#totally agree with you though about jo and beth which i could also talk about 5ever i adore them the most

[otrtbs]

I want your heavy detail... give it

I'll give mine first though

Since you haven't read the book I'm not gonna like hold that against the debate because YES this is a debate now all in good fun of course and I'll just like talk about the movie.

Jo and Laurie in my opinion are WAY to similar for a romantic relationship to work and MAYBE it's just me and how weird I am about best friends to lovers like friends to lovers I adore it but when there's like platonic soulmates for some reason I can't cross that barrier like they are friends and nothing else.

But Jo and Laurie are one in the same, right? And I think they would've killed each other for one. But also I think as much as a relationship is about compromise and supporting each other I think Jo needs a relationship where she's truly pushed to be better IF she's in one at all. Of course in a perfect world she would be marrying no one BUT we're not in that world. I think she needs someone just as ambitious as her someone who will respect her and view her as an equal. And as much as a love Laurie that's not him.

He wouldn't push her to do better he would praise her and that's all. He would treat her right. But he wouldn't be perfect for her. AMY however, yes we're getting into her pushes LAURIE to be better. She argues with him and kinda influences him to be better. And I don't think Jo would do that either, I think Jo would be too busy with her own things.

I think they work on paper. But in the end I think Jo and Laurie need MORE than each other, and I think they compliment each other a bit too much to be romantically involved.

AND also since we're here I want to add that in the 2019 movie it seems like Jo regrets not saying yes to Laurie, but that's just not what happens at all. Like she's missing her best friend and she's missing Beth and her childhood. She's not in love with him, she just misses whaat used to be and wants to go back. No matter if she has to give up all her dreams and become a trophy wife.

I don't even know if you wouldn't mentioned it but I had to because I hate when that's people's argument like they're just completely viewing the movie wrong, they don't get the point. Jo and Beth's relationship is much more important to me than any romantic one so I'm VERY passionate about it.

Um lastly I am VERY sorry that I just gave you an essay to read over I didn't mean to... but this is my favorite movie and I just love talking about it... a lot apparently.

okay wait!! i have read the book !! i have totally read the book!!! please!! (dare i say the book builds a stronger case for jolaurie?? hmm) im rambly under the cut!!

please you are always welcome to come in here and talk about little women things to me !! i love the movie and the book so much !!! i'm right there with you !

i think that the similarities are good in this relationship!! i think they work and compliment each other well!! as far as pushing each other to be better, i think i disagree. when jo submits her writing for the papers (in the novel), it's laurie who encourages her and believes in her and laurie is the first person she tells!! he encourages her to write, he encourages her 'boyish' mannerisms and he accepts her for who she is!! but he's always encouraged her and supported her pursuits. n turn, when laurie is hanging out in disreputable places w boys of ill repute, it is jo who encourages him to stop and be better and laurie listens (this is also in the novel) but movie scene imagine when laurie is like 'i gave up billiards ,, i'm happy i did' i think they are both slightly indulgent to each others follies, jo with her temper and laurie with his grandiose 'castle in the clouds' temperament, but when it really counts they push each other to be better and they accept each other for who they are!!

i do agree that in a perfect world she wouldn't marry at all though!! i also agree that beth and jo's relationship is more important, or even, jo's relationship to her family is paramount and really what the novel and movie is about!

i also want to say that the letter jo writes laurie is not in the book so im gonna not consider that for the sake of the argument but marrying laurie wouldn't make jo a trophy wife!! he has done nothing but encourage her to write and publish her works, he's never asked for her to change who she is, or anything. i think that while jo was yearning for the past, for a time when beth was alive and healthy and all her sisters were under one roof and together, and she and laurie were closer than ever, i think her love and regret for tuning laurie down is real, and can't all be attributed to an attempt to recreate the past.

i think jo has told herself her entire life that being a wife meant compromising yourself and giving up your autonomy and individuality, because that's what she saw in the world around her and that's not what she wanted. so she swore off marriage because she didn't want to change. but the thing is, laurie never wanted her to change and didn't ask her to change. it took a while for jo to realise this and it took loss and loneliness which gave way to growth and maturity and the realisation that laurie and jo could work in a way where she could still be herself. but by then it was too late. bc, yk, amy. which as established before, family is more important to jo than anything, so of course that put an end to it.

idk when i think about laurie who was often described as devoted to jo, supporting her and loving her unconditionally while encouraging her to become and author,, when jo makes him feel most comfortable and most like himself when he was a shy boy just back from europe and helps him with his relationship with his grandfather and his vices,,, they help each other grow and i think they would really work together!!

#ik you said you weren't talking about the book and then all my examples are from the book oml sorry #i see them making each other better!! #here is some of my heavy detail ! i can write essays ik ik im sorry #anyway i adore discussions like this so so much <333 #totally agree with you though about jo and beth which i could also talk about 5ever i adore them the most #little women things #asks

[joandfriedrich]

Little Women 2019 Review

I finally watched the 2019 version of Little Women. I’ve got quite a lot to say.

The Good:

The cast is good, I think everyone in it is a good actor but there’s a few hiccups, more later. Louis Garrel was a good Friedrich, Eliza Scanlen and Florence Pugh were good for their roles (Please note, this is my first time seeing any of these actors so I was still up in the air of how they would have performed these roles). Timothee Chalamet is such a good Laurie, you like him and you understand why Amy would fall for him, but you also see why he wouldn’t have been good for Jo. And I do agree, the apron scene is pretty hot. 

There were a few moments that were chuckle worthy and did hit home, particularly, once it was put into context, the moment when Jo is talking about possibly accepting Laurie’s proposal and talks about how she is tired of people saying that as a women is is expected to be made for marriage, but ending with how she is lonely. I felt that. 

The Meh:

I wasn’t exactly a big fan of the jumping back and forth, but it wasn’t too terrible. I know there were a lot of people who didn’t like it but it wasn’t the worst thing. There were moments where I was confused and worried we weren’t going to get to certain scenes, but it was neither the worst thing nor the best thing about it. Also, was anyone else like not digging the weird speaking to the camera while writing a letter? Friedrich, Jo and Mr. Dashwood all did it and it felt really out of place, like that style belonged more in a documentary rather than a film.

The Bad:

I know I am going to get some hate, but here we go. I didn’t like this one. It is certainly better than the 1970s BBC version, I give you that, but this. Let me sum it up in one sentence: It was trying too hard. It was trying to hard to make the story feel modern when it’s not supposed to be, it’s set in the Civil War era and obviously not everyone is going to be as forward thinking as we are. Also it tried too hard to be feminist. The novel was already a feminist novel, and I will stand by that statement even beyond death. So the scenes where you get characters who go on these speeches about how difficult it is being a woman or talking about the war and what have you just felt very contrived and unnecessary. 

I stand by again this thought: Amy must be played by two actresses, one a child and one an adult. Amy is such a good character and Florence Pugh played older Amy very well, but she is much to old to play a child and so her scenes do not feel genuine. I watched it with my mom and my mom said “This was the first time I had really thought ‘Amy that was childish’, and it caught me off guard because Amy is supposed to be a child. You don’t get the same sense of sympathy or understanding of her in this movie.” And I agree. Also, can we stop using the trope of sticking bangs on a grown woman and say “Boom you are a child.” I personally never thought of bangs as being childish but this is something I have seen modern media do to try to convince us that an actress in her 20s is supposed to be a girl in her early teens. Let’s stop that. Florence Pugh has a naturally deeper tone of voice, so to hear that while looking at “young Amy” was jarring and unbelievable. Edit: yes, there are some children who have deeper voices, what I mean is that she sounds very womanly rather than a small child. Another thing that made her being a child not believable.

I was hugely disappointed when we didn’t get to see or utilize certain actors. Louis Garrel and James Norton were hugely downplayed and were barely in the movie, which is a shame considering that 1, they are good actors and 2, their characters are so good as well, and having them in the story more would have made the movie feel more fleshed out. It strangely felt condensed and not fully fleshed out which is odd because there were moments I went “Oh look, they included that from the book”, but thinking back, it was the small things they added and seemed to shortened the bigger things. The film really downplayed Meg and Beth to make Jo and Amy the more prominent sisters, so it felt less like it was a film about sisters and more about certain sisters who’s stories are more interesting than the other two. That was the vibe I felt when watching it.

I didn’t like the way Jo was presented here. Saoirse Ronan is an amazing actress, and she acted her heart out, but I didn’t like Jo in this. Particularly the scene where she and Friedrich are discussing her writing and she pretty much throws a temper tantrum when he says he doesn’t like it. I totally get her being upset, any writer would feel hurt, but she pretty much was like “You big meanie, you are not my friend because you big meanie!” So it didn’t make the supposed happy reunion feel right with me, it almost made me feel as though Friedrich could do better, and that is saying a lot coming from me. She reminded me of Katherine Hepburn’s version of Jo but not the good parts, the over the top bits.

I hated the ending. I know that Jo does canonically write a story about her sisters in Little Men, but the lines being blurred about whether or not it all was real or not wasn’t my favorite. Especially when it felt as though her being with Friedrich wasn’t real. It almost made me think, why bothering to even include Friedrich if it wasn’t going to have a good payoff? And the film had some really great Friedrich and Jo moments, but it was all for naught when she left New York after her fight and her dismissive attitude towards him during the visit. I don’t know, it felt very inconsistent and thus made me feel as though the ending wasn’t real, and in general, the film made me wonder if any of the events of the story were real at all.

Some people felt that Greta Gerwig was robbed of a nomination and some think that if the movie is nominated so then should the director. I disagree. I was not too pleased with the direction of the film. I hated how it felt like they all were screaming, toppling over each other and acting so wild especially when they have no reason to act so out of place. It made me cringe and did not feel as though we were getting a proper sense of family, of them working and loving together when all they did was shout and not listen to each other. There was no sense of them growing with each other. It didn’t feel like Little Women.

In short: 2 out of 5 stars. Not the worst Little Women adaptation, but not the best, and certainly not my favorite, it was just trying too hard. If you disagree, please discuss it peacefully and kindly. I am open to hear other people’s opinions, but let us all be civil about this.

#little women #little women 2019