Little House on the Prairie (Netflix): A Biblical Worldview Review for Christian Parents

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The new Netflix adaptation of "Little House on the Prairie" takes real liberties with Laura Ingalls Wilder's story. This review walks through where the series follows the book, where it veers off, the content parents should know about before watching, and four worldview questions you can use to discuss any episode biblically with your kids.

Watch the full episode using the video above, or read the complete review below.

In this review:

• What the Netflix series keeps from the book, and what it changes
• How the series views 19th century pioneers through a modern lens
• Positive elements and content cautions for families
• Four biblical worldview questions for any episode

A quick note on who this is for. The audience for our movie and TV reviews is intentional Christian parents who want to use film and television to equip their children to evaluate every idea they encounter. We never recommend that a parent show a child a particular film or show. That is a matter of conscience, a Romans 14 issue. The goal is simply to give parents easy to implement questions that get kids thinking critically and biblically.

One heads-up before we start: this review contains spoilers, quite a few of them. If you would rather go in fresh, watch the series first and come back.

A General Overview of the Plot

As I'm sure most of you can guess, the series is loosely based on the storyline of the book "Little House on the Prairie" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In preparation for this review, I actually reread the book, just to make sure I had an accurate understanding of where the plot of this TV series follows the book and where it does not.

When I watched this series, which is an eight episode first season on Netflix, I was a little surprised that it veered off the storyline more than I was expecting. Now, I'm a big fan of Michael Landon's series. Those of you familiar with it know that Michael Landon also veers very far from the plot line of the Little House books. However, the pilot of the Michael Landon version, roughly a two hour movie, actually follows the "Little House on the Prairie" storyline very closely. This Netflix series, because it runs eight episodes, veers off course a lot more than that initial pilot did.

Here are some events that are similar between the Netflix series and the book. You see the Ingalls family moving from the big woods of Wisconsin to the plains of Kansas. You see the incident where they have trouble getting their horses and wagon across the creek. You see them lose Jack temporarily. Mr. Edwards helps them build their house. They share land with the Osage Native American tribe. The whole family comes down with malaria. Their neighbor faints in the well because of the poisonous gas. There's the prairie fire. There's the removal of the Osage from the land. And at the end of the series, similar to the book, the Ingalls family has to leave their home on the prairie.

Now for some of the differences. The actress who plays Mary is somewhere around 14 and the actress who plays Laura is around nine, where in the book Mary and Laura are around eight and six. Carrie, the youngest sister, travels out to the prairie with the family in the book, but in this series she's born while they're on the prairie. In the Netflix series, the family lives within walking distance of Independence, Kansas, where in the book they're 40 miles out, making a trip to town a four or five day journey. The family also becomes close friends with an Osage family in the series.

And in the end, when the Ingalls have to leave their homesteading land, the series makes it the railroad's fault, presenting the railroad as having tricked them into believing the land was free. In the book, they had to leave because they'd built their homestead three miles beyond the line the government drew for the free land.

Where the Series Views History Through a Modern Lens

One other really big difference, which I thought was important, is that the series is a bit anachronistic. It presents things through the view of a 21st century Westerner rather than through the eyes of Laura and her family as 19th century pioneers.

One way this shows up is that everyone's problems are psychologized. Pa has multiple flashbacks to arguments with his father. Mr. Edwards struggles with alcoholism after losing his family and is essentially presented as having PTSD from his service in the Civil War. Ma repeatedly replays conversations she had with one of her sisters. From reading the Little House books and other historical documents, this simply is not how people in the 19th century viewed their lives. The series places the modern, psychologized self onto these 19th century pioneers.

A good parallel is the Netflix series "Anne with an E." I've only seen the first few episodes, so I can't speak to the whole series, but I remember watching it and thinking that Anne keeps having flashbacks to times when she was abused, which is not part of the "Anne of Green Gables" books at all. This series reminded me a lot of that same psychologized self.

Another way it's anachronistic is that divorce is normalized. There's an episode where Caroline actually considers leaving Charles on the prairie, taking the girls, and going back to her sisters in the big woods. Was there ever a situation in history where that happened? Maybe. But divorce was so rare in those days that it's not something the average pioneer woman would have considered. Even as Caroline pictures going back, she imagines her sister setting her up with someone else, and in those days that just would not have happened. Divorce really would have branded you, and you most likely would not have remarried.

Divorce is also normalized through Dr. Tan. In the book, Dr. Tan plays a very small role in the malaria scene, but he plays a much bigger role in this series, going back east to divorce his wife so he can pursue a woman named Emily Henderson on the prairie.

The way the series presents the Osage deciding to leave is also anachronistic. It's shown as a formalized meeting of men on benches inside an Osage structure, talking through details. But when you read the books, that meeting was a war council lasting multiple days, if not weeks, with constant drumming and war cries, where many of the tribes really wanted to massacre all the settlers in that area of Kansas. In the books, Laura writes about one chief, Soldat du Chene, who convinces the other tribes not to massacre the settlers and to leave the land peacefully. You see him in Michael Landon's version, but not in the Netflix version. Eventually, in the real Little House books, the government forces the Osage off the land. In the series, though, it's presented almost like a town council meeting where a treaty is signed.

Another way it's anachronistic is that prairie life is romanticized. The Ingalls live within walking distance of town, where in real life they were a four day round trip away. They have many neighbors, and Charles writes to his father back east that Caroline has a wide network of friends, which simply isn't true in the book. In reality, the only neighbors within reach were Mr. Edwards and one other family. Everyone else was miles and miles away. The inside of the Ingalls house has conveniences and far more furniture than a log cabin on the prairie would have had. Even doing dishes is presented much more nicely. The clothing is more modern and cute, with many more outfits than the two options a family would realistically have had.

I felt this was somewhat similar to "When Calls the Heart," where prairie life is romanticized and everything looks more convenient. So a good overall description of this series is "Anne with an E meets When Calls the Heart." That doesn't mean it's a bad thing. It just means that's what you can expect.

Positive Elements

The camera work is beautiful. Some of the shots of the prairie are absolutely breathtaking.

There's a really strong theme of family love. In so many scenes across all the episodes, you see the love between Caroline and Charles, between them and their girls, and between Mary and Laura. It's presented beautifully.

There's also a strong theme of needing one another. It's made clear across multiple episodes that families who isolated themselves on the prairie had trouble surviving, that they needed others to help them.

Another element done well is how the series deals with racism and prejudice, which is really the biblical sin of partiality. It shows the prejudice between the white settlers and the Osage in both directions, and it also includes several African American characters and shows the racism some white settlers held toward them.

As a fun side note, if you're familiar with Michael Landon's version, Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson, appears in one of the episodes as a drifter. She's hard to recognize because she's older and they've portrayed her with rotten teeth, but if you hear her voice, you immediately know it's her. And for "Anne of Green Gables" fans, Megan Follows, who played Anne Shirley in the 1980s version, plays Laura's grandmother in one episode. It's fun to have those little Easter eggs of two beloved actresses.

Things to Be Aware Of

I already mentioned that the self is very psychologized in this series, and some of those sections get a little dark. Throughout the story you learn that Pa has essentially been kicked out of his family, and that no one came to say goodbye when they left. That is not true in the book, where the whole family comes to say goodbye. In the series, it's presented that Pa was pushed out because he had a brother, George, who struggled with mental illness after the Civil War, and because of something Pa said, George took his own life.

This is handled tastefully. They show Pa following George's footsteps through the woods to a lake, and then you see George's clothes folded and resting on a rock, and footsteps leading into the water. You don't see anything graphic, but just know it's a darker moment, and it's wrestled with throughout the series. It's true that Pa had a brother named George, but in real life George did not die this way.

Mr. Edwards' struggle with alcoholism also brings some darker moments. When Ma finds out he's been drinking on the job, she confronts him, very upset, and tells him a story from her childhood about how her father was killed because his boss was an alcoholic. None of these things appear in the book "Little House on the Prairie," so they may catch you off guard if the book is your reference point.

There's also some mild language in a few episodes. It's not prevalent and not gratuitous. There's one rougher character who, in one episode, calls someone an ass, and in another, angry, tells a person to go to hell. Excuse the language, but I want you to know what's said so you're not surprised.

For parents of adopted children, you'll want to know that one character, Caleb, who is Mary's love interest, has been abandoned by his parents, and one of his storylines is wrestling through that abandonment. And regarding Dr. Tan, he begins courting Emily while not yet officially divorced, something she doesn't know at first, and eventually he has to tell her.

Four Worldview Questions for Any Episode

Now let's jump into the biblically grounded questions we can walk through with our kids if we choose to engage them in the series. This is a little different from reviewing a movie, where you watch it and then talk through questions. Instead, I'm giving you four questions you can ask after pretty much any episode to have a good conversation.

The first question is: Is it true that humans need one another? Why or why not? This theme runs throughout the series, that humans on the prairie need one another. We can take our kids right to Genesis 1:26, where it says:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

We can ask our kids what's revealed here. It's revealed that man is made in God's image. Theologians disagree over whether "let us make man in our image" refers to the Trinity or to God speaking with other heavenly beings, but I think this passage is alluding to the Trinity. So we can tell our kids that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have always been in perfect, loving relationship with one another. As God's image bearers, we've been designed for relationship.

We can also see that it is not good for humans to be alone. Notice this isn't necessarily talking about loneliness or feeling alone. It's saying that individually, humans cannot accomplish the purpose for which God created us. Adam could not be fruitful and multiply without Eve. And collectively, we need one another to have dominion over creation and to fulfill the commands God has given us. So it is true that humans were designed to need one another, because we bear God's image and cannot fulfill his commands on our own.

The second question is: Where did we see the truth that humans need one another in this episode? In each episode, this truth shows up. In the first episode, Dr. Tan bandages Ma's hand after an accident. In another, Mr. Edwards helps build the house, because Pa and Ma couldn't do it alone, since Ma wasn't strong enough to lift the logs. Their neighbor, Mr. Scott, helps them build the well. Throughout the series, Ma teaches Mary and Laura, and their neighbor girl, Good Eagle, joins the lessons, so Ma begins teaching her too. And during the malaria epidemic, a character named Lacey Auber provides quinine to help heal the sick and cares for the Ingalls family when they're all down with malaria.

The third question is: Where do we see the effects of moral evil and natural evil in this episode? For those who have taken their kids through our Comparative Worldview curriculum, your kids should already have this paradigm. For those who haven't yet, you can explain that moral evil is the evil humans commit against one another, and natural evil is the evil no human commits but that we still see in the world, things like floods, forest fires, hurricanes, and sickness.

Some of the moral evils you can point out: the many conflicts between family members and friends, which happen because we're fallen and commit moral evil against one another. Mr. Edwards' alcoholism. Gemma James, who functions almost like the Mrs. Oleson of this series, and her prejudice against townspeople of African American descent. Her daughters making fun of Caleb for being an orphan and saying he wasn't wanted. The government taking the land from the Osage without giving them a real choice. And a few of the Osage men, in their anger, coming into the Ingalls home and taking things.

There are also examples of natural evil. In the opening episode, the family almost drowns crossing the high, rushing creek. Mr. Scott nearly dies from poisonous gas down in the well. The whole town suffers from malaria carried by mosquitoes. And near the end, a huge prairie fire threatens the town. We want our kids to see that this world contains both moral evil and natural evil.

If you've taken your kids through our Comparative Worldview curriculum, after each episode you can talk through what the biblical view is of why moral evil and natural evil exist, and what the solution is according to the biblical worldview. If you have time, you can even walk through how the other worldviews we cover in that curriculum answer those same questions, and which view actually lines up with reality.

The fourth question is: Where do we see sacrificial love in this episode? Faithful listeners could probably have guessed this one, because I try to ask it every time we review a movie or show. This theme of self sacrificial love is woven into almost every storyline, because it's a small reflection of the greatest story ever told, the true story of the gospel.

Some examples you can walk through: Pa risking his life to go down into the well to save Mr. Scott. Ma standing up for Emily Henderson, who is African American and barred from a women's meeting because of her skin color, choosing to risk her reputation and being ostracized rather than go along with the other women. Laura stopping to care for the sick Mitchell family during the malaria outbreak even while racing to get help for her own family. And Laura and Mary realizing their parents are in debt and trying to win money at the Independence Day festival to help pay it off, willing to give up their own prizes for the good of their family.

Another great activity is to read through the "Little House on the Prairie" book with your kids and compare what's similar and what's different between the book and the Netflix series. For older kids, nine and up, you can even talk through what I mentioned about the series being anachronistic, how it puts the 21st century psychologized self onto the characters, where Laura Ingalls' true account of "Little House on the Prairie" includes none of that, because that's simply not how 19th century pioneers saw themselves.

Take This Deeper With Your Kids

Movie and TV nights can become some of the richest discipleship moments in your home when you know the right questions to ask. Our Comparative Worldview curriculum gives you the very framework Elizabeth used here, teaching kids to recognize moral evil and natural evil, to understand the biblical solution, and to compare it against four competing worldviews so they can see which one actually lines up with reality.