{"id":21732,"date":"2025-08-20T21:30:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T01:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/?page_id=21732"},"modified":"2026-03-19T10:47:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:47:37","slug":"what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"class_list":["post-21732","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"lead_in":"Film and Media Studies","display_title":"\"What is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017)","subtitle":"Spring 2025,<\/strong> Volume 23,<\/strong> Issue 2<\/strong><\/em>\r\n\r\nAndrea Sun \u201925, Joel Burges*\r\n\r\nDOI: 0.47761\/LZOX5562<\/a><\/i><\/b>","call_to_action":"","hero_image_placement":"no_image","hero_media":"images","hero_pattern_option":"","hero_video":"","hero_image_landing":"","hero_image_landing_two":"","hero_image_landing_three":"","content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"","content":"
Introduction<\/h5>\r\nWhen the 2017 HBO show Big Little Lies first premiered, the show\u2019s casting was\u2014in a way\u2014one of its kind. Here were five of the most famous women in Hollywood, cast opposite one another in a dramedy and given equitable treatment by the camera. Although ensemble casts are not particularly special on their own, Big Little Lies emphasized this casting choice; the characters\u2019 lives are so deeply intertwined that, narratively, they cannot exist without one another. They are linked by circumstance, location, and a strong desire to prove themselves to be worthy, no matter what the reason. Indeed, within the show, private conflicts and tensions are exacerbated by the involvement of various parties as all the characters are deeply invested in the lives of their peers. This persistent community involvement\u2014or nosiness\u2014is what creates interesting and dynamic drama, forcing the show to be more explicitly concerned with the collective rather than the individual. The ending of the first season presents a strong case for the narrative significance of an ensemble cast: as Perry\u2019s death is revealed, all five women become accomplices and perpetrators of the crime for their own reasons. As the handheld camera hastily jolts between women, it is clear that\u2014despite Bonnie being the one to fatally push him down the stairs\u2014they were all guilty of violence for better or worse (\u201cYou Get What You Need,\u201d 00:54:48). This not only intrinsically ties them to one another, but also blurs the question of \u201cWho did it?\u201d\r\n\r\nErnest Mathijs writes in \u201cReferential acting and the ensemble cast,\u201d \u201cEnsembles play off of each other rather than off reality; or, rather, the members of ensembles play off the perceived perceptions of themselves held by other cast members and audiences. In other words, it is important for someone in an ensemble to act in the way the audience expects, and to make use of that expectation in their playing with (or off) other cast members\u201d (90). Although Mathijs is writing specifically about acting within an ensemble, his assessment of this dynamic directly speaks to the audience\u2019s perceptions of a character. It is true that in order for an ensemble to be convincing and presentable as a unit, a viewer must also understand the aspirations, intentions, and thoughts of an individual character, particularly how these qualities add or subtract from the ensemble. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the subjective elements of an individual person whose character is not necessarily defined by the group itself, but whose fragmented qualities are embedded into the whole. Particularly, in Big Little Lies, these elements are not often found in overt settings as the show focuses on the aforementioned ensemble more often than not; instead, these personal interiors are implicit, found in the literal background of scenes and sequences. In taking from the melodramatic tradition of its predecessors, Big Little Lies utilizes visual forms of expressive mise-en-scene to wordlessly construct and establish female interiority and its impact in a mundane suburban sphere. This subjective singularity serves to formally place the individual both in relative and in opposition to the ensemble within a larger complex narrative, stacking scenes with perpetual and pertinent meaning.","background_color":"#f4f4f4","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"","content":"
Mise-en-sc\u00e8ne, the Melodramatic Genre, and the \u201cWoman\u2019s Film\u201d<\/h5>\r\nFirst, in order to examine the construction of mise-en-scene in Big Little Lies, one must consider the show\u2019s roots in the melodramatic genre. Peter Brooks writes in his book The Melodramatic Imagination, \u201cWe have in fact been witnesses to the creation of drama \u2014 an exciting, excessive, parabolic story \u2014 from the banal stuff of reality\u201d (2). This is, perhaps, a most apt description of Big Little Lies in that it is particularly exciting, completely excessive, and, at times, deeply parabolic. He goes further to say, \u201cStates of being beyond the immediate context of the narrative, and in excess of it, have been brought to bear on it, to charge it with intenser significances\u2026\u201d (2). Brooks describes an outpouring of excess\u2014a maximalist approach to creating meaningful and serious storytelling. In this way, though he does not say so explicitly, there is a beauty to melodramatic storytelling: the creator of this story can choose to fill the pages or, in this case, the screen with as many symbols, metaphors, and details as they want, and all of this will be significant as long as it is convincing.\r\n\r\nIn examining the melodramatic tradition\u2019s history within Western cinema, one would be remiss not to discuss its roots as a \u201cwoman\u2019s film,\u201d as Christine Gledhill writes in the introduction to Home is Where the Heart Is: Studies in Melodrama and the Woman\u2019s Film: \u201cFeminism, in particular, given melodrama\u2019s long relegation as a women\u2019s cultural domain, claims a stake in critical reappropriation of the form and introduces the problem of the \u2018woman\u2019s film\u2019 which it has been assumed, represents a sub-set of melodrama\u201d (1). The book contains several essays discussing this very phenomenon\u2014the relegation of melodrama as a domain of entertainment for women\u2014and describes the subtle ways in which the genre began leaning into its peak demographic, addressing the banes of womanhood. For example, Laura Mulvey proposes that the films of Douglas Sirk\u2014one of the most prolific melodramatic filmmakers of all time\u2014offered a contradiction to the Western or gangster film: while those films \u201ccelebrate the ups and downs endured by men of action, the melodrama of Douglas Sirk, like the tragedies of Euripides, probing pent-up emotions, bitterness and disillusion well known to women, act as a corrective\u201d (76).\r\n\r\nBoth Mulvey and Mary Ann Doane in \u201cThe \u2018Woman\u2019s Film\u2019: Possession and Address\u201d write about the particular way in which space is used in these melodramatic films, noting the significance of mise-en-scene. Doane writes, \u201cThe deployment of space in the \u2018woman\u2019s film\u2019 is motivated rather directly by a fairly strict mapping of gender-differentiated societal spaces onto the films - the woman\u2019s place is in the home. Although this is quite clearly the case in the family melodrama (where the space of the house frequently dictates the weight of the mise en scene)...\u201d (285). This essay will continue Doane\u2019s train of thought, finding the ways in which the home becomes gendered to a point where the interior begins to reflect interiority. Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Beate S\u00f6ntgen write in the introduction to Interiors and Interiority, \u201cThe connection between interior space and human interiority has a long and rich history and various arguments have been offered to establish, explain, or justify it. How did we come to think of subjectivity as inner space to begin with? \u2026 The third genealogical narrative focuses on the contribution of architectural space to the process of internal subject formation. In this narrative, the emergence of the interior as a discrete and individuated space within the house played a major role in the cultural construction of an interiorized subject.\u201d (1-2).\r\n
Dissecting Set Design as Mise-en-scene in Big Little Lies<\/h5>\r\nIn ruminating on the historical tradition of melodrama, domestic spaces, and personal interiority, one can begin to see that Big Little Lies builds its foundation on these classic ideas to implicitly form its characters. While the show\u2019s exterior sequences are demanding and voracious, its interiors are moments of introspection and revelation, desiring to not only portray family dynamics, but also to make the woman at the head of the table known. Particularly, the mise-en-scene of Madeline and Celeste\u2019s homes express attributes, desires, and intentions that are not explicitly spoken, providing a deeper understanding of their characters and their relationship to one another.\r\n\r\nA cursory glance at Madeline\u2019s home will show that her home is large, boasting wide windows and a big kitchen space. She fills every surface with furniture and decor, all functional items that look straight from a Pottery Barn or West Elm catalog. While all of these things look expensive, they are also relatively ordinary and serve the purpose of function rather than extraneous form. There is also a great sense of clutter in her home; large spaces are filled with sofas, chairs, lamps, and decorative pieces. Frankly, her furniture is expensive, but nowhere near or in the price bracket of her peers, yet despite this, she decides to overfill her home with it despite this inequality. The overwhelming maximization of space is a parallel to Madeline\u2019s character; she overcompensates for the wealth difference between her and her peers, reflecting her tendency to respond extremely to prove herself and impress others, but falling short anyway.\r\n\r\nIn contrast, Celeste\u2019s home is more modern with striking furniture pieces and a greater sense of decorative cohesion, yet still offers a sense of familial and communal function. A brief shot of Perry (\u201cSomebody\u2019s Dead,\u201d 00:27:20) reveals a small sitting area near their home\u2019s window where there are two wicker chairs, a side table, and a coffee table. The consolidation of form and function is obvious here: the coffee table is made up of a dark, beautiful marble, and an obscure decorative piece (either sticks or coral) sits above it, but so does a soccer ball, several colorful blocks, and a wooden toy house. On top of the wicker chair and its accompanying aesthetic throw pillow, sits a large teddy bear. The appearance of form in Celeste\u2019s home speaks to a greater sense of wealth in her family: she can afford and purchase decorative items for the sake of having them rather than for any other practical reason. Despite this, the aesthetic of her home can seem strange and sterile at times. A closer examination of the mise-en-scene of the table reveals this\u2014the dark and clean aesthetic of the marble table and the threateningly obscure nature of the centerpiece is an antithesis to the warmness and clutter of a traditional American suburban family. In this picture, it almost feels as if the children\u2019s toys attempt to be a redeeming factor for the general coldness of the house, though this fails. It simply adds to an unmistakable tension.\r\n\r\nAnother short shot in \u201cSerious Mothering\u201d shows the boys\u2019 nanny kneeling on the ground, picking up scattered toys on the ground (00:21:40). Arguably, the silent nanny is a harbinger of the mise-en-scene, acting as a stagehand responsible for removing elements of the children from the scene. Her hastiness in cleaning up contributes to this tension between the ideas of family life and the conflict that overwhelms the home. Both Madeline and Celeste\u2019s homes reflect personal stakes in exterior conflicts. For Madeline, her strong tendency to overcompensate and her perceptions of her own wealth are what drives her to befriend Jane as Ed subtly points out in \u201cSomebody\u2019s Dead\u201d (00:24:40), and this friendship is what causes most, if not all, of the drama in the show. For Celeste, there is endless friction between her cold and violent relationship with Perry and her desire for her children to be happy, which is ultimately\u2014as the show slowly reveals\u2014what instigates Perry\u2019s death. These distinctions allow the audience to recognize Madeline and Celeste\u2019s individual contributions to the group while engaging the characters in a dynamic interplay within the ensemble. Once the characters are all burdened with one another\u2019s responsibilities, the individual will still remain unmistakable, but will now exist within the context of the group.\r\n\r\nRenata and Jane\u2019s homes offer two points of radical contrast to Madeline and Celete\u2019s\u2014one representing extreme wealth, and the other depicting the average lower-middle class. Renata\u2019s home is best depicted in a shot of Gordon walking to meet Renata outside as the camera pans across the family\u2019s living room (\u201cSomeone\u2019s Dead,\u201d 00:31:05). The area is made up of dark furniture items such as a gray circular couch, gray armchairs, and a round glass coffee table. The only splashes of color come from an abstract orange glass piece on the coffee table and the blue glass countertop. The room itself has high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a lot of unoccupied space. There are no clutter or signs of children\u2019s toys. The set design of the home offers insight into the aesthetic differences of \u201cnew money\u201d wealth, particularly the cold and highbrow environment she lives in.\r\n\r\nAs Edgar Allan Poe writes in his humorous essay, \u201cPhilosophy of Furniture,\u201d \u201cBut, in America, dollars being the supreme insignia of aristocracy, their display may be said, in general terms, to be the sole means of aristocratic distinction; and the populace, looking up for models, are insensibly led to confound the two entirely separate ideas of magnificence and beauty. In short, the cost of an article of furniture has, at length, come to be, with us, nearly the sole test of its merit in a decorative point of view.\u201d (Poe). Here, Renata\u2019s furniture is this immediate and exemplary representation of wealth\u2014a way of depicting her success. As she says to Gordon in \u201cSomebody\u2019s Dead,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to be demonized for having the temerity of a career. But\u2026 but look at this. Look at our life. [gestures to the house and scenic sunset] What kind of person chooses to work? Certainly not a mother by any acceptable standards\u201d (00:31:25). While the home explicitly comes across as cold and empty as if Renata has no affection for her daughter or space for her family, it directly represents her desires to prove her worth, both physically and emotionally. Renata clearly prioritizes order and simplicity, and, at first glance, this can seem unwelcoming, but that is simply not her concern.\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, Jane\u2019s apartment is small, and the furniture does not match. It only has one bedroom, so she sleeps on a sofa bed in the living room while her son, Ziggy, takes the bedroom. In one of the first shots of Jane\u2019s apartment (\u201cSomebody\u2019s Dead\u201d; 00:33:50), the viewer sees her collapsing into a red papasan chair, which may be comfortable, but is a very average piece of furniture. It is an accent chair in lieu of something expensive, often associated with recreational spaces in a home. This association reminds the viewer that Jane is, indeed, truly quite young; not only does she not have the same resources as Madeline, Celeste, or Renata, but she is also in a completely different stage of her life. Her circumstances have forced her to compensate and be resourceful, but this does not stop her from providing for her son. A shot of Ziggy\u2019s room in the same episode (\u201cSomebody\u2019s Dead\u201d, 00:35:05) shows a lit up constellation system hung on the ceiling, a paper-mache planet system above Ziggy\u2019s bed, a nice wooden twin-sized bed, matching sheets and comforters, and several adorable lamps. In the whole house, the most thought has been put into Ziggy\u2019s room, and that speaks to Jane\u2019s desire for Ziggy to have a stable and well-supported childhood.\r\n
Using Implicit Spaces within Narratively Complex Media<\/strong><\/h5>\r\nJason Mittell in \u201cNarrative Complexity in Contemporary Narrative Television\u201d defines two components of narrative complexity as a \u201credefinition of episodic forms under the influence of serial narration \u2026 Rejecting the need for plot closure within every episode that typifies conventional episodic form, narrative complexity foregrounds stories across a range of genres. Additionally, narrative complexity moves serial form outside of the generic assumptions tied to soap operas\u2026\u201d (32). In the cultural sphere, Big Little Lies has already been established as a narratively complex piece of television: the show draws from its HBO predecessors to weave together a narrative that both forgoes conventional episodic structure and subverts genre-specific expectations. The idea that Big Little Lies does not conform to one genre is nearly self-explicit. The show is framed as both a procedural and a dramedy, yet does not adhere to traditional forms of either, which is a result of the showrunners\u2019 decision to eliminate clear genre boundaries. Mittell\u2019s first point about episodic structure, however, sheds light onto the limited forms of narration that the show uses to maintain suspense and create complexity.\r\n\r\nNotably, one of the striking choices made by the showrunners is the use of restrictive and objective narration. This means that within the show, information is constantly withheld until it becomes contextually useful. When revelations are made or feelings are shared, it is usually in moments within the ensemble, focusing on peer reactions. These limitations in narration are ultimately necessary to fulfill the sense of incompleteness that the open-ended nature of the episodes provides. Any formal resolution would immediately break the momentum of the story, including the plot resolution at the end of the episode.\r\n\r\nThe purpose of designating Big Little Lies as narratively complex is similar to discussing its usage of the ensemble within the show. Both of these factors are, while not obvious, relatively acceptable to a casual spectator: on the surface, most see and understand that this is a show with a relatively complicated narrative and a large cast with characters of equitable significance. Yet, the idea of narrative complexity also poses questions pertaining to the manner in which information is shared within the show; although the narrative must be restricted to maintain irresolution, this tactic is not helpful in attempting to understand a character\u2019s individual motivations and interior thoughts. Simply put, if everything is about the group and nothing is revealed, then all individual interiority ceases to exist. Therefore, the significance of expressive mise-en-scene is both about differentiating characters from one another and implicitly revealing compelling information. As seen above, the particular mise-en-scene of four women\u2019s homes offers perspective into each of their psyche; their environments are the physical manifestation of their desires and anxieties. It is this implicit narration that corroborates and deciphers the explicit diegetic components of the narrative.\r\n
Representing Female Interiority within Domestic Spaces<\/h5>\r\nOnce the reasoning and significance behind the usage of expressive mise-en-scene in Big Little Lies has been made clear, one can begin to examine the thematic impact of this visual representation. If these houses are truly extensions of the characters, then the audience is to understand that the lives, struggles, and triumphs of suburban women are incredibly varied. Indeed, the show portrays these four women as having essential commonalities like their status as mothers, the age of their children, and the town in which they live; however, despite these basic similarities, it is their personal contexts that differentiate them. Taking from its melodramatic predecessors, Big Little Lies contemporizes the \u201cwoman\u2019s film\u201d and argues that there are deep and jarring complexities within being a modern woman and a modern mother. The stark portrayals of these women\u2019s personal residences are a true manifestation of the dichotomy of feminine interiority, as it is the only place in which the private becomes visual and the ensemble ceases to exist. It is this interiority that allows the individual to present herself as a nuanced figure, commanding a sincere understanding of the specific compulsions and circumstances that become motivation and action within both the ensemble and a larger complex narrative.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"","content":"
References<\/h5>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Brooks, Peter. <\/span>The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess<\/span><\/i>. Yale University Press, 1976.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Doane, Mary Ann. \u201cThe \u2018Woman\u2019s Film\u2019: Possession and Address.\u201d <\/span>Home is Where the Heart is: Studies in Melodrama and the Woman\u2019s Film<\/span><\/i>, edited by Christine Gledhill, British Film Institute, 1987, pp. 283-298.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Gledhill, Christine. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d <\/span>Home is Where the Heart is: Studies in Melodrama and the Woman\u2019s Film<\/span><\/i>, edited by Christine Gledhill, British Film Institute, 1987, pp 1-4.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  4. Lajer-Burcharth, Ewa and Beate S\u00f6ngten. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d <\/span>Interiors and Interiority<\/span><\/i>, edited by Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Beate S\u00f6ngten, Walter De Gruyter GmbH Berlin\/Boston, 2016, pp. 1-16.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  5. Mathijs, Ernest. \u201cReferential acting and the ensemble cast.\u201d <\/span>Screen<\/span><\/i>, Vol. 52, Issue 1, Spring 2011, pp. 89-86.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  6. Mittell, Jason. \u201cNarrative Complexity in Contemporary Narrative Television.\u201d <\/span>The Velvet Light Trap<\/span><\/i>, Number 58, Fall 2006, pp. 29-40.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  7. Mulvey, Laura. \u201cNotes on Sirk and Melodrama.\u201d <\/span>Home is Where the Heart is: Studies in Melodrama and the Woman\u2019s Film<\/span><\/i>, edited by Christine Gledhill, British Film Institute, 1987, pp. 75-79.<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
  8. Poe, Edgar Allan. \u201cThe Philosophy of Furniture.\u201d <\/span>Burton\u2019s Gentleman\u2019s Magazine<\/span><\/i>, Volume 6, No. 1, May 1840, pp. 243-245. <\/span>https:\/\/www.eapoe.org\/works\/essays\/philfurn.htm.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
  9. \u201cSerious Mothering.\u201d <\/span>Big Little Lies<\/span><\/i>, season 1, episode 2, HBO, 2017 Feb. 26, <\/span>Max<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>https:\/\/play.max.com\/video\/watch\/bf44a7dc-e340-4207-ae67-3736179c47c6\/8f3a759a-7464-438c-956d-a2e65bf3184f<\/span><\/a>.<\/li>\r\n \t
  10. \u201cSomebody\u2019s Dead.\u201d <\/span>Big Little Lies<\/span><\/i>, season 1, episode 1, HBO, 2017 Feb. 19. <\/span>Max<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>https:\/\/play.max.com\/video\/watch\/01e45da8-56bd-4504-a78e-643f9ca02e8e\/0f295f87-7a9b-4dfc-bac4-61ed98b05ea6.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
  11. \u201cYou Get What You Need.\u201d <\/span>Big Little Lies<\/span><\/i>, season 1, episode 7, HBO, 2018 April 2. <\/span>Max<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>https:\/\/play.max.com\/video\/watch\/37fa7509-a94a-4f2a-ab65-de84acb5487d\/7990e2a1-13e7-4bb9-9046-fa190a6b2cf9<\/span><\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","background_color":"#00205b","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"","title":"","content":"
    About the Author<\/h5>\r\nAndrea Sun is an undergraduate student studying Postwar European Film and Television at the University of Rochester. She majors in English: Creative Writing and minors in both Psychology and Religion. Her academic and research interests consist of utilizing emerging technologies and data organization techniques to conduct humanities research, particularly in subjects such as contemporary history, literature, and media. Past research projects include a digital exhibit titled \"From Blossoms to Persimmons: Examining the Poetry of Li-Young Lee\" with UR's Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation (RBSCP); in-depth archival research within other collections such as the Kodak Historical Collection, the Hillside Children's Center papers, and the Seward Family papers; and other projects for RBSCP and academic pursuits.\r\n
    Cite this Article<\/h5>\r\nSun, A. and Burges, J. (2025). \"What is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017). University of Rochester, Journal of Undergraduate Research<\/em>, 23(2). doi: 0.47761\/LZOX5562.\r\n\r\n
    \r\n\r\nJUR<\/em> |     Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 BY International License<\/a> [icon name=\"creative-commons\" prefix=\"fab\"] [icon name=\"creative-commons-by\" prefix=\"fab\"]","background_color":"#f4f4f4","width":"width-medium"}]},"yoast_head":"\n\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017) - The Journal of Undergraduate Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017) - The Journal of Undergraduate Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Journal of Undergraduate Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-19T14:47:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017) - The Journal of Undergraduate Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-21T01:30:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-19T14:47:37+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Journal of Undergraduate Research\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/college\\\/ugresearch\\\/jur\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017) - The Journal of Undergraduate Research","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017) - The Journal of Undergraduate Research","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/","og_site_name":"The Journal of Undergraduate Research","article_modified_time":"2026-03-19T14:47:37+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/","name":"\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017) - The Journal of Undergraduate Research","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-08-21T01:30:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-19T14:47:37+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/what-is-she-thinking-the-construction-of-female-interiorities-in-big-little-lies-2017\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cWhat is she thinking?\u201d: The Construction of Female Interiorities in Big Little Lies (2017)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/","name":"The Journal of Undergraduate Research","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21732"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25212,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21732\/revisions\/25212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/college\/ugresearch\/jur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}