Little House on the Prairie (TV series) is the Little House of Propaganda.

And it was sanitized to an inch of it's life. Let's not forget the original Little House on the Prarie printing included the following dehumanizing line about the territory, "there were no people. Only Indians lived there" with multiple 'characters' saying "the only good Indian is a dead indian." There's mention of blackface and I'm pretty positive if Laura had come across any other people she considered 'other' in her colonizer way, she would have been equally as awful. It's so bad that in 2018 The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award dropped her name all together and renamed itself as the "Children's Literature Legacy Award." And before anyone mentions it was a different time, the show itself would have scoffed at this. Things are either good or bad in the Little House universe. There's no room for grey and no excuses. It's a very libertarian take on things. But there are so many more layers to it. I'd argue that it was as much a reaction against the Women's Liberation movement and the ERA. The show removing much of Ma Ingalls portrayal as a partner in survival to a domestic all mother sort of figure to harken back to a more "traditional time." Which is super ironic because they had to go away from what was portrayed in their source material to do so. Ma, was there to support and keep everything tidy, smile pretty, look worried, and admire Pa - only rarely stepping out of her domestic role on the show. Now this was also prompted I'm sure by back of the house maneuvering, as Karen Grassle, the actress who played Ma Ingels, was left to her domestic role on screen after having the audacity to ask for a raise once the show became successful. And all of these inclusions, exclusions were deliberate choices. If you've ever tried adapting a movie from a book you'd know how deliberate the thread needs to be kept and the scenes and dialogue included to keep the story momentum moving in the direction you want it to. It's so hard to keep the important bits intact that this kind of structural change was a deliberate choice. But there's one aspect you need to take into account. The Michael Landon effect. He was well known and loved by the public after his role on Bonaza, a cultural phenomena itself. The public was invested in him and God, he was a beautiful man with charisma that translated well on TV screens. And he knew this. Dude I cried when he died. He was the executive producer of Little House on the Prarie and he was the driving force behind it all, and while the show often played lip service to issues of sexism and racism with overly sentimental morality plays each week, behind the scenes, and its widely documented by everyone who has written about the show - both his admirers and others - it t was very much a boy's club. Beyond the crude jokes, the truely draconian work environment, and the day drinking, there was blatent sexism and cruelty that he could display to both men and women, but seemed to aim at women more often. Michael Landon had to make sure she knew her place. I will add I loved this show as a kid and had the biggest little girl crush on Landon. But this was propaganda on many levels. Not only those issues mentioned above, but also, I think as a continued response to McCarthyism.. Michael Landon (born Eli Maurice Orowitz and convinced early in his career to change his name) came from a family that was both Irish Catholic and Jewish. And from all accounts identified strongly with his Jewis roots. Putting this kind of show on air; one that leaned so far into American propaganda and nostalgia - would likely have been in an effort, either unconscious or conscious - and I would argue conscious because Landon was brilliant in that way, to declare his patriotism in a hugely public way. If you're interested there are several memoirs from some main actors on the show, Little bit, Nellie, and Ma most notably.

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I think I’d enjoy a LHotP-podcast like that, especially now that “Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men” is announced to end soon.