Friday, December 13, 2024

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Greta Gerwig Infuses ‘Little Women’ With Deep Reflection & New Vigor [Be Reel Podcast]

Movie studios have been touting “modern spins on classic stories” ever since the times got modern and the stories got classic. But what does that philosophy mean in practice? A simple update to the current year’s fashions and tastes? A whiz-bang filmmaking approach that’ll keep the kids interested when the epic and literary won’t do anymore? Alterations to centuries-old source material to suit contemporary politics? (I think we’ve seen enough Robin Hood movies to know how this can go wrong.)

READ MORE: Greta Gerwig Arrived At The Golden Globes & Was Greeted Awkwardly By HFPA Members Swearing They Voted For Her

The more thoughtful the better, and that’s where Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” finds urgency and ease in equal measure. In committing the story of the March sisters to film for the seventh time in Hollywood history, the writer-director of “Lady Bird” foregrounds complicated dynamics of finance, feminism, and authorship that might fly a little lower in Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel and certainly do in other movie adaptations of the book. Likewise, Gerwig doesn’t wildly transform antagonistic characters like Amy (Florence Pugh) or Aunt March (Meryl Streep) but rather affords them dimensionality beyond villainy or caricature.

READ MORE: Loudest Laugh, Favorite Shot & More Alternative 2019 Year-End Awards [Be Reel Podcast]

We could have the same discussion (and do in the podcast below) on a craft level. Gerwig’s editing and staging choices infuse new energy into speeches we’ve heard given by Katharine Hepburn (1933 version) or family squabbles that feel more stately in the hands of Gillian Armstrong (1994). In search of that context, we also revisit the “Little Women” of 1994 and 1949 on today’s “Be Reel.” We discuss the Jo March of Winona Ryder and the Amy of Elizabeth Taylor while observing these adaptations sort out their own era-driven versions of the classic American novel.

As always, Be Reel is part of The Playlist Podcast Network—which includes The DiscourseThe Fourth Wall, and more—and can be heard on iTunesAnchorFM, SoundcloudStitcher, and now on Spotify. To listen on this page, you can stream the podcast via the AnchorFM embed below or up top. Follow us on iTunes, and you’ll get this podcast as well as our other shows regularly. Be sure to subscribe, and drop us a comment or a rating as we do appreciate it. Thanks for listening.

Chance Solem-Pfeifer
Chance Solem-Pfeifer
Chance Solem-Pfeifer is a freelance film critic and podcaster. He co-hosts "Be Reel" on The Playlist Podcast Network and has written for Willamette Week, Paste, Little White Lies, Splitsider, and elsewhere. Hear him weekly via Oregon Public Broadcasting's music division.

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