THE ‘CLASSIC’ POP CULTURE FILM: GRETA GERWIG’S ‘LITTLE WOMEN’

Little Women is a 2019 coming-of-age American drama written and directed by Greta Gerwig. It’s clearly the stuff that people want to watch considering this is the seventh film adaption of the novel Little Women published in 1868, written by Louisa May Alcott. Although it’s a book from the 1800s the relevancy is still very much present and of course the star studded cast definitely helps. 

The glamorous cast consists of the March sisters – Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth played by Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and Eliza Scanlen respectively. These little women cause quite a lot of turbulence throughout the film but, hey that’s what we’re here for. Just like any other siblings, these too, don’t always go hand in hand with things but they certainly do always end up resolving it. Each one of them is fiercely passionate, may it be towards painting, writing, music or family. And how is this even a coming-of-age drama without any trouble in paradise? You’ve got poverty, gender stereotyping, deadly disease and of course a boy, Laurie played by Timothée Chalamet.

The things these women fall in love with, they never entirely end up having them, but not Amy though. You could say she’s the lucky one out of the lot. She is the stubborn one who always gets her own way. Jo is the troublemaker out of them whereas Beth is the quiet one always peeking up from behind her sisters. Meg, well she’s the one who’ll probably tell you how to sit like a lady for dinner parties. 

All of them have entirely different perspectives when it comes to men. Meg sees a man as someone with whom she would have her own little family, Amy sees a man as someone whom she would need in order to pay the bills. Jo, on the other hand, doesn’t really want or need a man, rather she’s quite content being with just herself. Beth never even gets a chance to do the things, much less think about them. 

Marmee and Aunt March are older women in the lives of these little women played by Laura Dern and Meryl Streep. They both have striking similarities and perhaps the only difference between them would be how Marmee chooses love to wither away with and Aunt March chooses power. Both highly intoxicating things, however, make you question which one out of the two would you choose if you could.

Along with being a crowd pleaser, this film really goes all the way with the technical aspects as well. The sounds, colour, costumes, lighting, everything adds to make this film charming and picturesque. It’s the kind of film where you’ll want to jump into the screen and take polaroid pictures. The film has a rather complex timeline which is distinguished by colour where blues, greys, browns, earthy tones and pastel colours are used in the settings and costumes. All the sounds in the film are heightened which really enhances the emotions and experience of the viewer during the watch. The film’s timeline keeps jumping from past to present and these technical aspects make it easy for us to keep up with this film.

This film is teeming with pretty things. And like Marmee says,’Pretty things should be enjoyed.’ I’m certain most of us enjoyed it very much. What’s not to like? The pretty Victorian style houses? Good. Pretty people dancing away merrily? Good. Pretty sisters goofing around together? Goood. But many are widely disappointed as Gerwig has already set the bar way too high with Ladybird and Frances Ha. This film, though very pleasing to watch, didn’t quite match the bar. There have been seven previous adaptations and each of them brought different perspectives to the table whereas this 2019 adaptation simply had the seductive cast to offer.