7
FOUR LITTLE WOMEN
Three films and a novel
This chapter focuses on the novel Little Women ([1868–9] 1987)1 by Louisa May Alcott and film adaptations of it from 1933, 1949 and 1994, with special reference to the cult of domesticity and ‘true’ femininity, feminism, romance, costume- and set-design, characters, casting, and contextualization.
A story of the transition of four sisters (Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March) from girlhood to womanhood at the time of the American Civil War (1861–5), Little Women was written specifically for young girls. It quickly became one of the most popular novels ever published in the English language (Saxton 1977: 4) and is regarded as a ‘classic’ — one mainly read by women and girls (Showalter ...
Get Adaptations now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
