"Little Fires Everywhere”: Reese Witherspoon, Motherhood & Maternal Ambivalence
Dr Margo Lowy draws on Reese Witherspoon’s character, Elena, in the television mini series “Little Fires Everywhere” to question and reflect on the taboo areas of the mother’s life and how silences surface in her experience of maternal ambivalence. This showcase trawls taboo areas such as the mother who never wanted her child, the mother who lives vicariously through her child and the mother’s experience of her hateful feelings. Questions of contemporary media and mothering are explored, such as: How are mothers presented in the current media? Is this a genuine representation? Have expectations about mothering changed? Do we identify with Elena? This conversation will disrupt our pre-conceived views about mothering from a psychic and social perspective.
The first On the Pulse seminar will be hosted by Associate Professor Mary Zournazi
Image credit: Melissa Key
Margo Lowy is a psychotherapist with an interest in mothering and women’s reproductive health. She completed her doctorate and her research masters at the UNSW in Sydney investigating the fields of maternal ambivalence and infertility. She is an adjunct lecturer in the School of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at UNSW Sydney.
Mary Zournazi is an Australian film maker and cultural philosopher. Her multi-awarding winning documentary Dogs of Democracy was screened worldwide, and her most recent documentary film, My Rembetika Blues is a story about love, life and music. She is the author of several books including Hope – New Philosophies for Change, Inventing Peace with the German filmmaker Wim Wenders, and her most recent book is Justice and Love – a philosophical dialogue with Rowan Williams. She teaches in the sociology and anthropology program at UNSW Sydney in the School of Social Sciences.
Photo credit Effy Alexakis.
