The text I would like to examine is the Hulu series Little Fires Everywhere starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. Although this story was originated from a book, I have never read the book and would therefore like to speak on the Hulu original series. This show is about two mothers of different races who have extremely different parenting styles. Elena, portrayed by Reese Witherspoon, is a wealthy white mom who struggles with one of her daughters being lesbian and another one of her daughters dating a black man. Elena likes to be seen as perfect and having it all together so when her daughters do something that she perceives as imperfect, she tries to protect her own image instead of caring for her child. Meanwhile, Mia, portrayed by Kerry Washington, cares for her daughter in a different way and ends up supporting Elena’s daughter better than Elena does.
While watching this show, I can’t help but think of Hegel’s master slave dialect. I think about how the master would not be the master without the slave so in a certain sense, the slave is the master of the master. In Little Fires Everywhere, Elena likes to think that she is the master of the whole town of Shaker Heights. However, when Mia and her daughter move in, Elena is challenged and Mia makes Elena know that she has a lot less power than she thinks she has. It starts with Mia questioning her parenting and then turns into her children and husband rebelling over her. Elena loses her power. The people she had power over (slaves) began to rule her.
This story shows a lot of inequality including race and sexuality. It shows how people have a set perspective and highlights microaggressions that many people watching the show are guilty of. It shows that listening, sympathy, and understanding are the keys to understanding people different of yourself and we can see how that starts to change Elena… until her house burns down.
I watched this show with my parents while we were stuck in quarantine and it brought up a lot of conversations about race and sexuality that we had never had before. This show proves that many systemic thoughts of inequality stem from our neighborhoods and families. Did this show bring up any conversation with your family or friends about racist microagression and other inequalities in your hometowns?