Negotiating with new momism: a comparative analysis of motherhood in Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere from the figure of Reese Witherspoon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24137/raeic.9.17.15Keywords:
Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere, new momism, star studies, Reese Witherspoon, motherhoodAbstract
The main objective of this article is to analyze the survival and evolution of the ideology of new momism in Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere, to see its contradictions through the figure of Reese Witherspoon, actress and producer. We follow star studies methodology by analyzing the star persona of the actress to see how it dialogues with both series, through a comparative textual analysis combined with the analysis of the archetype of motherhood proposed by new momism. This archetype of motherhood is still in force, through elements such as the dictates of "free choice" and mommy wars. Even so, we will see how the mothers in these fictions perform a masquerade: by mixing postfeminism and feminism, there are gaps in the discourse of new momism that reveal the dissatisfaction it entails and the impossibility of fulfilling its canons of perfection.
Downloads
References
Aumont, J. (2016). El grito. En J.Balló y A.Bergala (Eds.), Motivos visuales del cine (pp. 97-102). Barcelona, España: Galaxia Gutenberg.
Avanzes Álvarez, E. (2018). The Subversion of the Male Tradition in Crime Fiction: Liane Moriarty’s Little Lies. En L. Joyce y H. Sutton (Eds.), Domestic Noir. The New Face of 21st Century Crime Fiction (pp. 181-198). Londres, Reino Unido: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cambra-Badii, I., Paragis, M.P., Mastandrea, P. y Martínez, D. (2019). Big Little Lies: una serie contemporánea sobre la representación de la subjetividad femenina y la violencia hacia la mujer. Comunicación y Medios, 39, 14-25. DOI: 10.5354/0719-1529.2019.51522
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), Article 8, 139-167. Recuperado de https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8
deCordova, R. (2007). The emergence of the star system in America. En S. Redmond y S. Holmes (Eds.), Stardom and Celebrity. A Reader (pp. 132-140). Londres, Reino Unido: Sage.
Douglas, S. J. y Michaels, M. W. (2004). The Mommy Myth. The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined All Women. Nueva York, Estados Unidos: Free Press.
Dow, B. J. (1996). Prime-Time Feminism. Television, Media Culture, and the Women’s Movement since 1970. Filadelfia, Estados Unidos: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Dyer, R. (2001). Las estrellas cinematográficas. Barcelona, España: Ediciones Paidós.
Ellis Ross, T. (15 de junio de 2021). Reese Witherspoon tells Tracee Ellis Ross How She Conquered Hollywood. Interview. Recuperado de https://cutt.ly/TPzXs3E
Ellis, J. (2007). Stars as a Cinematic Phenomenon. En S. Redmond y S. Holmes (Eds.), Stardom and Celebrity (pp. 90-97). Londres, Reino Unido: SAGE.
Faludi, S. (1991). Backlash. The Undeclared War Against American Women. Nueva York, Estados Unidos: Three Rivers Press.
Friedan, B. (2009). La mística de la feminidad. Madrid, España: Cátedra.
Genz, S. (2010). Singled Out: Postfeminism’s “New Woman” and the Dilemma of Having It All. The Journal of Popular Cultures, 43(1), 97-119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2010.00732.x
Gill, R. (2016). Post-postfeminism?: new feminist visibilities in postfeminist times. Feminist Media Studies, 16(4), 610-630. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2016.1193293
Hallstein, L. O. (2015). Bikini-Ready Moms. Celebrity Profiles, Motherhood and the Body. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Harrison, L. (2010). Brown Bodies, White Eggs. The Politics of Cross-racial Gestational Surrogacy. En A. O’Reilly (Ed.), 21st Century Motherhood. Experience, Identity, Policy, Agency (pp. 261-275). Nueva York, Estados Unidos: Columbia University Press.
Hays, S. (1996). The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood. New Haven, Estados Unidos: Yale University Press.
Hemmen, V. (2013). Reese Witherspoon: A True Role Model. Faculty Curated Undergraduated Works. Paper 11. Recuperado de http://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/undergrad_works/11
Highfill, S. (8 de abril de 2020). AnnaSophia Robb, Tiffany Boone discuss the Little Fires Everywhere flashback episode. Entertainment Weekly. Recuperado de https://cutt.ly/QPzXW9f
Jamil, J. (17 de abril de 2020). Reese Witherspoon [Audio podcast]. Recuperado de https://cutt.ly/YPzXOPS
Karlyn, K. (2011). Unruly Girls, Unrepentant Mothers. Austin, Estados Unidos: University of Texas Press.
Mayne, J. (1995). Cinema and Spectatorship. Londres, Reino Unido: Routledge.
McDonald, P. (2003). Stars in the Online Universe: Promotion, Nudity, Reverence. En T. Austin y M. Barker (Eds.), Contemporary Hollywood Stardom (pp. 29-44). Londres, Reino Unido: Arnold.
McRobbie, A. (2007). Post-feminism and popular culture. Feminist Media Studies, 4(3), 255-264. https://doi.org/10.1080/1468077042000309937
McVeig, K. (2019). Theme and Complex Narrative Structure in HBO Big Little Lies (2017). Refractory: a journal of entertainment media, 33. Recuperado de http://hdl.handle.net/10072/392917
Morin, E. (1972). Las Stars. Servidumbres y mitos. Barcelona: Dopesa.
MyDomaine. (7 de septiembre de 2016). Reese Witherspoon’s Tips for a Happy Home [Archivo de vídeo]. Youtube. Recuperado de https://youtu.be/UnZ1dM-7vRY
Negra, D. (2009). What a Girl Wants? Fantasizing the Reclamation of Self in Postfeminism. Nueva York, Estados Unidos: Routledge.
Panchal, N., Kamal, R., Cox, C. y Garfield, S. (10 de febrero de 2021). The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Abuse. KFF. Recuperado de https://cutt.ly/MPzCyPx
Pignanoli, V. (2020). Narrative Ethics in HBO’s Big Little Lies. En E. S. Zehelein, A. Carosso y A. Rosende-Pérez (Eds.), Family In Crisis? (pp. 101-109). Bielefeld, Alemania: transcript Verlag.
Postpartum depression - Symptoms and causes (1 de septiembre de 2018). Mayo Clinic. Recuperado de https://cutt.ly/vPzCdYY
Press, A. (1991). Women Watching Television. Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience. Filadelfia, Estados Unidos: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine. (18 de marzo de 2020). Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington talk motherhood & Little Fires Everywhere [Archivo de video]. Youtube. Recuperado de https://youtu.be/0N7oe8oqJDk
Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine. (2 de abril de 2020). Parenting during quarantine [Archivo de video]. Youtube. Recuperado de https://youtu.be/5uzl8OXQD1Q
Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine. (26 de septiembre de 2019). Reese Witherspoon’s advice on motherhood [Archivo de video]. Youtube. Recuperado de https://youtu.be/UspF1UOh_XY
Rich, A. (2019). Nacemos de mujer. La maternidad como experiencia e institución. Madrid, España: Traficantes de Sueños.
Richard, D. E. (2018). People in Glass Houses: Big Little Lies on the Small Screen. Adaptation, 11(3), 285-289. https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apy007
Rosenfelt, D. y Stacey, J. (1987). Review: Second Thoughts on the Second Wave. Feminist Studies, 13(2),341-361. Recuperado de https://www.jstor.org/stable/3177806
Salsabila, S., y Ariastuti, M. (2020). An Examination of Masculinity as the Cause of Domestic Violence in Big Little Lies. Atlantis Press, 453, 55-60. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200729.011
Shingler, M. (2012). Star Studies. Londres, Reino Unido: Palgrave Macmillan.
Slater, G. (2021). Reese Witherspoon Recalls Raising Her Daughter Ava On Her Own as a Young Mom: “I Would Cry”. People. Recuperado de https://cutt.ly/3PzCMRM
The Drew Barrymore Show. (15 de septiembre de 2020). Reese Witherspoon Opens Up About Terrifying Young Motherhood Experience [Archivo de video]. Youtube. Recuperado de https://youtu.be/6-_eFBfKyBY
The Ellen Show. (20 de mayo de 2019). Reese Witherspoon Cried in Her Daughter’s Empty Room When She Left For College [Archivo de video]. Youtube. Recuperado de https://youtu.be/CAa498EiiyI
Thumim, J. (1986). “Miss Hepburn Is Humanized”: The Star Persona of Katharine Hepburn. Feminist Review, 24, 71-102. https://doi.org/10.2307/1394636
Wallworth, G. (2018). Traversing the boundaries of the New Momism: Challenging the “good” mother myth in The Handmaid’s Tale (2017 –) and Big Little Lies (2017 –) (tesis de pregrado). University of Sydney, Australia.
Wenn (16 de octubre de 2019). Reese Witherspoon: ‘Streaming services changed my entire career’. Hollywood.com. Recuperado de https://cutt.ly/VPzVyAD
Williams, S. S. (2021). Revising The Scarlett Letter: Race and Motherhood in In the Blood and Little Fires Everywhere. Adaptation, apab006. https://doi-org.sare.upf.edu/10.1093/adaptation/apab006
Witherspoon, R. (5 de septiembre de 2017). We Have to Change the Idea That a Woman With Ambition Is Out Only for Herself. Glamour. Recuperado de https://cutt.ly/JPzVjcN
