Little Women & A Message of Choice

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the 2019 version of Little Women

The movie remake of Little women, a novel originally by Lousia Alcott, has been out for almost a year now but it remains very much a part of my life. The most memorable thing about it for me was the way that it portrayed women. That may sound like a strange comment to make about a movie but it’s true. We live in a world with a film industry that seems to forget half the time that women exist. And when we do occasionally get a film with a female lead, it often seems to lack the depth and realness that I crave. Female characters are often filled with stereotypes and the frustrating idea that even if we have a female story, there has to be a man heavily involved in some way. A good way to make this lack of female roles in movies clear is the Bechdel test. In order to pass the Bechdel test, all a movie has to do is have two women talk to each other about anything but men. This is a low bar, the women don’t have to be main characters or have the conversation for a long period of time. They just have to have one conversation about anything but men. But despite this being such a low standard, 50 percent of US films still fail it. This, in my opinion, speaks volumes about the lack of female role models we see on screen.

Then we take a look at Little Women. A movie that premiered in 2019 and was written and directed by Greta Gerwig. And after growing up watching movies full of men and their individual stories, it was like a breath of fresh air. I think it’s worth pointing out that men’s stories and having male role models in films is incredibly important, especially when they are portrayed in positive ways that challenge toxic masculinity. But there needs to be a balance.

And it’s this lack of balance that can cause women to feel like they’re suffocating. While men’s stories and narratives are being lifted and voiced, women’s are being silenced. But Little Women is a spark of hope of what the future may hold for female roles in movies.

It follows the main character, Jo March, as she seeks to find her way through the world as an author. Intertwined in scenes of her adult life are flashbacks to her childhood with her other three sisters, Beth, Amy and Meg. It’s a simple story about life and loss, but that is what makes it so powerful. Each of the sisters have their own hopes and dreams and individual lives. They go through loss and happiness together and continue to raise each other up, communicating a message of unity and love that is much needed in this world.

There are several quotes in particular that strike a chord within me. One is said by Meg March before she gets married. Jo is visibly distraught as she feels she is losing her sister. She tries to persuade Meg to run away with her so Meg can become an actor. It’s clear that Jo see’s marriage as a trap. Something she has to protect Meg from. But Meg simply smiles down at her and says “Just because my dreams are different from yours doesn’t mean they’re unimportant”. This is a beautiful line that, in my opinion, sums up what feminism should be about. It should be about raising men and women up and giving everyone the equal choice of what to do with their life. This is portrayed throughout the movie as the different sisters walk their individual paths and achieve their own definitions of success.

But Jo struggles a little more as she walks through life. She feels the pressure that a lot of women feel throughout life. The pressure to find someone. There’s this idea that is given us from a young age that we have a second half, a soul mate, someone who makes us whole. But Jo does not have anyone, and because of this she feels that she’s missing something. In a monologue to her mother she says a line that will probably stay with me forever. She says that “I just feel like 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. And I’m so sick and tired of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for. I’m so sick of it...But I’m so lonely.” It is a truly heart wrenching scene that beautifully communicates what so many women feel. Because when you are taught from a young age that your true purpose is to find love, and all you ever see on the media is women falling in love, that is what you learn to long for. That becomes the end goal. And nothing else you ever accomplish will ever soothe that part of you that is still waiting for that magical soulmate. Love is a wonderful thing, but the way that women are taught that their ability to find a partner determines their worth is dangerous and it limits so many people from fulfilling their full potential.

However, the ending of the movie is a beacon of hope for women feeling this way. It shows two endings, the one that society deems appropriate. The one that Alcott was forced to write in the original book so that it would be published. In that ending Jo finds her ‘happy ending’. She is married, has children, opens a school and is surrounded by her family. Then we see a second ending. In this ending we see Jo standing alone, watching as her story is published. We see her take her life's dreams into her hands. There is beauty in both endings and Jo is clearly overwhelmingly happy in both. It leaves a warming message in the hearts and minds of the women who watch. There is more than one ending that can be written. There is more than one path that can be taken. Little women is so beautiful because it doesn’t show one set narrative for women to aspire to. Instead it leaves the ending open ended, with an invitation for each person to write their own individual ending. It gives choice.

Sources:

https://bechdeltest.com/

Little Women (2019)