'Little House,' big hit: What the enduring fascination with Laura Ingalls tells us about our yearning for the simple life

Yahoo

29-03-2025

If you, too, have such vivid childhood memories of Ma and Pa and typhus outbreaks and making maple candy in the snow that you could almost swear you grew up right there in that little house along with Laura Ingalls Wilder — well, you're not alone. Between the success of the Little House on the Prairie reruns, a new reboot announced, and the enduring culture of die-hard Laura Ingalls Wilder superfans, it's clear there's something compelling going on here.
The LHOTP TV series, which began back in 1974, was a dark-horse winner among the top shows of 2024, with more than 13 billion (!) minutes of viewing on Peacock. It's also one of the most-viewed reruns on TikTok, and the journalist Jo Piazza did an entire podcast, Wilder, in which she interviewed various guest experts about the enduring Laura Ingalls Wilder cultural phenomenon/industrial complex.
Sara Louise Petersen, a journalist and cultural critic, was one such guest. 'The story certainly speaks to our cherished American myth of rugged individualism and manifest destiny,' Petersen tells Yahoo Life of the LHOTP resurgence. 'I think when people feel lost, disillusioned, or desperate, we have a very American tendency to go inward in efforts to self-optimize our way out of difficulty,' she says. 'The books (to an extent) present a very gritty, dark period of history as cozy and tightly knit.'
Peterson says the books — and the TV show they inspired — continue to be so popular simply because 'it's perversely easier to believe in this type of fairy tale than to do the incredibly hard work of making our current reality better on a collective level for everyone.' This feels spot-on for 2025 America, with the government stirring up further chaos every day and citizens feeling increasingly powerless.
Sanam Hafeez, a neuropsychologist, agrees that LHOTP is having a moment right now because Americans just plain want nostalgia and comfort viewing. 'Many people long for simpler times and enjoy revisiting the show's heartwarming stories [to find] a sense of peace,' she tells Yahoo Life.
But do LHOTP fans themselves admit escapism as a primary reason for their fandom? Not entirely.
Why fans remain so drawn to and the simple life
The author Carrie E. Pierce received a new volume in the Little House on the Prairie series every Christmas when she was growing up. 'I couldn't wait to dive into it, usually reading by the light of the tree on Christmas night,' Pierce tells Yahoo Life. 'As I grew, I came to appreciate the television show, watching reruns of the series well into my 20s and 30s. The series connected me to a kinder, gentler world and reminded me of what truly mattered in life, despite what the current culture dictated and demanded.'
Pierce says those values are manifold: the importance of family, an innate moral compass, the reward of hard work, self-discipline, gratitude, service to others, forgiveness, friendship, and more. 'Now at age 61, I can clearly see my life (and my writing) has been made better because of Little House on the Prairie,' she says.
Another LHOTP fan, Loris Petro, tells Yahoo Life that the thing that drew him into the show was 'how it portrays community and resilience. … It makes you think about the way we handle challenges today, and it reminds you of the value of turning to the people closest to us when things are rough.'
The show is notably unafraid to address harsh issues (disease, death, crop failure, the usual), which Petro finds 'quite refreshing. Today, everything seems to be about marketing a perfect life, smiling, and winning all day long,' he says. 'Little House reminds me that people connect more with struggle and truth. … That's where real stories live, not in some glossy filter.'
And speaking of filters…
How prairie-chic went from pioneers to Instagram tradwives
Given all of this continued glamorizing of the LHOTP aesthetic — and its tropes like milking cows, birthing babies, baking from scratch while barefoot in the kitchen, etc. — I asked Petersen if she thinks there's a through-line from Wilder's tales to today's tradwives.
'Lol yup!' she says. 'So many tradwives look like extras from Little House, and so many mimic that cozy, homey feel the show and books evoke.' If you're unfamiliar, tradwives (short for 'traditional wives') are a particular, fascinating brand of conservative Christian social media influencers who perpetuate extreme ideals of homemaking and motherhood and service to their husbands. The beauty queen farm mom Hannah Neeleman is the best-known example. They've likely appeared in your feed; they appeal to the algorithm because they're beautiful, constantly baking and live in impeccably curated rustic-chic homes. But the aesthetic often hides an insidious agenda that's anti-choice, anti-vaccine, and more.
'I think gingham, calico, and like, reclaimed wood are visual shortcuts to believing in the very false idea of a time that was better — for pretty much no one,' adds Petersen.
And she's right: The books take place in the late 1800s. That's during the Jim Crow era, when women couldn't vote, and when neither germs nor antibiotics had been discovered yet — to name just a few, um, issues. Wilder's books themselves contain scenes that are dehumanizing towards people of color, and her name was removed from her eponymous book award in 2018 for this reason.
When asked what other parts of the LHOTP stories we should all quit glamorizing, Petersen has a few suggestions: 'Adherence to gender roles and gender essentialism!' she says. 'The heteronormative white nuclear family ideal!' Add to that hyper-individualism as opposed to collectivism, the presumption of white maternal morality … the list truly goes on.
The bright side
So, is this all just an uncomfortable throwback to what some over-value as 'a simpler time' (translation: a time in which many, many important groups of human beings had even fewer rights than they have today)? Or are there actual good-for-you lessons we can take away from LHOTP that still apply?
'Of course!' says Petersen. 'Many progressives, for example, believe in food sustainability, ecological preservation, divesting from screens, and reclaiming our time.' These values are right in line with the LHOTP approach and simple lifestyle, and they are 'not unique to tradwives wanting to birth their own white armies or be led by their husbands.' Thankfully.
Dr. Hafeez agrees, saying 'Little House on the Prairie was more progressive than many may remember, often addressing issues like racism, disability and women's rights in ways that were ahead of its time.' She points out that the strong female characters like Caroline and Laura Ingalls challenged traditional gender roles by pursuing education, independence and leadership.
In addition, Dr. Hafeez says, 'the current fascination with Little House on the Prairie and simple living aesthetics teaches important concepts, such as slowing down life's pace and spending more time outdoors,' which studies show can help to improve mental health. But simplicity isn't about donning a perfect gingham apron to prepare the perfect sourdough pancakes in your bizarrely spotless kitchen. 'Real simplicity,' Dr. Hafeez continues, 'means living according to your values rather than displaying curated spaces and fashion.'
She points out that 'people who pursue an idealized, slow-living lifestyle often face new pressures to perform simplicity instead of truly experiencing it.' Instead, Dr. Hafeez advises LHOTP fans and foes alike to let the books and the shows be your inspiration for finding 'ways to disconnect, create and slow down, without turning it into another unrealistic expectation.' In this way, the real positive takeaway from nearly a century of LHOTP is one that's anti-tradwife after all: It's about looking forward rather than back — and about living rather than performing for the 'gram.