Little Fires Everywhere

I just finished the mini series on Hulu. Of course the acting was top notch. I thought they fixed a couple of issues I had in the book and they also left a lot of the content that I objected to.

I don't really accept the premise that white people with money are worse people than people without money. A lack of money doesn't make you pure or clear-eyed.

The big fix was Pearl - her reaction in the book to finding out the truth about her mom is so muted. In the series, they give her a chance to be angry and rail against her mom. We also hear her thoughts when she talks to Moody about the things she is learning, like "my mom thinks it makes me a better person to be poor" and she talks about wanting things when she was younger - pretty clothes, etc.

And I think they show Mia more upset by her choices, more upset by Pearl's reaction.

I also think they did a much better job in the series of explaining why we are supposed to dislike Elena - not just because she is rich and snobby, but because she is perpetuating a lie of perfection that is hurting her family. The series makes it much more clear that Lexie is suffering from trying to be perfect and she even yells this at Elena, who storms away, refusing to accept it. That pressure is bad and wrong, and a loving mother would not apply it. However, the pressure that Mia puts on Pearl to be carefree and unencumbered is also wrong. Both women see this in the end.

Both the book and the series, in my opinion, are too hard on Elena. She does mean well, she does try to help. She is ineffective and she is not completely self aware. But both the book and the series forgive Mia her sins (which are substantial), but they hold Elena completely responsible. In the series, Bill says to Elena, "people will be held accountable" (as she wants), which the audience clearly understands means HER (though of course she doesn't get it).

I read a review of the series that talked about how much the audience is supposed to (and does)  HATE Elena, and I was annoyed all over again. I really hate MIA and find HER insufferable and smug. But because she is an ARTIST, all is forgiven. Bleh. BOTH women are flawed, in some similar ways actually, but Mia comes off as wise and Elena as doomed.

I think the series does a clearer job of acknowledging the wrong Mia has done to the Ryans, another frustration I had with the book.

And both Linda and Mia make wonderful points during the hearing about how motherhood is hard, no one is perfect at it, everyone makes mistakes. And it is even said that it's not about who is the "best" mother. But then Mia gets to say "only Bebe IS her mother." Which I think is ridiculous. Obviously blood has almost nothing to do with mothering.

The money is so problematic. In the series, all 4 Richardson children disavow their upbringing in a (almost) final scene. But it annoys me even more to have all of them react this way, as opposed to just Izzy, as in the book. Being white and privileged is problematic but it's not evil. Having money is necessary. Mia agrees to be a surrogate in order to get money to pursue her dreams. That she drops out of school and still magically is able to make a living as an artist is a contriance that the book's author has wrought - Mia is SO talented of course, that her success is assured. Of course, many talented artists die unknown. In the novel and the series, Pauline's agent helps Mia by selling her work. So she HAS money, though she pretends not to - her poverty is an act to help obscure her location from the Ryans.

While I am a bleeding heart liberal to the core, it really bothers me that the book ignores how necessary money is to our lives, how it enables us to fulfill our goals. The Richardson children don't understand and appreciate all the comforts of their upbringing, but just rejecting these comforts and calling them foul doesn't improve the lives of people less fortunate. Which brings me back to Elena - in the series, Bill suggests that Elena has caused the trouble with Bebe by bringing Mia into the situation - in their rental, in their home, even into Linda's home, at the BD party.  So none of this is Mia's fault, it's Elena's for allowing (or facilitating) it. And the fact that Elena really was trying to help (both Mia and Linda) doesn't count.
 

A man in Minnesota was killed by police over the weekend

Too big to fail

Talking with other academic librarians about the future of the university system leaves me with the feeling that the university system mirrors America, with the widening wealth gap that many working class and middle class people excuse and even support, as a reflection of our persistent underlying affection for social Darwinism. Can we change??? 

Interestingly, Cuomo's press conference yesterday focused on potential infrastructure projects with the same tone: we have an opportunity to do things we know should be done, should have long since been done. (Starts around the 16 minute mark.)

But do we have the political will for any of this? Are the forces of "privileging the already privileged" too powerful to turn and redirect?

Here is my absolute favorite political analyst, Matt Taibbi, on Bill Maher talking about the current "bailout." My takeaway is that Americans have accepted this model of capitalism (where the taxpayers support big industry over and over again) and I don't know how it changes...