing on the grass during the opening credits, the TV series “Little House on the Prairie” is, in fact, taken from a feminist’s eight autobiographical works. (See the credits of the TV series).

Of course, the original creation was distorted by Hollywood and her feminism was masked by the presence of the manly Michael Landon, desperately splitting firewood.

The real Laura Ingalls would not have liked that we remember her writing in the image of a muscleman in suspenders. She worked all her life to escape the intended fate of a daughter, wife and mother, and in the end, she succeeded in becoming a recognized and acclaimed writer.

Daily life in the nineteenth century was far from the watered-down version demonstrated by the TV series. Besides the struggle for survival that she shared with her contemporaries, Laura fought to make her taste for independence accepted in the puritanical society into which she was born in 1867.

Head to the Wind, Free of the Bonnet

The little girl, whom we follow throughout her childhood and adolescence, likes to go barefoot, ride bareback, and travel still farther west into uninhabited territories.

The most important thing for her is to enjoy all these pleasures head on, free from her bonnet, which was the traditional hat of American women at the time, and which obstructed their vision due to their wide brims. So much for the fair skin and well-kept hair that demands such headgear.

The same goes for her fine and slender figure. Laura preferred the designation “strong as a horse,” awarded to her by her father.

Being recognized by the head of the household when she does “man’s work” is an absolute pleasure for her. Satisfaction is tenfold when permission is granted to her to dispose of the oppressive corset, ancestor of our liberating bra, when she is doing farm work.

The American West through a Woman’s Perspective

These small victories may seem insignificant, but what really makes these children’s novels distinct is that they tell the story of the American West through a woman’s eyes.

From the ornamental women in the saloon to the unflattering image of the cowgirl, women are generally only a pale decor in our collective imagination of the Wild West.

With “Little House on the Prairie” readers discover that they nailed, hoed, mowed, and planted, often taking on such tasks in the absence of a husband who had gone to seek additional income. And, of course, when winter arrived without a neighbor within 100 miles, a woman’s hand was always needed to heat and tinker around the house.

No woman, however, had the opportunity to participate in public life. Yet the author gradually made a place for herself, earning the reputation of a “good girl” among the local male population.

By becoming a seamstress and teacher, she acquired an intellectual independence and could also boast of bringing home a salary.

Arriving at marriage in the last book of the series, she persists in her desire for independence, criticizing the phrase “obey her husband,” demanded by the religious marriage oath. Lady Di and Kate Middleton, indignant at the same request, invented nothing.

“Confessions of a Prairie Bitch”

From Taiwan to Los Angeles, the global success of the novels is probably due to the complexity of the characters, who are far too polite for the TV adaptation. Laura excels in the art of distilling bad thoughts and committing small acts of rebellion.

A California hippie I met on a Scottish trail told me that, despite the ideals he had acquired in Woodstock, he made a point of reading a chapter of “Little House” every night to his two children and continued to follow this philosophy on his path to the initiation that led him all the way India.

Saddam Hussein himself was an “avid fan” of the TV series. Alison Arngrim, the actress who played the ugly Nellie Oleson on screen, revealed this choice information in her autobiography, “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch,” released in 2011.

We also learn in her book that Michael Landon never wore underwear under his suit and spent most of his time off camera boozing in the “props truck.” His figure as the father of a model family takes a big hit, as does the entire cast.

Alison Arngrim, despised for her role as a pest, spent her childhood hiding the secret of the sexual abuse she suffered, a reality far removed from the perfect impression we have of the series.

A Literary Heroine

While her mother was struggling to drill it into her that a “well-bred woman never attracts attention to herself,” Laura Ingalls Wilder finally captured the attention of thousands of readers and critics alike, who place her alongside literary heroines like Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and Colette.

The similarities with the latter, her French contemporary, are also surprising, as they both offer moving descriptions of the pleasures of childhood and the wilderness.

Mocking viewer, it would be too bad if you stopped with the insipid moralizing of the television series. You know now that the show has little to do with the contents of the literature that inspired it, full of untamed feminist ideas, a manifesto for women wielding the ax and the lasso.