Gender Roles In Big Little Lies

Society places a repressive stereotype upon mothers. The traditional gender role of women was that “a perfected mother was supposed to stay at home and nurture so society would accept them” (). They had to do all the domestic labor and take care of the children while their husband was at work. Since being a wife and a mother was a woman’s sole job, there was no reason for them not to be perfect at it. In contemporary terms, women share the same struggles of trying to reach the unattainable of being a perfect mother. However, there is even more pressure placed upon mothers today as society demands that they do more than just domestic work and nurture their children. For mother’s to be successful they are supposed to have an education, hold a
HBO set a high standard for high quality TV with their “hour-long dramatic series” that were often “unorthodox and austere” (83). The series Big Little Lies is a prime example of HBO’s success in producing high quality TV since it allows for exploration of serious themes. The series began as Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon became so enthralled with Liane Moriarity’s novel Big Little Lies they decided to make it their project to put it on the screen. After getting the rights, they started contacting other actors whom they worked with and casted the roles of the characters. With a star studded cast including Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz and other acclaimed actors “they were approached by multiple movie studios” trying to by the project (). But instead of making it into a blockbuster film, the book was converged into an HBO series because of the driving components high quality TV offers. Ironically, Big Little Lies already covered one of the characteristics of high quality television before even declaring it a series by casting all A-list stars. The stars chosen were necessary in producing this series because of their ability to successfully reenact intense ordinary experiences that affect many women. To obtain a “strong visual,” another component of high quality TV, the director Jean Jacques Vallee went about the cinematography of the show in the same manner of a film. Being “armed with a generous budget” the only difference between directing a series versus a movie was that he was creating a “seven-hour film” rather than 2 (). However, the challenge he faced was strategically breaking down the show into 7 episodes. For a TV series to succeed, each episode has to end in a suspenseful way to keep the viewer wanting more. Ultimately, it was the ability to incorporate serious themes on television that made high quality TV the right platform for Big Little