Little Women and Unexpected Futures
by Nathan Robertson
The family is together and everyone wants to see a movie. But nobody likes the same kind of movies, so what could you possibly see? I’d be willing to bet Little Women is a great option.
Adapting novels is hard. It takes an extremely talented and careful person to comb through all the moments that go into making a book great, and stay true to all of them on the screen. It is a feat many have tried and that few have achieved with great success. However, with Little Women, Greta Gerwig takes Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel and gives it a modern twist while still staying true to its characters and messages.
The novel Little Women is told chronologically allowing readers to grow alongside the characters and experience events as they happen with no knowledge of the future. Greta Gerwig’s film takes a different approach. We begin in the present time, with Jo attempting to sell her stories and Amy off in Europe with her aunt. Little Women’s greatest strength is that it parallels the hopes and dreams of childhood with the unexpected and often disappointing realities of adulthood.
Now you may read that last sentence and think, “well that sounds like a bummer, no thanks,” but in reality, Gerwig’s writing and the cast’s flawless performance (especially Florence Pugh’s) communicates the idea that it’s okay for dreams to change and that everyone has a right to follow or shift those dreams.
In Karen Swallow Prior’s review for the film, she says, “Inferior art advocates; good art wrestles. Little Women wrestles.” This statement gets right to the heart of the film’s message and to the importance of Alcott’s classic novel. That message I think is summed up in the film by a beautiful moment between Jo and Marmee. Jo says, “Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for. I’m so sick of it! But—I’m so lonely.” And with that Gerwig’s retelling of this beautiful story is laid bare and the question is left for all to answer. What are we made for? As a leading figure in the fight for women’s rights, Alcott wanted this question to be heard and asked by all women. For them to answer by following their dreams no matter what society said. Little Women is a story about women, plain and simple, that much is clear. But there’s such a complexity in this question of identity that I think we would be remiss if we didn’t consider that the beauty of this question is that it can be asked by all people. What happens when our passion lies outside of our designated station? Jo is a writer who has no interest in being a housewife. Amy is a painter who struggles with seeing herself as a housewife. Meg is in love with a man of little prominence though she feels the necessity to marry rich. What about us as an audience? What dreams and passions have we had that we give up in pursuit of the status quo. A writer, a painter, and a housewife can all bring glory to God in extraordinary ways.
So what are we made for? Why were we created? What a joy it is to remember that each and every one of us was created by a sovereign God who knows our dreams and loves us enough to let us follow them.
Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”