Admittedly, this is not the type of news I usually write about. However, after finally watching the latest film adaptation of Little Women recently, I felt drawn to discuss this. While doing some post-movie research on the actors in the film, I saw multiple news articles on Florence Pugh’s (who plays Amy March in the film) response to people shaming her due to the age gap between her and her partner.
Honestly, I read some of the comments Pugh was responding to (and which led to her eventually removing the ability to comment from the post of her partner and they reinforce an age-old double standard). We simply don’t ask these types of questions of men in our society, to explain themselves and who they date. When men date younger women they get a pat on the back; however, when a woman like Pugh does it she gets labeled as having “daddy issues” (as per one of the hate comments I saw).
I found the sort of hate Pugh was receiving fairly ironic in comparison to her character Amy March in Little Women.
One of the most powerful scenes in the film to me was when Amy describes that a woman in her time (mid-19th century) must marry to achieve a sense of stability, that she must submit to the control of a man in order to sustain and further her position in society. She blatantly states that a woman of her time does not have the ability to make money, concluding chillingly that marriage is, in fact, an “economic proposition”.
Now back to present day. In her post, Pugh states directly that she is an adult that makes her own money and may act on her own volition to make choices about her romantic life. Pugh’s own words serve as a nice comparison of how far society has come and how much farther we need to go. Her sentiment shows that the mentality with which women are treated in society today still heralds back to how they were viewed during the time in which the aforementioned scene took place. Viewed as incapable of making the best decision for themselves. Viewed with everyone being allowed to have an opinion of how a woman chooses to live her life.
What makes the hate Pugh was receiving ironic? Even when we seem to be reaching some level of equality in society there are still people who like to act as though we are in the mid-19th century. Progress should be accompanied with respect and the realization that women are owed the same amount of privacy and free will as men.