Comparison Essay
Little Women: The Differences between Its Movie and Original Novel
Little Women, written by Louisa May Alcott, is the most renowned American classic literature. The story portrays the lives of the March four sisters: beautiful but shallow Meg, bold and brave Jo, sweet and timid Beth, and pretty but troublesome Amy. Although their dreams and fate are different from each other, they all pursue their ambitions fearlessly. As a classic work, Little Women has been adapted to movies and TV series over and over. Among the various reshoot movies, Greta Gerwig’s version has been the most distinctive and contemporary one. Even though most of the content remains the same, the way of narration, the arrangement of timeline, and the stress point can be different.
First of all, using meta-narratives is a subtle modification made by Gerwig. In the novel, the story was narrated straightforwardly in the third person, depicting the lives, laugh, and tears of the March family. However, Jo was the narrator who told the story in the movie. Unlike the original novel, the movie focused more on Jo’s journey of pursuing her dream of becoming a novelist. In the beginning, she was not a good writer, trying to figure out how to compose a story meticulously. However, after undergoing many experiences, all the happiness and sorrow gave her the answer. At the end of the movie, Jo had already finished three chapters, which later became Little Women. It is worth noticing that the story of Jo and the author, Alcott are similar in many ways. Although Alcott did not make any explanation, Gerwig presented the idea with a meta-narrative, telling the audiences that Little Women is the autobiography of the author and that Jo is Alcott herself. In brief, meta-narrative is a big difference from the novel.
Another change in the film is the mixed timeline. In the novel, the story of the four sisters was unfolded with Christmas, while their father was in the war and they were in their teens. Contradictory, Gerwig mixed the plot of the sequel The Good Wife with Little Women. Therefore, the movie began with Jo taking her manuscript to the publisher’s office. She had become a 25-year-old lady then, not a little girl anymore. The scenes of Little Women kept switching from present to past, and each of them had an emotional connection. The arrangement of the plot made the film look like the reminiscence of Jo. In short, restructuring the timeline and the plot is another feature of the adapted movie.
Finally, the stress point is contrasting. In the novel, religion played an essential part. The image of the March family was deeply rooted as the devout Christian. On the contrary, the film did not stress the importance of faith, and the duty of religion was eliminated substantially. The audience even did not know Mr. March was a priest. By removing the religion, the film revealed the pure humanity of the March family naturally: they did good things, not for the faith, but their kindness. That the attention had been drawn from people’s motivation to deed itself made the plots more authentic. In a word, the emphasis on the mercy of humanity is the last feature distinguished from the novel.
The fact that Gerwig restructured the movie in her own and unique way makes it extremely modern. Although she did make some adjustments to Little Women, the essence of the original novel and the adapted film remain identical. To sum up, there are some different features: the meta-narration, rearrangement of timeline and plots, and the contrasting stress points. With these delicate details, Little Women 2019 deserves the nomination of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Sources of the book and the film:
https://gimy.one/video/201952999.html
https://www.b111.net/novel/8/8091/index.html
Pictures:
