Sabrina Shao's 11th Blog Post
I have grown tired talking about quarantine, COVID-19, online classes, and all that stuff. The problem, however, is that because of quarantine, there really is nothing much I can talk about besides that. I don't do much besides, eat, sleep, clean, go on my phone and go to class. I guess that means that the only thing I can really talk about now is what I do when I go on my phone.
Hulu just came out with a show called Little Fires Everywhere. This TV show is based on a book by Celeste Ng that I did not read but I might after watching the first episode of this series. Just a side note, Celeste Ng is an Asian American woman. I was watching this with my sister who did read the book and during the show, she would whisper to me the differences in the book and the show. Even though that was a little annoying, now that I am writing this and have nothing else to talk about, I really appreciate it.
The TV show focuses on two contrasting families: the Richardsons - a big and seemingly perfect white family - and the Warrens - a black mother daughter duo living in poverty and constantly traveling. A lot of the hostility between these families revolve around both the economic status and the race of the families. It is not that the Richardsons are purposely being racists. Most of the time, Elena Richardson, the mom, is just trying to be nice. She sees their struggle and all that she is trying to do is help out which Mia Warren, the mom, takes as charity and racism. Certain parts, yes, I do interpret it as mildly racist but Mia Warren takes everything the white family does for her as extreme racism and she is extremely hostile towards them in return.
The book, however, does not actually state that the Warrens are black which really surprises me. After watching the TV show, it is difficult to see the characters as anything but. The race of the families have played such a big role in the TV show’s plot that it was surprising to me to find that it was not at all central to the plot in the book. Vivien’s interpretation of the Warrens from the book was that they were a poor white family. She noticed the tension but did not interpret it as racism. I don’t know if she was just dense or if it was really not clear when reading the book but I plan on reading it and finding out. I will keep you guys updated. I might be biased considering I watched the TV show first and already know that the racist tension does exist but I’ll try to be objective. Maybe the TV show took some creative license and casted African Americans for the role on purpose to add that racist tension and Vivien was in fact right when she said that the author never actually stated that the Warren were black. I will read to find out.
Hulu just came out with a show called Little Fires Everywhere. This TV show is based on a book by Celeste Ng that I did not read but I might after watching the first episode of this series. Just a side note, Celeste Ng is an Asian American woman. I was watching this with my sister who did read the book and during the show, she would whisper to me the differences in the book and the show. Even though that was a little annoying, now that I am writing this and have nothing else to talk about, I really appreciate it.
The TV show focuses on two contrasting families: the Richardsons - a big and seemingly perfect white family - and the Warrens - a black mother daughter duo living in poverty and constantly traveling. A lot of the hostility between these families revolve around both the economic status and the race of the families. It is not that the Richardsons are purposely being racists. Most of the time, Elena Richardson, the mom, is just trying to be nice. She sees their struggle and all that she is trying to do is help out which Mia Warren, the mom, takes as charity and racism. Certain parts, yes, I do interpret it as mildly racist but Mia Warren takes everything the white family does for her as extreme racism and she is extremely hostile towards them in return.
The book, however, does not actually state that the Warrens are black which really surprises me. After watching the TV show, it is difficult to see the characters as anything but. The race of the families have played such a big role in the TV show’s plot that it was surprising to me to find that it was not at all central to the plot in the book. Vivien’s interpretation of the Warrens from the book was that they were a poor white family. She noticed the tension but did not interpret it as racism. I don’t know if she was just dense or if it was really not clear when reading the book but I plan on reading it and finding out. I will keep you guys updated. I might be biased considering I watched the TV show first and already know that the racist tension does exist but I’ll try to be objective. Maybe the TV show took some creative license and casted African Americans for the role on purpose to add that racist tension and Vivien was in fact right when she said that the author never actually stated that the Warren were black. I will read to find out.
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