The book Little Women, written by Louisa May Alcott in 1868, has had many film adaptations since it was first published, but I think that the 2019 version should be considered a classic due to aspects like its filmography, the techniques used to convey the storyline, and how they present the themes of the story itself.
Summary:
Little Women (2019) directed by Greta Gerwig, follows the four March sisters: Meg March (Emma Watson), Jo March (Saoirse Ronan), Beth March (Eliza Scanlen), and Amy March (Florence Pugh) through seven years of their lives from adolescence to adulthood (1861-1868). The film highlights various points of them growing up ranging from simple sisterly arguments to much more serious events like Beth coming down with Scarlet Fever. They struggle financially as their father Mr. March (Bob Odenkirk) is away fighting on the Union side of the civil war. Their main caretaker is their mom who they lovingly call “Marmee” (Laura Dern). They make close friends with the wealthy neighbors: Mr. Laurence (Chris Cooper) and his grandson Laurie Laurence (Timothee Chalamet).Â
Filmography:
The film can be easily recognized by the locations it was filmed at. The film has various different settings, the main locations being Concord, Massachusetts, New York, and Paris. In each of the locations the backgrounds are more often than not fairly plain to highlight the characters as the focal point of the story is not necessarily the location but what the characters are doing there. The color palettes also change to emote different feelings for each location. New York had a darker palette with a lot of grays and blacks to signify that this is a more serious setting and on some level isolating in comparison to the other locations. This setting highlights a feeling that Jo senses in the back of her mind as she’s away from her family trying to make money until Amy can marry someone wealthy to help provide for their family. Paris is bright with a lot of greens because of the fresh grass but also a lot of rich colors like blues to translate the more high-society feeling that Amy wants to blend in to. Then, Concord is much more warm with the main colors being deep reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. Most of the scenes in Concord are when the girls are young and they feel most close to each other. The film moves away from warmer tones when they show scenes of the girls when they are older.Â
Although the movie doesn’t directly say that time is passing they use coloring and hairstyles to present this. In the younger scenes, much like I said before the filtering is much warmer and almost orange. This contrasts the scenes when they are older where the filtering is much colder with a blue-ish hue. The hairstyles of the girls when they are younger as well are much more relaxed and flowy whereas when they are older the girls usually wear them up and out of their face. In my opinion the easiest distinction to make is for Amy because when she is younger she has bangs but when she’s older she doesn’t. The nonlinear form of storytelling allows the audience to get a glimpse of where the girls are in their future while also receiving context on why the girls act the way that they do and what is the root of their motivations.Â
A scene I wanted to highlight for the cinematography is Laurie’s love confession to Jo. The “hill scene” shows a wide shot of Jo and Laurie walking on a hill after Meg’s wedding. There’s a single dark green tree closest to the pair while the trees in the distance are hues of warmer colors, complimented by the orange coloring of the scene as well. As Jo and Laurie walk the camera shifts to make them more of the center shot with the background being fairly plain with once again, just trees. The two of them are alone in this part of the film and there is an emphasis on showing how surrounded they are in the wilderness. To me this scene is what I consider to be the middle of their lives as this is the moment Jo has to come into the realization that they are no longer just kids. Meg had just gotten married and now her best friend is proposing to her. I think this scene is phenomenal when it comes to filmmaking because the background is quiet, peaceful, and generally a beautiful place to be in with your friend. The environment is contrasted by the chaotic, stressful, and overwhelming conversation between Jo and Laurie. It is such a private and intimate moment between the two and we are constantly shown that they are very much out in the open. It makes the scene feel much more raw and their emotions are heightened from what we see in the film and I think that it shows how close they are to each other but also the way the setting can help make a moment more engaging to the audience (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cEg2HCl50I ).
Messaging:
At its core, to me Little Women is both a coming-of-age story as well as a prime example of feminism. The four girls are all characterized as having ambition and creativity. We see this most prominently in their younger scenes where Meg (16) likes to act and make plays, Jo (15) writes – so much so she teaches herself to be ambidextrous in order to have more writing time when her hand cramps up. Beth (13) is great at music and playing the piano with Amy (12) proving to be a great artist. They express how they all wanted to do something in their respective interests and as they get older their lives and priorities change which of course this is where the coming-of-age detail comes in. 1868 the girls are now Meg (23), Jo (22) , Beth (20 but she unfortunately passes due to illness), and Amy (19). While their ambitions become a motivator for what they want to do, the differences in what each of the girls want create a much more nuanced conversation. Jo is what everyone sees as a classic feminist, she is career driven, independent, and ambitious. To her, becoming a house wife and having a family feels like she is letting go of her freedom. When her sister Meg is about to get married she begs her not to, she sees her sister’s marriage as Meg both physically leaving her and their childhood leaving as well. In response Meg says “just because my dreams are different than yours doesn’t mean they’re unimportant” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlUY2EjYHak ). Jo thinks that Meg is giving up her interest in being an actress means she’s giving up her dreams but Meg assures her that her dream is to have a family. I think this shows that there are levels to feminism and that the true meaning of the word boils down to women being able to do what they want because they can and they choose to. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a wife and of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to have a career. Jo expresses that “women, they have minds and souls as well as just hearts” and I think that statement really conveys the message of the movie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampLJDK6lYs ).
I’m very passionate about this movie and I think it really deserves its flowers. I’ve seen a lot of movies but none have impacted me the way this one has and I can say that I definitely think it deserves to be a classic. So many conversations that are happening within the messaging of the movie has proven to be relevant and relatable for so many real life experiences and I think the main reason why this movie deserves to be called a classic is because at its core it just feels human.