

Like much of the art that’s created by women and about women, Greta Gerwig’s Little Women has inspired a lot of handwringing about what it all means, becoming, as it was fated to be, a prism through which we’re supposed to understand something vital about feminism and sexism. Men don’t care about Little Women or actual little women. Jo is a #GirlBoss, or Jo is an inspiration to all women writers and artists. Little Women is a white feminist manifesto and should be less white.
But what did the Jezebel staff who saw Gerwig’s Little Women think? We have thoughts, because, as Saoirse Ronan’s Jo reminds us in the movie, “Women, they have minds!”
Megan Reynolds, Managing Editor
I am unfamiliar with the 1994 version of Little Women, starring Winona Ryder and a young Kirsten Dunst, because for years, the March-sister shaped hole in my heart has been filled by the 1949 Mervyn LeRoy version, which existed on VHS in my home as a child for no real reason. I have seen this version countless times. Its rhythm is imprinted in my mind as canon. The March sisters will go visit the Hummel children early on. They will eat popovers for Christmas. Later, someone will run some blancmange over from the big house next door. Beth will die, and it will be tragic. Then, like clockwork, it’s Christmas once more.
Greta Gerwig’s reinterpretation of Little Women is different—vignettes, as opposed to a steady, straight plot, bookended by scenes of Jo March enduring rejection at the hands of Mr. Dashwood, an antebellum publishing executive in beautiful New York City. The lingering traces of the Christmas spirit allowed me to enjoy the film sans cynicism—I cried heartily when Beth succumbed to the inevitable and felt a renewed sense of justice for Amy, who is clearly upset at being her family’s cash cow, but does so anyway because it means she gets to boss Laurie around for the rest of her life. There appears to be a fair amount of “outrage” over this film because, if I understand correctly, the men don’t really like it? Someone’s mad that Laurie was white? Does any of this matter? No!! There are flower crowns and a Pinterest wedding, Meryl Streep’s in it, and if you have maybe even one sister, you’ll feel something. Just watch it! Who Cares!