Big Little Lies: a Contemporary TV Series About the Representation of Feminine Subjectivity and Violence Against Women

14 Comunicación y Medios N°39 (2019) www. comunicacionymedios.uchile.cl Big Little Lies: a contemporary TV series about the representation of feminine subjectivity and violence against women Big Little Lies: una serie contemporánea sobre la representación de la subjetividad femenina y la violencia hacia la mujer Irene Cambra-Badii Paula Mastandrea Universidad de Vic - Universidad Central de Cataluña, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, España. Argentina. [email protected] [email protected] María Paula Paragis Delfina Martínez Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina. [email protected] [email protected] Abstract Resumen TV series can be studied as producing meaning in Las series pueden estudiarse como productoras y both moral and aesthetic exploration of the narra- reproductoras de representaciones sociales, espe- tive, especially in relation to contemporary issues. cialmente en relación con las problemáticas con- In this article, through a qualitative methodology, temporáneas. En este trabajo, a través de una me- we address what happens to the female protago- todología cualitativa, se aborda lo que sucede con nists of the series Big Little Lies, released in 2017, las protagonistas femeninas de la serie Big Little which takes pride in telling stories about contem- Lies, estrenada en 2017, que lleva el estandarte de porary women. Based on the theory of social re- contar historias sobre mujeres actuales. A partir de presentations and a gender perspective, we put la teoría de las representaciones sociales y des- forward an analysis on how this TV series intends de una perspectiva de género, se analiza de qué to convey a discourse of rupture in the traditional manera la serie pretende asumir un discurso de role assigned to women in society but, neverthe- ruptura al rol tradicional asignado a las mujeres less, it reproduces certain beauty stereotypes and en la sociedad y, sin embargo, reproduce ciertos traditional ways of female subjectivation, which estereotipos de belleza y de los modos tradicio- shows a contradiction between its discourse and nales de subjetivación femenina, lo cual permite the final production. On the other hand, the series vislumbrar una contradicción entre el discurso y la shows situations of violence against women and producción final. Por otro lado, en la serie se evi- addresses the issue considering the complexity it dencian situaciones de violencia hacia la mujer, lo implies. cual se aborda contemplando la complejidad que le es inherente. Keywords: TV series, social representations, gen- Palabras clave: series, representaciones sociales, der, female subjectivation, violence. género, subjetivación femenina, violencia. Recibido: 12-11-2018 - Aceptado: 24-04-2019 - Publicado: 30-06-2019 DOI 10.5354/0719-1529.2019.51522 Big Little Lies: a contemporary TV series about the representation of feminine subjectivity and violence against women 15 1. Introduction expansion of HBO: In 2018, subscription services were available in 67 countries -17 in Europe-, plus In the last decade, multiple political and social Asia, while its programs were aired in 150 coun- movements taking on feminist issues are brought tries worldwide (Gómez Mora, 2018). This platform back and new ones are proposed, questioning and is known for its commercial strategy based on ori- highlighting subjects such as violence against wo- ginal productions featuring taboo topics such as men and inequality in terms of access to health, sex and violence. Different from general chains, education and equal pay for equal work. The “new HBO does not include commercials in its series feminist wave” lies in the popularizing of this po- and therefore is not subject to moderations on be- litical movement and the focus put on the fight half of advertisers regarding risqué content (Cas- against gender inequality in its various forms cajosa Virino, 2006). (Campagnoli, 2018). Big Little Lies is based on the Australian novel writ- In this context, both film and series, both being au- ten by Liane Moriarty (2014). Although it began diovisual devices of the era, portray the different as a 7-episode miniseries, the release of its se- manifestations that feature women as the stars. cond season is planned for 2019. The plot centers In the current audiovisual panorama, the series around a small upper-middle class population in constitute a substitute of cinema for the masses, the city of Monterrey, California (USA), particularly especially from the creation and the surge in disse- a group of 5 women between 25 and 50 years old. mination of North American platforms like Netflix The scenery seems perfect, they seem perfect, and HBO. The mode of series consumption surpas- their families seem perfect. However, nothing is ses the need to watch television at a certain time perfect below the surface: in fact, the tagline of Big and space during which the program is broadcast, Little Lies is “A perfect life is a perfect lie”. and the concept of seriality prevails (de la Torre, 2016; Innocenti and Pescatore, 2011). The proposal of Big Little Lies lies within the social realism typical of neo-television (García de Cas- Just as Rincón (2011) states, the series can be stu- tro, 2008) and in the flipside of theAmerican way died as producers of meaning in moral, aesthetic, of life (Gómez Ponce, 2017). This implies that from and narrative exploration. Out of this comes the the beginning a certain rupture with the traditional possibility to analyze the series not only as a phe- tendency of representing families is accepted, un- nomenon of consumption, but also in its semiotic derstanding that we will see models distanced from dimension (Lotman, 2000), which allows us to use the everyday, morally correct patterns that defined them as a source of information in a qualitative a fiction television family in previous decades, due analysis of their content. This will not be possi- to social and cultural changes, especially those re- ble without the conscious acknowledgement of an lated with women joining the workforce and con- affiliation in regards to cinema, and of the work sequent independence (Lacalle e Hidalgo-Marí, on some of the specific mechanisms of televised 2016), transforming “the traditional representa- fiction: the serial character, the time differential, tional functions of TV fiction texts into constructive the suspension of the resolution, the effects of the functions, aimed at establishing better and more character transformation throughout the seasons, efficient communicative relationships with the au- among other aspects (Benavente, 2007). dience” (García de Castro, 2008, p. 5). However: Does this process really occur in Big Little Lies? To The series Big Little Lies (HBO, 2017) claims to tell be questioned here are the social representations stories about real women and defines itself as the of feminine subjectivity that underlie these “big story of “apparently perfect lives that end in murder” little lies” of the series name, that are linked to a (HBO Spain, 2019). After the success of the first certain way of understanding women, associating season, whose season finale had an audience of this representation with maternity and family, the 1.8 million in the United States (Mendo, 2017), it postponement of personal projects, subordination won 4 Golden Globe Awards and 8 Emmys in 2018. to men (which even goes so far as to erupt in phy- Its massive popularity corresponds to that indica- sical violence) and determined aesthetic rules in ted regarding the new possibilities of consumption regards to the body and personal image. via streaming and, specifically, the international 16 Comunicación y Medios N°39 (2019) I. Cambra-Badii / M. P. Paragis / P. Mastandrea / D. Martínez 2. Theoretical Framework According to that proposed by the author, these three dimensions of social representation provide 2.1 An introduction to an idea of the content of the sense of the represen- social representations tational object. The theory of social representations studies the social origin of knowledge and is based on four general premises: that knowledge relies on sym- 2.2 The myths associated bolic thinking, in other words, the ability to repre- with the feminine gender sent one thing using another thing, or the ability of one thing representing something more than itself; The structure of the patriarchal society is based on that the genesis of knowledge is the result of a the dichotomies of a binary point of view that es- communication process; the creation of concepts, tablishes different essential aspects between men in which a concept is a regrouping of a certain kind and women. Such binary is masked as something of objects, events or particularities, using an ele- natural and, therefore, not subject to change, and ment or property they have in common; and finally, lays the foundation for the sexual division and su- that these concepts symbolize social relationships bordination of women (De Grado González, 2011). (Pérez, 2004). In return, gender studies propose opening a new field of knowledge production to address feminini- Moscovici (1961) states that a social represen- ty based on considering the subjectivity of the wo- tation is an organization of images and language man in her relation to gender effects, articulating because it emphasizes and symbolizes events and psychic conceptualizations with a comprehension situations that are or become common. From the of the social and historic contexts (Meler y Tajer, work of Moscovici and Hewstone (1986), the theory 2000). of social representations studies non-normalized knowledge, that is, that of common sense, which In this sense, Fernández (1993) poses the ques- is “a body of knowledge based on shared traditions tion What is being a woman?, and responds that it and enriched by thousands of “observations”, “ex- is “a social invention shared and recreated by men periences”, approved by practice” (Moscovici and and women” (p. 22). It is an illusory imagen pro- Hewstone, 1986, p.

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