Little House on the Prairie was iconic in the 70s and 80s. Chronicling life on the American frontier and based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved books about her childhood and her pioneer family, it mesmerised a generation. There was a happy family, who also had disagreements; domestic duties like getting water from the creek (scenes we loved to watch but would hate in real life); and endless danger and jeopardy coming in all directions: rabies, floods and a lack of antibiotics, as well as bad people roaming around.
Fans loved heroine Laura (played by Melissa Gilbert), hated her goody goody sister Mary, recognised Nellie as the original frenemy, and could see that Pa looked as though he had wandered in from a 1970s cop show (but was actually Michael Landon, Little Joe from Bonanza).
Now, Netflix is bringing it back. And there has been a drastic change: old Laura wore a floppy cotton sun bonnet, while new Laura has a Stetson-style cowboy hat, hanging down her back on stampede strings. It’s an enticing, tomboyish new look – but what about the other “updates”?
Netflix has promised a “transformed adaptation” (i.e. “we don’t have to stick to the original stories”.) The cast is much more inclusive, and the treatment of Native Americans –featured positively in the original, but with thinly drawn characters and background plots – has changed significantly so that they have their own story, that does not shy away from how badly they were treated.
