“I like good strong words that mean something”*
by chuckofish
Lately, Little Women has been popping up in my mind quite frequently. At a recent dinner party, one guest confused Little Women with Little House on the Prairie. (Here’s where I say, see, having a PhD in nineteenth-century women’s fiction is a wonderful party trick.) I also recently searched the Baby Lit archives to see which classics they’ve got, since Moby-Dick was a real hit with the little man. Perhaps Lottie would respond well to the March sisters?
Little Women has also been buzzy because Greta Gerwig has directed a new film adaption of the novel with a 21st-century cool-girl cast.
I mean, I just watched this now and thought, “Laura Dern is in this too? And Meryl Streep?” Make that “multi-generational cool-girl cast.”
Mostly, I realized, Little Women has been on my mind because it begins in December.
As young readers like to know ‘how people look’, we will take this moment to give them a little sketch of the four sisters, who sat knitting away in the twilight, while the December snow fell quietly without, and the fire crackled cheerfully within. It was a comfortable room, though the carpet was faded and the furniture very plain, for a good picture or two hung on the walls, books filled the recesses, chrysanthemums and Christmas roses bloomed in the windows, and a pleasant atmosphere of home peace pervaded it.
Appropriately, Gerwig’s film will be released on Christmas Day.
I did not actually read Little Women until graduate school — it was not a formative novel from my childhood or anything. So when I read the text, I was more focused on Louisa May Alcott and my research topic (domesticity and religion) and less so on a “which March sister are you” approach. Perhaps that is why I’m not so jazzed about Gerwig’s adaptation as my peers on the internet. Given how I responded to Lady Bird (I felt precisely 7 years younger than Gerwig and 7 years out of touch with the very specific high-school nostalgia in which that film indulged), I doubt I’d relate to whatever Gerwig’s version of this novel might be.
Having skimmed this piece, it seems there’s a chance Gerwig is trying to get at…something? I can appreciate the line, “As a girl, my heroine was Jo…As a woman, it’s Louisa May Alcott,” though I’m not sure I believe it. Ultimately, my guess is that this new version will be a 21st-century story and not a 19th-century one.
If you hadn’t guessed already, my plan is just to reread the novel itself. Why mess with it?
*Jo March, Chapter 4 of Little Women
dual personalities 
Your guess that “this new version will be a 21st-century story and not a 19th-century one” is right on target I’m sure. Greta has surely twisted it to make it the story she wants it to be. For one thing, you can bet they have taken any religious faith out of the story. To be fair all the many cinematic versions through the years have probably done the same thing. But, yes, your advice to just READ THE BOOK is well taken!
Well I thought it was interesting that the film will start halfway through the book, because the first half is when you get a lot of the Christian content, as I recall. (Chapter One is named “Playing Pilgrims,” after all!!)
That’s been a big criticism of Tom Hanks’s Mr Rogers movie. They’ve removed all references to Christian faith 🙄
I’ve never actually read Little Women, and should definitely amend that fault. I will not run out to see the movie, which will, as you say, have a modern take on things.
It’s worth reading, and would be a good Christmas break choice!
Yes, it will for sure be told through the 21st century lens. People love to gush about Little Women like they love to gush about Anne of Green Gables but it’s not like they’ve read them or understood them. And Greta Gerwig is of the most, if not the most, highly-overrated writer, director, and actress.
I truly do not understand her! And now I feel like she just gets to do whatever she wants (e.g., remake Little Women) and everyone will automatically think it’s perfect.
Ditto all of the above. I have never understood what the deal was with her.