Free Inquiry 4: “Little Women”

The film I watched this week was Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig. This 2019 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s famous novel of the same title has been adapted many times and while this is not my favourite of the adaptations done, this is an incredibly well done and beautiful film that captures what girlhood and sisterhood truly mean.

This film centres around the life of the four March sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, and the adventures that they get up to as they navigate their lives in the journey between girlhood and adulthood and what it is to be a woman during the 1860s in America. A spoiler filled and detailed synopsis can be found here from imdm.com.

While there are many different aspects of this film that stand out and earned it many awards and such as the Academy Award for best costumes, what stands out to me the most about this film is its characterization of the March sisters. I have always been a very big fan of the book “Little Women” as well as the 1994 film adaptation of Little Women. While those two versions will always be my favourite iterations of the classic story, I believe that this film does the best job in showing the complexity that comes with exploring new emotions and growing up through the lens of a woman’s coming of age story.

One of the characters that I believe is done the best is Amy March who is portrayed by Florence Pugh. Amy is a particularly interesting character within this film as she is portrayed by Pugh both as a child and as an adult, making her character journey and development feel extremely personal as she overcomes different situations. One scene that I found to be very crucial to understanding Amy is when she delivers a speech about marriage and how it is a business proposition, defining how women are seen and treated during this time period and giving a glimpse into the depth of Amy. This speech can be seen in the clip below.