I finally saw Little Women over the weekend, after hearing so many positive reviews of the movie, including from CT Women readers and writers.

One of the parts that hit me the most in this recent movie adaptation—yes, that means it made me cry—was the encouragement sent by their father. Marmie reads this letter:

A year seems very long to wait before I see them, but remind them that while we wait we may all work, so that these hard days need not be wasted. I know that they will be loving children to you, will do their duty faithfully, fight their bosom enemies bravely, and conquer themselves so beautifully that when I come back to them I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women.

In CT’s review of the movie, Hannah Nation writes, “These words are a hidden nod to the true motivation for virtue—the love of the father who sees in his children what does not yet exist. The works-based morality of modern feminism tells its adherents that right thinking and right living must be first earned in order to be considered lovely.”

While many writers have analyzed the feminist messages in Louisa May Alcott’s books and the movie adaptations, Little Women has more generally become a kind of cultural shorthand for girls who are creative, caring, rambunctious, and ambitious. I remember talking with a former pastor about his three daughters. “A lot of people ask if we’re going to try for a boy,” he said. “I’m actually hoping for a Little Women scenario.”

The four March sisters made such a rich ensemble in Greta Gerwig’s version, and their characters resonate for us across time periods and age ranges. It felt apt to see the film with my own little crew of women—one bringing along her mother, another her 10-year-old, and one pregnant with her second little girl.

As Karen Swallow Prior noted in her review for The Gospel Coalition, “As an abolitionist, suffragist, and advocate for women’s rights, Alcott, in writing Little Women, was offering much more than a romantic tale of four girls. She was writing the stories of four little women—stories both descriptive of reality for women at the time and visionary for the future of women.”

As we find ourselves in awards season once again, on the heels of the Golden Globes and headed into Oscar nominations, don’t miss some of CT’s entertainment coverage, including pieces on The Two Popes, Messiah, and The Crown.

Thanks for reading!

Kate