Little Women
My mom was here over the Thanksgiving holiday, so I took her to the Sulzer Regional Library looking for some suitable entertainment for us. It was there that I fell upon the 1949 film version of Little Women, starring June Allyson as Jo.
For all of you who are not familiar with Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, (in other words, GUYS), this is the story of the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, their friend the wealthy heir Theodore Lawrence (Laurie), and other friends and family during the period around the Civil War. When I was a kid, I read this book over and over and over again, and being an intelligent, literary type girl, my favorite character was Jo. Jo only wanted to write. I had an old white shirt that had belonged to my dad that I wore when I was painting or doing other messy stuff, and I wrote "Genius Burns" on the back, because that's what Jo had on the smock that she wore while writing. I also used the word "bilge" instead of cursing. I had totally forgotten this until I saw the movie. Of course, that's what Jo did. I may take this up again as an alternative to "goddamn mother-fucking shit" my current default expletive.
Seeing this film, I decided to check out the various cinematic treatments of Little Women. Do you like to do this? Study however many versions you can of the same text? My favorite vehicle for this kind of pursuit is Macbeth. Just to scratch the surface, among others I've seen biker Macbeth, kabuki Macbeth, two different versions by Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and a Northwestern University production where each character was played simultaneously by several different earnest drama students. I will see any production of Macbeth I can. The first time I went to the Lyric Opera it was to see (!!!!) Verdi's Macbeth. (Supposedly Scottish people in kilts swaggering about singing in Italian: not a good idea in my opinion.) When I see Macbeth I like to check out the way the witches are portrayed. In the Lyric Opera version, the witches were arrayed in a chorus stretched out along the edge of the stage. They all had the exact same haircut I had at the time! It was all I could do to restrain myself from jumping up and shouting, "That is not a witch's haircut!"
But let's look at all these versions of Little Women. One thing I like to compare is the portrayal of various characters, like Laurie and Professor Bhaer, the man Jo eventually falls for.
Apparently there was a 1918 version (obviously silent) that I was not able to track down. The 1933 film was directed by George Cukor, starring Katherine Hepburn as Jo. Normally, I can't stand Katherine Hepburn and was prepared to hate this movie, but it was great! Ms. Hepburn was an excellent Jo. Of all the versions I saw, I think this was the most true to the book. And Laurie was a major dork. This film captured some of the Victorian moralizing that was essential to the original.
The 1949 film was also great. June Allyson was a good Jo, and Aunt March was hilarious! There was a BBC version circa 1970. Wow, they all had British accents! Due to the fact that the thing was six hours long, there was a lot of detail that didn't appear in the other versions. Again, Laurie was really good. There was also a TV version circa 1978 which I was unable to uncover. (William Shatner played Professor Bhaer. For this reason alone, I was just as happy not to see it.)
The most recent Little Women was the 1994 version starring Winona Ryder as Jo. This film was very romantic and also explicitly feminist. Louisa May Alcott's family were members of the Transcendentalist movement, so I know they were thoughtful moralists. However, I think that the author's Victorian values were probably portrayed more accurately in the Katherine Hepburn version than this one. In the 1994 film, Professor Bhaer was quite hot, (played by Gabriel Byrne). Again, looking at the novel, I think Jo was probably drawn to the Professor by less carnal urges than are portrayed by Ms. Ryder.
If I were living out my identification with Jo, I definitely would prefer the 1994 film. I sure would like to spend the rest of my life doing good with Gabriel Byrne than any of the grizzled fellows in the other versions described above. If had to watch the movie over and over, I'd also choose this film. For heaven's sake, we need a little happiness in life. I still think the Katherine Hepburn version was truest to the book.
In case you're not familiar with the story, Beth dies.
For all of you who are not familiar with Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, (in other words, GUYS), this is the story of the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, their friend the wealthy heir Theodore Lawrence (Laurie), and other friends and family during the period around the Civil War. When I was a kid, I read this book over and over and over again, and being an intelligent, literary type girl, my favorite character was Jo. Jo only wanted to write. I had an old white shirt that had belonged to my dad that I wore when I was painting or doing other messy stuff, and I wrote "Genius Burns" on the back, because that's what Jo had on the smock that she wore while writing. I also used the word "bilge" instead of cursing. I had totally forgotten this until I saw the movie. Of course, that's what Jo did. I may take this up again as an alternative to "goddamn mother-fucking shit" my current default expletive.
Seeing this film, I decided to check out the various cinematic treatments of Little Women. Do you like to do this? Study however many versions you can of the same text? My favorite vehicle for this kind of pursuit is Macbeth. Just to scratch the surface, among others I've seen biker Macbeth, kabuki Macbeth, two different versions by Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and a Northwestern University production where each character was played simultaneously by several different earnest drama students. I will see any production of Macbeth I can. The first time I went to the Lyric Opera it was to see (!!!!) Verdi's Macbeth. (Supposedly Scottish people in kilts swaggering about singing in Italian: not a good idea in my opinion.) When I see Macbeth I like to check out the way the witches are portrayed. In the Lyric Opera version, the witches were arrayed in a chorus stretched out along the edge of the stage. They all had the exact same haircut I had at the time! It was all I could do to restrain myself from jumping up and shouting, "That is not a witch's haircut!"
But let's look at all these versions of Little Women. One thing I like to compare is the portrayal of various characters, like Laurie and Professor Bhaer, the man Jo eventually falls for.
Apparently there was a 1918 version (obviously silent) that I was not able to track down. The 1933 film was directed by George Cukor, starring Katherine Hepburn as Jo. Normally, I can't stand Katherine Hepburn and was prepared to hate this movie, but it was great! Ms. Hepburn was an excellent Jo. Of all the versions I saw, I think this was the most true to the book. And Laurie was a major dork. This film captured some of the Victorian moralizing that was essential to the original.
The 1949 film was also great. June Allyson was a good Jo, and Aunt March was hilarious! There was a BBC version circa 1970. Wow, they all had British accents! Due to the fact that the thing was six hours long, there was a lot of detail that didn't appear in the other versions. Again, Laurie was really good. There was also a TV version circa 1978 which I was unable to uncover. (William Shatner played Professor Bhaer. For this reason alone, I was just as happy not to see it.)
The most recent Little Women was the 1994 version starring Winona Ryder as Jo. This film was very romantic and also explicitly feminist. Louisa May Alcott's family were members of the Transcendentalist movement, so I know they were thoughtful moralists. However, I think that the author's Victorian values were probably portrayed more accurately in the Katherine Hepburn version than this one. In the 1994 film, Professor Bhaer was quite hot, (played by Gabriel Byrne). Again, looking at the novel, I think Jo was probably drawn to the Professor by less carnal urges than are portrayed by Ms. Ryder.
If I were living out my identification with Jo, I definitely would prefer the 1994 film. I sure would like to spend the rest of my life doing good with Gabriel Byrne than any of the grizzled fellows in the other versions described above. If had to watch the movie over and over, I'd also choose this film. For heaven's sake, we need a little happiness in life. I still think the Katherine Hepburn version was truest to the book.
In case you're not familiar with the story, Beth dies.
posted by The Lurker at
10:57 PM
1 Comments:
Beth dies? Bilge!
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