{"id":3782,"date":"2020-11-13T12:01:31","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T18:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/?p=3782"},"modified":"2020-11-13T12:01:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T18:01:08","slug":"little-women-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/little-women-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Women (2019): An Adaptation Done Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

Little Women <\/em>(2019) is my new favorite queer feminist film. The writer and director, Greta Gerwig, perfectly encapsulates the feeling of \u2018the more things change, the more they stay the same\u2019 and that\u2019s what makes this period film shine. For an adaption of a one hundred and fifty-year-old book, this movie feels modern and relatable. This is due in part to the acting abilities of the ensemble cast, featuring A-list names like Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, and Meryl Streep, among others. The famous story follows the March sisters through their early adulthood in the 1860s, splitting between households and jumping through flashbacks before ending slightly after the publication of Little Women<\/em> in 1868.<\/p>\n

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\"Little

The March sisters from left to right: Meg (Watson), Amy (Pugh), Jo (Ronan), and Beth (Eliza Scanlen).<\/p><\/div>\n

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There are many period films produced today that try to push modern views on historical characters in order to fit in with today\u2019s standards (cough-Enola Holmes-<\/em>cough), but Little Women<\/em> is a good example of how to do so gracefully. The characterization doesn\u2019t deviate strongly from the book and the feminist views the sisters express are realistic for the era and location. The strongest example of this is found in Jo March (Saoirse Ronan), the author, simply in the fact that she even wants<\/em> a job, aiming to find a way to support herself without relying on a husband. She even goes so far as to beg her older sister, Meg (Emma Watson), to run away with her on Meg\u2019s wedding day, to which Meg replies that she truly wants to marry and raise a family. This is why I call this movie a feminist film, because it doesn\u2019t only focus on women\u2019s independence or force Jo to act like a man to be taken seriously. This film uplifts women and doesn’t frame femininity like something people need to reject in order to be “feminist”. All the sisters are valid and supported by each other whether they want to raise a family, write a book or marry rich, and that\u2019s what separates this film from other movies.<\/p>\n

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\"Little

Jo (Ronan) turning down a disappointed Laurie (Timoth\u00e8e Chalamet)<\/p><\/div>\n

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One other interesting thing that changed from the book to this film adaptation also involves Jo March. It is strongly implied she is a lesbian, while directly contradicting herself and that implication in the final scenes of the film. The movie begins and ends with her pitching her writing to a publisher and being told that her female main character must end up married to a man by the final chapter. She objects but \u2013 as it is in the book \u2013 she ends up kissing her male love interest anyways. This scene is very romantic and is intercut with her publisher praising the scene and the movie ends with her looking at her published book with bittersweet music playing in the background. This is interesting, because in the movie, Jo is proposed to her best friend Laurie (Chalamet), and she strongly turns down his offer, even stating \u201cI don\u2019t see why I can\u2019t love you as you want me to, I don\u2019t know why\u201d, \u201cI\u2019ve tried to feel that way towards you, and I wish I could\u201d, and \u201cI don\u2019t think I will ever marry\u201d. For the majority of the movie, she shows no interest in men, and only begins to doubt herself when she grows lonely with her sisters gone. So, although Gerwig couldn\u2019t go against the book and make Jo an outright queer woman, she did write and direct it so that Jo\u2019s “romance” at the very end of the book\/movie is framed as if it wasn\u2019t real. It leaves Jo herself unsatisfied with the ending of her book, which is a masterful use of direction.<\/p>\n

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\"Saoirse

Jo (Ronan) during the final negotiations meeting before Little Women is sent to print. Jo insists on owning the copyright of her book and wins.<\/p><\/div>\n

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I give this movie five stars \u2b50\u2b50\u2b50\u2b50\u2b50 for the story, acting, direction, and would recommend this to any other women or families looking for a feel-good, well-made movie.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Greta Gerwig’s 2019 Little Women film adaptation is an example of reimagined classic stories done justice \u2013 plus, a truly rockstar cast, including Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, and many more familiar faces. Here on POV, we dive into what Gerwig’s Little Women got so right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":3862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,243,16,255,252,253,251,256,254],"class_list":["post-3782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criticism","tag-2010s","tag-catherine-fruyzna","tag-criticism","tag-drama","tag-feminist","tag-little-women","tag-queer","tag-romance","tag-saoirse-ronan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/11\/little-women-2019-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3782"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3865,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3782\/revisions\/3865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/academics.winona.edu\/povwinona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}