‘Little House on the Prairie’ series review: Modern, moving take on beloved book series
A review of the new Netflix series 'Little House on the Prairie' highlights its modern interpretation of the classic books. The show expands on character backstories while maintaining the core narrative of the Ingalls family.
Why it matters
Reflects the trend of adapting classic literature for modern audiences and the resulting creative tensions.
When one first meets the Ingalls family — Ma, Caroline (Crosby Fitzgerald), Pa, Charles (Luke Bracey) and their daughters, Mary (Skywalker Hughes) and Laura (Alice Halsey) — one might be in for a little shock at this rather modern looking and talking family.
Pa seems to be a millennial man, a carpenter, musician (he plays a mean fiddle), poet and trapper. Ma is even more modern as she crossly tells Pa to get his own meal.
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s nine Little House books are semi-autobiographical stories of her family’s struggle to lay down roots in the frontier between 1872 and 1894. The children’s books, published between 1932 and 1971, are told from Laura’s perspective. The show meanwhile, while keeping Laura as a central character, has expanded its scope to give backstories to several other characters.
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