Life is always fought for

Sammy 2022-03-21 09:01:51

I hadn't read the original book, I wandered into the cinema alone, and found that 70% of the audience in the cinema on Sunday afternoon were young women. In this era, there has been a very vague interpretation of the word young. Nowadays, men and women in their thirties, who have family children, mostly admit that they are middle-aged; while those who are single or divorced without children still stubbornly believe that , is still young after all.

The target group of this version of "Little Women" is the self-styled young people who are unmarried and have no children. The attitude is tolerant enough, but not sharp enough. It is a film that can comfort most troubled girls on weekend afternoons. One of its highlights is that each girl's personality is reasonable and plump enough, and there are no stereotypes. Especially for the portrayal of the first heroine Joe, logically speaking, she is actually a character who is easy to flatten like the eldest sister Meg. In one clip, Joe expresses regret to his mother, saying that if Laurie ever wooed her again, she would say yes. The mother asked her if she loved Laurie, and Jo said bitterly that she was just too lonely and she wanted to be loved. In this era, this sentence is simply a declaration of a scumbag. Joe went on to cry to express his pain: "Women, talented, ambitious, and even beautiful, can only end up with (or must) marriage. I can't bear the thought of this." These kinds of complaints are not out of date even more than a hundred years later, and they are still not suitable for many social and family scenes, and they are still secretive and depressing. However, as soon as the camera turned, Joe immediately wrote a letter asking for reconciliation (and suggesting marriage) and placed it in Laurie's small mailbox. This scene just made me laugh out loud, it's so real. Indeed, even rebellious and talented like Joe, when social pressure and emotional emptiness are present, they will still drink green tea. This is the worldly person.

The film's portrayal of Meg abandoning her career and longing for her family is very similar to a capable and beautiful trainee female lawyer who appeared in the modern American TV series "Golden Lawyer". This respect for Meg's so-called banal dreams in the film seems quite modern and progressive. And Amy's reality and atmosphere, calm thinking and coping with secular marriage, show her potential as a rich wife who can manage a big family.

In fact, I am not very fascinated by the analysis of these heroine images. What I am more interested in is that the background of the book "Little Women" is the Civil War more than 100 years ago, and some of the themes it wants to express are still so fresh in today's China. I'm afraid this is not a sentence, oh this is really predictable, it can be summed up. And we must also see that although there is an unmarried old aunt in the film who said that if you want to be single, unless you are rich, this sounds very realistic, but "Little Women" is still an adult fairy tale after all. It would be naive to take it as a portrayal of real life.

At the beginning of Christmas, in order to show that the March family was poor but full of friendship, after they gave their breakfast to the poor mother and son in the forest, they returned to the house and saw rich and luxurious objects piled up on the dining table. This is theirs. It was given by the neighbor, the rich Laurie and his grandfather. At this time, the little woman's family was happy and lively, thanking them generously, without the slightest embarrassment or shyness. It can be seen here that their family is actually on the same level as the rich grandfather and grandson, and the fact is that the mothers of the little women are indeed from the upper class. The identity of this family, to be more precise, is noble, except that they are not very wealthy, they are still part of the upper class. And the so-called poverty they encountered was not the poverty without a way back in the real sense, just like the hair sold by Joe, which always grows. This situation is actually incomparable to the vast majority of poor girls in the world.

Aside from money, another attribute that is heavily discussed in the film is talent. Each of the four girls has one specialty, playing the piano, painting, writing, and acting, and they play their own way. However, Amy always emphasizes that she is not as talented as Qiao, which makes her extremely painful. So, how is talent judged? Realization ability. To put it bluntly, these seemingly bright art projects are actually skills that girls use to gain social recognition and financial resources. Because these ladies in the upper class, apart from being an artist, seemed to have no other career to choose from at that time. So Amy said either to become famous or get married, it means nothing to her to be an ordinary painter. It can be seen that what Amy envies the most about Joe is not the so-called talent, but the capital enough to be independent.

The three East Asian countries have experienced similar social trends in recent years. The difficulties and anxiety faced by women have the characteristics of East Asian culture, but they have more in common with Western society. "Little Women" can resonate with many Chinese girls, but it can't really be scripted. It should be noted that life can of course be diversified, but what you want to achieve must be implemented according to certain rules. The girls of this class don't like to talk about freedom, independence, self-realization and other sour words like some misogynistic media have created. Most people actually practice their ideas carefully and low-key. This is a pragmatic attitude, though not frank enough. I want to say something old-fashioned about fighting like a man. Because women fight for the same rights in society, they still bear more pressure than men, and for men who have been accustomed to competing and fighting for thousands of years, in the face of real interests, they are not soft-hearted towards you. The so-called freedom and independence, as shown in "Little Women", all need the support of real social resources such as money and status. So, go for it, girls!

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Extended Reading

Little Women quotes

  • Theodore 'Laurie' Laurence: That's my grandfather. Are you scared of him?

    Jo March: I'm not scared of anyone! He looks stern, but my grandfather was much more handsome.

    Marmee March: Jo! We do not compare grandfathers!

  • Beth March: It's like the tide going out. It goes out slowly, but it can't be stopped.

    Jo March: I'll stop it. I've stopped it before.