Big Little Lies – feminist or postfeminist fiction? : The subversion of the love discourse in Liane Moriarty's novel and in the series

The novel ' Big Little Lies' by the Australian novelist Liane Moriarty, was the first work of fiction by an Australian to top the New York Times, Top 10 Best Seller Fiction List. The subsequent television series fronted by some of Hollywood’s most powerful women actors, gave the novel virtual cult status. What it also did was raise the profile of a number of feminist and postfeminist discourses about issues which were at the same time reflecting a reality in US society which exposed the dark underbelly of exploitation and abuse in Hollywood and the film and media industries. Issues such as domestic abuse and violence were laid bare and the series, although not the novel, exposed the fact that domestic abuse was a feature perpetrated by men and women. At the same time US society was seeing the exposure of media moguls for their harassment of women (Brooks 2022; Farrow 2017, 2018) encapsulated in the case brought against Harvey Weinstein (Farrow 2017, 2018). In addition the differences between the novel and the series brought issues of class and race in US society to the surface. Moriarty’s development of characters gave huge scope to the actors and director of the series to amplify interesting aspects of relationships within marriage and between women. Female friendships became central in the development of the series as well as the aesthetic dimensions of the production leading to the dramatic ambience. This chapter develops all these aspects in relation to feminist and postfeminist discourses.

© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Ann Brooks; individual chapters, the contributors

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