Stacey Wong
Kavita Nayar
VM-200-06
15 Dec 2017
Big Little Lies
Big Little Lies is an HBO miniseries adapted from Liane Moriarty’s novel that explores the lives of mothers Madeline Sullivan, (Reese Witherspoon) Celeste Wright, (Nicole Kidman) and Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley). The TV drama revolves around a murder mystery, but rather than being concerned with the suspects behind the murder, the show focuses on their struggle against the oppression of women. Despite the women living in the rich, perfect town of Monterey, California, they all have burdens that they are hiding.
The young and poor Jane has recently moved to the city with her son Ziggy. Ziggy is the product of Jane’s sexual assault. Because of this traumatizing event that took place, Jane moves to Monterey, determined to find her assaulter. The quirky, yet assertive Madeline works part time at a local theatre and finds tremendous guilt when she cheats on her husband Ed. Meanwhile, her former husband Nathan is now married to a younger yoga instructor Bonnie, played by Zoë Kravitz. Celeste is a retired lawyer and married to Perry, who spends most of his time abusing her. Lastly, Renata Klein, played by Laura Dern, is a powerful, wealthy CEO and is outraged when her daughter, Amabella, is bullied at school. Renata serves as one of the show’s main antagonist of the story, followed by Perry. The tension emerges between Renata, Jane, and Madeline when Ziggy is accused of hurting Amabella. This controversy sets the mood for the rest of the show.
Psychoanalytic theory refers to human development and the processes by which individuals become socialized members of society and culture. Psychoanalysis describes the ways in which the human being comes to develop a specific personality and sexual identity within the larger network of social relations known as culture. (Lewis). Sigmund Freud states that personality is formed through conflicts among three fundamental structures of the human mind — the id, ego, and superego (Nayar). The id is the unconscious part of our mind that develops right after birth and demands immediate gratification. The ego is part of both our unconscious and conscious mind. It is involved in our perceptions, thoughts, and judgments and seeks long term gratification. Finally, the superego ir our moral conscience. Psychoanalytic theory is relevant to understanding film and television because it considers both the viewing state and the film text to organize the structures of the unconscious fantasy.
The term “semiotics,” or the study of signs, was coined by American philosopher Charles Peirce. A sign is defined as anything that in some way stands for something else. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, signs are composed of two parts, the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the image, object, or sound itself whereas the signified is the concept it represents, the idea presented by the signifier. There are two orders of signification — denotation and connotation. The denotation is the literal meaning, whereas the connotation is the reflection of the dominant beliefs, values, and attitudes in society (Nayar). Through psychoanalytic theory and semiotics, Big Little Lies reflects the broader ideas of how toxic masculinity, or the ideals that describe the masculine gender role as violent and sexually aggressive, forces women to live through a false self that cripples us more than it helps us. To demonstrate these ideas, I will analyze the production process and the representation of gender in Big Little Lies.
Music is a universal language, it connotes both visual and oral meanings. Elana Levine’s “Toward a Paradigm for Media Production Research” helps us examine the significance of television production, describing how different aspects of the production process “contribute to texts and shape possibilities for audience readings.” The various departments such as set design, makeup, wardrobe, and lighting all help to produce characters and stories. In Big Little Lies, music has a large influence in manipulating the viewers’ emotions in TV and film. The music, for the most part, is diegetic — as in we hear what the characters hear. But music seems to be doing something much larger in this show, serving as a storytelling device for the characters. Director Jean-Marc Vallée uses songs as a way to enhance the narrative and reveal more about the characters. He chooses songs from a number of different genres including pop, rock, R&B, and soul. This approach is quite unconventional, as films and televisions usually prefer to use a soundtrack with original scores. In the episode “Push Comes to Shove,” Celeste is sitting alone at a café listening to Irma Thomas’ “Straight From the Heart.” The lyrics “I’m crying from wanting you, make me forget the pain that you cause” play while Celeste looks out towards the distance. Ellen Seiter’s Semiotics, Structuralism, & TV explains the importance of “how meaning is created, rather than what the meaning is.” There are many aspects of a song that one can look at to interpret meanings including its lyrics, volume, timbre, rhythm or a combination of these. The vocals of ‘Straight From the Heart” are slow, gentle and from the perspective of a woman. These lyrics allude to essentially what Celeste feels on the inside about her marriage with Perry. Nothing is stopping Celeste from leaving Perry, despite Celeste warning Perry about leaving him. Another use of diegetic music in the show is a scene where Jane is running, while also experiencing flashbacks to her assault. The music that plays in each of her runs becomes wild, each time nearly sending Jane to a breaking point. After her run, Jane is listening to Martha Wainwright’s “Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole.” She sings along to the lyrics, “no idea how it feels to be on your own in your own home.” This song is the quintessence of all of the wrath and fear Jane experiences as a result of the rape. Jane is completely on her own as a young, single mother and struggling to find even just a part time job. She always seems to be immersed in her music, almost as if it is her cry for help. The music in Big Little Lies is interlaced into the story in a way that trauma is, a deeply distressing experience. The music is not for the background, but instead a complement to the narrative.
The female costume has always been a creative element that performs a critical role upon its construction. It gives the viewers information about her social status, well-being, and cultural background. In the first episode, Madeline wore a Burberry trench coat despite just dropping her child off on the first day of school. Costume designer Alix Friedberg and her team used brands like Dolce and Gabbana, Brooks Brothers, and Tory Burch on Witherspoon. Similar to the music in the show, the wardrobe pieces serve to have the viewers understand the world through the lens of social roles. Unlike the other women, Madeline wears patterns the most. She is always, in some way, trying to stand out. On the other hand, Celeste’s style is described as effortless. It is no secret that she is wealthy, yet she dresses so in a sophisticated, easy manner. The team chose a very “soft palette” for her with lots of camel, champagne, pale blues, and creams (Fishman). Most of the time, she is wearing turtlenecks or longsleeves because she has sustained injuries from Perry. To reiterate, Saussure conceptualized the sign as having a signifier and a signified. While a turtleneck is a shirt with high, close fitting collar, its meaning behind is a high coverage wardrobe that conceals her abuse from others. Renata’s character is an over exaggeration of designer brands. Every piece that Renata owns is made to look the best and most expensive. Bonnie’s clothes are the most carefree, with an organic, bohemian quality. Most of her pieces are vintage and were either found around thrift stores in LA or purchased from local artisans. Jane’s style would be described as a “bruised palette” (Fishman). The lack of sex appeal is shown through her loose fitting clothes, which are mostly from younger and less expensive brands such as Gap, Target, and Pacsun. In another interview with W Magazine, Friedberg speaks about her process behind styling the cast. For Celeste, in particular, Friedberg wanted to take classic style of Grace Kelly and Jane Fonda. Friedberg stated that one of the greatest things about being a costume designer is “watching the actor transform” and giving them “the second skin they need” to become that character (Petrarca). By understanding how these production choices are added into the story is to understand how cultural images execute their power. The clothes are a not just a material element of the show but an extension of the individual’s character. The artistic choices for each woman on the show are purposeful, but when you take all of that away, you are left with women who each have their own hardships to deal with. The music and costume design in Big Little Lies demonstrate how production details not only support, but help to construct narrative significance.
Big Little Lies reveals that it is much more than a show about the clash between female characters, it is also about friendship. As the debates continues over whether Ziggy is the school bully, Madeline, Jane, and Celeste become closer. Meanwhile, Renata continues to belittle Ziggy for hurting Amabella while shaming Jane, possibly because she is a young, single mother. Mothers like Jane tend to do always be under scrutiny, seen as irresponsible, selfish, and disadvantaged. Madeline, having been in a similar position as Jane in her first marriage, empathizes with her and looks out for her. Later in the series, Amabella is once again attacked and Renata is outraged by this. Renata tells Amabella that she has to be a “big girl and use [her] voice in this world” (Big Little Lies). Although most of the series portrays Renata as a conniving, spiteful human, it is clear that she does not tolerate violence towards her daughter. This moment speaks for many women who have felt like they have been personally silenced by the unacceptable actions from men. We then have characters like Celeste, Jane, and Bonnie who are not as competitive as Madeline and Renata. When Celeste speaks to Jane, she is gentle, nurturing, and caring. And Bonnie, who always manages to remain calm and serene, avoids all possible drama within the show. Despite all their differences, Jane, Celeste, and Bonnie all share something in common — they have been victims of domestic violence. They understand the feeling of having to suffer in silence due to the oppressive patriarchal society. The series ends with a refreshing unification of all the women supporting each other when Celeste is being attacked by Perry. At this very same time, Jane also finds out that Perry is the one who sexually assaulted her. When Bonnie forcefully pushes Perry away from Celeste, he falls to his death, to which the mothers help to cover up in order to protect Bonnie. Big Little Lies’ examination of women’s relationships reject the idea that women are always trying to tear each other down. Instead, the show demonstrates that the coming together of strong, beautiful women can make for something powerful.
Psychoanalytic theory helps contextualize the complexities of the objectification of women in Big Little Lies. While the series shows the raw relationships between female characters, it also is about the way men dominate society. When the show does explore the lives of authoritative white men, it goes beyond the surface to address the toxic standards of masculinity in relation to male privileges. Whenever Celeste and Perry are alone, he criticizes her, shortly getting violent. This manipulative behavior progressively gets worse, each time resulting in Celeste being beaten. They appear to have wild sex following Perry’s abuse but over time, it becomes less clear if Celeste is actually consenting to the sex or genuinely interested in fear that he may hurt her if she denies. Throughout the series, Celeste struggles with having her children listen to her when they are acting out of control. However, when she calls for Perry to discipline the boys, they listen. Society has painted women to be submissive, quiet and not as intimidating as men. This idea is harmful to young children, especially boys, because they may grow up believing that men are superior to women. Meanwhile, characters like Ed, played by Adam Scott, feel entitled to the affections of women due to their “nice” manner. Laura Mulvey’s text on “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” explores the idea of the perspective presented by Hollywood narrative cinema as a widely heterosexual male one. Mulvey explores the concept of scopophilia, or the pleasure in using another person as an object of sexual stimulation through sight. Her essay also discusses the male gaze, which is the pleasure looking at women displayed as sexual objects of erotic spectacle. The gaze refers to three dimensions of looking done by the characters in the film, the film’s spectators, and the camera’s field of vision (Mulvey 351-52). Following a tense conversation between Madeline’s former husband Nathan and her current husband, Ed pays a visit to Bonnie’s yoga studio to confront her about the issues between everyone. With her class currently in session, Ed is seen peeking through the shutters in a voyeuristic manner. The camera cuts to Bonnie’s athletic body physique, and then back to Ed’s eyes. The conditions of this scene allow the spectator to experience an illusion of looking at a pleasurable object, in this case Bonnie, privately. This also connects to the feeling that Mulvey describes as a sexual domination — to watch the person without them knowing gives the observer a satisfying pleasure (Mulvey 349). The close-ups on Bonnie’s body is the content of the film and the direct recipient of the spectator’s look. Not only does Ed find pleasure in this, the camera invites us, the spectators, to watch. When Bonnie comes out to meet Ed, he comments how he “[loves] sweat on women” while gazing down her body (Big Little Lies). He has come here to express his wish for everyone to be civil at an upcoming dinner gathering. However, he cannot help but assert his dominant role, suggesting that Bonnie not “give Madeline any advice” on cooking. At heart, he just wants Bonnie to be sensitive to Madeline’s agitation towards Nathan’s lack of presence in her marriage but externally, it is more of a demand for Bonnie to listen to him. Before he leaves the studio, he is seen sneaking a glance at a passing woman. No one around is able to catch these questionable moments, except for the audience. That reinforces the idea that as long as “good” guys continue to do what they are doing, it does not matter what kind of behavior they exhibit towards women. Even Madeline is blind to this, perhaps because Ed does not cheat, hit, or abuse women like Perry does. This idea seems to be drawn from this sense of patriarchy, in which “unequal power relations seem innate and natural” (Nayar). The psychoanalytic background that is seen in the show is relevant to the pleasure offered in traditional narrative film and television. Big Little Lies’ critique of men is focused on power in a way that illustrations of female objectification on television fail to do.
Big Little Lies exemplifies the burdens and hardships that women go through in a society where male gender roles are perpetuated through characters like Perry and Ed. Masculinity seems to always revolve around this sense of control. Even the seemingly “good” characters like Ed feel a need to assert their dominance in an indirect, verbal way. With the recent scandal regarding Harvey Weinstein, this year, dozens of allegation broke out against the film producer’s sexual misconduct dating back to 1990. Angelina Jolie told Times that Weinstein made “unwanted advances on her,” calling his behavior “unacceptable.” In 1996, actress Judith Godréche joined Weinstein in his hotel suite to discuss her film. He shortly became physical with her, and when she had called a Miramax executive about it, they told her that “she [couldn’t] say anything” unless she wanted to affect the film release (Abrams, Kantor). Even when women have attempted to report their sexual assault, their voices continue to be silenced. In addition to that, these allegations dated back nearly twenty years ago. For this to resurface only recently shows the problem with women repressing their voices to “save” men. Women are forced to endure the painful, emotionally exhausting issues that protects its abusers. With all the response involving Weinstein’s allegations, the world has an opportunity to defy the sexism that invades our culture. Big Little Lies is an exemplary depiction of how women are capable of demonstrating tenderness and strength when confronted with the systemic patriarchal society.
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