Little Women - a Literary Comparison of Movie and Book free essay sample

Since I have not seen the other movie versions of the novel, I cannot say what differences there were between the book and the other movies. The 1994 movie version starring Winona Ryder as Jo, Susan Sarandon as Marmee, Claire Danes as Beth, Kirsten Dunst as Amy, and Trini Alvarado as Meg is the movie version I chose for my comparison. As a movie lover, I enjoyed the movie yet was disappointed somewhat with it after having read the book. I saw this movie when it first came out and absolutely fell in love with the March family. I wanted to be one of the sisters, live in that house, and spend time with them. I’ve never read the book until now because I’ve always been intimidated by the size of it. It took me a while to read, but it was definitely worth it. The book is split into two parts: part one ending once Meg gets married. The movie follows part one of Little Women almost exactly. Both start out on Christmas Eve with the girls singing before going to bed. On Christmas morning, Hannah makes a wonderful feast that the girls bring to the Hummel’s, a poor family in town that they look after. The party that Jo and Meg are invited to is exactly like the book. Jo burns off a piece of Meg’s hair, which is captured beautifully in the movie. Jo dodges a boy that wants to dance with her at the party which lands her in an alcove where she meets Laurie for the first time. Laurie tells Jo all about his time abroad. Jo and Laurie dance in the hallway where no one can see them so Jo will not be embarrassed by the burn on the back of her dress. They run into Meg who has sprained her ankle, and Laurie offers to take them home in his carriage. Jo and Laurie’s friendship blooms from this point on as does his relationship with the March family. Their friendship feels just as effortless in the book as it appears on screen. In the movie, the March girls play in the snow with Laurie while Mr. Brooke approaches Marmee and Meg. Mr. Brooke is not introduced this early in the book. We do not meet him until about a quarter of the way into the book. The girls also do not spend as much time with Laurie so early in the book. A speedy procession of the relationships was a necessity in the movie because of having to cram so much information into a two hour presentation. However, I really enjoyed in the book how Laurie remained a mystery for a while. Piquing both the Jo’s and the reader’s attention. In both the book and movie Amy is struck by her teacher for the limes, Jo writes about her inner struggles for having to conform to the ways of society, and the March girls have their secret society of plays and the Pickwick Portfolio. They accept Laurie as a member and he gives the girls a ‘post office’ for them to share â€Å"their most appalling secrets. † Beth and Mr. Laurence have a much larger part in the books. Beth is often going next door to use Mr. Laurence’s piano, and plays the music that he secretly places out for her. Beth reminds Mr. Laurence of his daughter that passed away at a young age, and so he dotes upon her. Amy is just as jealous in the movie as she is in the book that Meg and Jo get to go to the theater with Laurie and John. Amy burns Jo’s manuscript that she’s been writing for years. Jo lashes out and yells at Amy saying she never wants to see her again. Amy apologizes, but Jo ignores her because she’s so upset. Amy gets jealous again of all the time that Jo and Laurie spend together. She follows them when they go ice skating and Amy ends up falling through the ice. Meg and John do not become close until later in the book; not until after Mr. March returns home. Even then, they do not have much interaction together. When Meg prepares for Sally Moffat’s coming out party in the book, she is there for days and we see all of the activities the girls do together. Meg feels embarrassed because of her status and how poor she is. All the other girls have gorgeous silk dresses and jewelry. In the movie, Meg is dressed up because the rest feel bad for her. In the book, Meg is dressed up because the rest of the Moffat family has grown fond of Meg and wants to do her a favor. A telegram arrives from Washington Hospital that Mr. March has been injured and Marmee leaves to go see him right away. Jo is supposed to ask Aunt March for money for her mother’s train ticket, but can’t bear to ask her, so she sells her hair. Mr. Brooke offers himself as company to Mrs. March as she travels. This is the same in the movie as in the book. A small difference between the book and movie is when Jo wins the money for her story being published. In the book, we see Jo submitting her stories and the entire writing process; not just her winning the money. She struggles with what to write, where she should go to get it published, etc. whereas the movie does not delve into Jo’s writing process. Beth comes down with scarlet fever after going to see about the Hummel’s sick baby who has it and they did not know. This is the defining moment for Beth’s character where her health begins to fail. Hannah says that Amy must stay with Aunt March because she is the only one of the March sisters who hasn’t had scarlet fever. In the book, Amy fights tooth and nail and will not go. The only way Amy agrees to go is when Laurie tells her he’ll visit everyday; which he does. This is where we first see the relationship between Laurie and Amy blossom. While Amy is staying with Aunt March, we see the two women growing closer together. Aunt March takes the responsibility of making sure Amy becomes a suitable lady since she believes none of the other girls have a chance of marrying a suitable man. This makes more sense later when Aunt March chooses Amy to go to Europe instead of Jo. In the book, Beth’s health improves before Marmee gets home from Washington. In the movie, Marmee coming home is what causes Beth’s health to improve. When Meg and John agree to marry, Jo gets visibly upset because she doesn’t want to lose her sister. In the book, this is a huge struggle for Jo. She does not like the way things are changing, and tries her best to deal with it. Jo has many internal struggles throughout this story that are visible through Louisa May Alcott’s writing. The speech that Laurie makes to Jo after she turns down his proposal is almost verbatim from the book. However, in the book Jo doesn’t tell anyone but Marmee that she’s refused Laurie’s proposal. In the movie, we see Jo telling Beth, Amy and Marmee. This is impossible in the book since Laurie proposes while Amy is abroad with Aunt March. No one ever tells Amy that Laurie has proposed to Jo, but she eventually figures it out when she runs into him in France. Laurie is so heartbroken that he begins to throw his life away until Amy confronts him about it. We see the relationship between Laurie and Amy develop over a year or so, where in the movie it seems like their relationship is forced. Their romance is much more natural and their marriage not so much a surprise in the book because of their detailed interactions in the book. Laurie also never promises to kiss Amy before she dies in the book as he did in the movie while taking her to stay at Aunt March’s during Beth’s illness. Jo feels the need to get away and needs a change in her life. So, she moves to New York to live with a friend of Marmee’s who runs a boarding house. She keeps to herself at first until running into Mr. Friedrich Bhaer. In the book, Jo secretly watches him around the boarding house finding herself oddly attracted to him. He is so different from anyone she has ever met. Mr. Bhaer teaches her to speak in his native language, German. In the movie, we see Jo having a hard time selling her work to publishers. In the book, Jo writes romance stories and has no problem selling them to magazines. Never in the book is her writing turned down because she is a woman, nor does she write under the name of a man. Friedrich, Mr. Bhaer, comments on the stories that she is writing saying that she is basically selling herself out and not writing from her heart. Although it hurts for her to hear it, she knows that he is right and should write what she wants. This is similar in the book and movie. As Jo and Friedrich grow closer in the movie, he takes her to the opera. This never happens in the book. The timeline in the movie is also rushed. Jo does not begin a relationship with Friedrich until after Amy and Laurie are married and return home to Connecticut. Another major difference between the movie and book is Meg and John’s relationship after marriage. The book tells you all about their troubles as husband and wife. How Meg tries to run her own household, deal with John’s imperfections, and how they come to truly know one another. Since they never spent a lot of time together before they were married, it’s very hard for them to live together at first. We also see Meg and John’s children grow to be toddlers, talking and running around. In the movie, we only see them as newborns. In the movie, Jo gets a telegram and rushes home when she hears Beth is ill. In the book, Jo is already home when Beth is ill and takes her on a vacation to the beach. Beth admits to Jo that she hasn’t been feeling well and knows that she will not be living much longer. We slowly see Beth becoming sicker, as opposed to the movie when Jo arrives home and Beth is on her death bed. It’s more of a progression in the book. Beth’s death hits Jo a lot harder in the book and she is completely shaken by it. One thing that I love about this movie that you just couldn’t pull off in a book is the montage of Jo writing about her life in her novel â€Å"Little Women. † This is done extremely well, and is such a touching moment in the movie. When Friedrich comes to visit Jo in the book, it is not because her book is being published. He has business in the area and wants to see her. Friedrich patiently courts Jo in the book and eventually over time she realizes her love for him. In the book, Jo and Friedrick turn Aunt March’s house into a boarding house and school for boys. They even have children of their own. Little Women the novel concludes with Professor Bhaer and Jo’s wedding. The final scene is a reflection of the start of the novel: the girls seated around their mother indulging in the joys of family and love. The ending in the book gives you closure on the story while the movie ends rather abruptly leaving you wondering what next? Do they marry, will they have children? What about Laurie and Amy, do they have happily ever after? It left you with so many questions. I guess it is characteristic of most movies since generally they end leaving the watcher unfulfilled and wanting more. Always a possibility of a sequel†¦ In conclusion, Ill repeat my thoughts that the movie version of books rarely live up to the written version. It does however offer us the unique chance to watch our favorite stories on the silver screen even if the movie version is a little distorted from the original story.