Little House on the Prairie
[email protected]
In a message dated 6/27/05 12:14:07 PM, dezigna@... writes:
There are people who practically make a religion out of wanting to be that
family. There's a homeschooling industy built up around it, and there's a
Wilder museum and stuff.
Little Joe and Charles Ingalls (TV version) have been good models for lots
of boys becoming men, I think. I think he did a good job in a lot of ways
on those characters. And I think in some ways his portrayal of and vision of
Little House on the Prairie will have a more lasting benefit than the books
themselves, so if they're belt-whipping things, that will fade into being
archaic and shocking. Sooner than later, I hope.
Sandra
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> The TV series from the seventies turns out to have only the most tenuousRevisionist literary history of a GOOD kind, I think.
> connection to the books, and Pa (Michael Landon) in that is a lot kinder to
> "Half Pint" when she makes mistakes.
>
There are people who practically make a religion out of wanting to be that
family. There's a homeschooling industy built up around it, and there's a
Wilder museum and stuff.
Little Joe and Charles Ingalls (TV version) have been good models for lots
of boys becoming men, I think. I think he did a good job in a lot of ways
on those characters. And I think in some ways his portrayal of and vision of
Little House on the Prairie will have a more lasting benefit than the books
themselves, so if they're belt-whipping things, that will fade into being
archaic and shocking. Sooner than later, I hope.
Sandra
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
soggyboysmom
--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
the awful shaming he underwent as a kid. Probably affected
significantly his take on everything and the way he tries to avoid
shaming others in any of the roles he had.
>I remember seeing a made for TV bio of Michael Landon and some of
> Little Joe and Charles Ingalls (TV version) have been good
>models for lots
> of boys becoming men, I think. I think he did a good job in a
>lot of ways
> on those characters. And I think in some ways his portrayal of
>and vision of
> Little House on the Prairie will have a more lasting benefit than
>the books
> themselves, so if they're belt-whipping things, that will fade
>into being
> archaic and shocking. Sooner than later, I hope.
>
> Sandra
>
the awful shaming he underwent as a kid. Probably affected
significantly his take on everything and the way he tries to avoid
shaming others in any of the roles he had.
K Krejci
It was 'The Loneliest Runner'. I remember it well and
could relate on more than a few levels. I have a
great fondness and respect for Michael Landon. When
he died, I was so very sad. That movie sticks in my
head, too.
Kathy
--- soggyboysmom <debra.rossing@...> wrote:
http://www.good2bdognutz.com
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could relate on more than a few levels. I have a
great fondness and respect for Michael Landon. When
he died, I was so very sad. That movie sticks in my
head, too.
Kathy
--- soggyboysmom <debra.rossing@...> wrote:
>It's Good 2 B Dog Nutz!
> I remember seeing a made for TV bio of Michael
> Landon and some of
> the awful shaming he underwent as a kid. Probably
> affected
> significantly his take on everything and the way he
> tries to avoid
> shaming others in any of the roles he had.
>
>
>
>
> "List Posting Policies" are provided in the files
> area of this group.
>
> Visit the Unschooling website and message boards:
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
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>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
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Kathleen Whitfield
My kids have actually been watching the Michael Landon series, not the new
one. The comparing-herself-to-Mary thing is actually much stronger in the TV
series than in the books. It seems largely a color-of-hair issue -- I also
see it as something very much internally driven. When adults are brought
into the issue in the book, they talk about liking brown hair just as much.
I do think that Mary fit in better to the late 1800s version of what a young
woman should be like -- quiet and self-effacing and a hard, patient worker
-- Laura was livelier. I would suspect there was some shaming behavior
happening outside the pages of the book, but I also see in my own children,
esp. the close-in-age girls, that they compare each other without my
assistance! For instance, the 7yo has noticed that the 3yo's hair grows much
longer and thicker than her own -- and also that the 3yo's hair seems to be
darkening much faster than her own.
(I have read a lot about the Ingalls family history because I loved the
books when I was a child, and it's interesting to note that by most people's
standards, Laura was very pretty while Mary was plain. One biography talks
about how shocked Ma had been when Pa had wanted her for a wife since he was
considered a handsome "catch" and she was not.)
The Landon show can show a lot of nastiness between Nellie Oleson and Laura.
"gentle parenting." My guess is that the family life is rather sweet and
gentle -- for the 1870s and 1880s or even the first have of the 20th century
when the books came out. It's also scary, though, to think about how
contemporary parents who see this family as gentle are treating their own
children.
The racism aspect in the books was something my 9yo and I have discussed
from a historical perspective as well as regarding what it means in the
context of how we are to view Ma. Ma is no model of perfection, and that
both works with his experience with his own parents and is something we talk
about with regard to other people. We don't have to like everything someone
does to like them as people or to love them as family members. Ma definitely
isn't perfectly virtuous, esp. by contemporary standards.
Kathleen
P.S. Thanks for the reminder to look up "Pollyanna Grows Up."
one. The comparing-herself-to-Mary thing is actually much stronger in the TV
series than in the books. It seems largely a color-of-hair issue -- I also
see it as something very much internally driven. When adults are brought
into the issue in the book, they talk about liking brown hair just as much.
I do think that Mary fit in better to the late 1800s version of what a young
woman should be like -- quiet and self-effacing and a hard, patient worker
-- Laura was livelier. I would suspect there was some shaming behavior
happening outside the pages of the book, but I also see in my own children,
esp. the close-in-age girls, that they compare each other without my
assistance! For instance, the 7yo has noticed that the 3yo's hair grows much
longer and thicker than her own -- and also that the 3yo's hair seems to be
darkening much faster than her own.
(I have read a lot about the Ingalls family history because I loved the
books when I was a child, and it's interesting to note that by most people's
standards, Laura was very pretty while Mary was plain. One biography talks
about how shocked Ma had been when Pa had wanted her for a wife since he was
considered a handsome "catch" and she was not.)
The Landon show can show a lot of nastiness between Nellie Oleson and Laura.
> Did the new show include the scene from the book where Pa beats Laura with aI think it definitely would be shocking if you were expecting contemporary
> belt? Does the show include the endless misery that Laura feels all through
> her childhood from constantly being compared to Mary, her lack of self
> esteem and belief in her own "badness"? Did they show Ma's rigidity and
> controlling nature - not to mention racism? What a shock I got when I read
> the whole series (that I picked up from a vendor last year's Conference at a
> great bargain) since it had always been touted as a "wonderful" example of
> parenting and home schooling. Maybe *in comparison* to the standards of the
> time. I consider those books to be historical documents giving interesting
> information about how people lived, and the unremitting physical labor they
> undertook, but as a treatise on gentle parenting (as I had been told) - no.
>
"gentle parenting." My guess is that the family life is rather sweet and
gentle -- for the 1870s and 1880s or even the first have of the 20th century
when the books came out. It's also scary, though, to think about how
contemporary parents who see this family as gentle are treating their own
children.
The racism aspect in the books was something my 9yo and I have discussed
from a historical perspective as well as regarding what it means in the
context of how we are to view Ma. Ma is no model of perfection, and that
both works with his experience with his own parents and is something we talk
about with regard to other people. We don't have to like everything someone
does to like them as people or to love them as family members. Ma definitely
isn't perfectly virtuous, esp. by contemporary standards.
Kathleen
P.S. Thanks for the reminder to look up "Pollyanna Grows Up."