ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how Big Little Lies treats the sexual assault of two women of different social classes. The “comeuppance and punishment” proved satisfactory for some critics, who found the conclusion a strong feminist statement in reaction to male aggression and violence. In Rape on Prime Time, Cuklanz found that between 1976 and 1990, narrative television programs portraying rape incorporated the critique of sexual violence that had emerged with the rise of feminism in the 1970s. Big Little Lies follows the lives of wealthy mothers Celeste Wright and Madeline Martha Mackenzie. The chapter shows how narrative and visual cues render Celeste’s sexual violence in clear and certain terms, leaving Jane Chapman’s experience ambiguous and highly questionable. The graphic representation of sexual violence is hidden within the luxurious confines of Celeste and Perry’s oceanside home. Several scenes of abuse take place in the couple’s master bathroom, a large open space that is all glass, marble, and hardwood.
