Little Women - Movie vs. Book :: Movie Film comparison compare contrast

Little Women - Movie vs. Book   According to the Internet Movie Databases exhaustive records, Louisa May Alcotts novel Little Women has seen itself recreated in four TV series, four made for TV movies and five feature length movies since 1918. The most recent version appeared in 1994 and features Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Samantha Mathis, Eric Stoltz, Susan Sarandon, and Gabriel Byrne. As a long time fan of the novel, who has merrily carted her large leather bound gold-gilded unabridged edition whe neer she has moved, I find that I was disappointed in this newest movie version. As a movie lover, however, I found the movie to be an knowable experience.   The decision of the screenwriter and director to cut out what I felt were several story arcs and scenes from the novel was real disappointing. For example, in the movie there is no mention of Beths shyness, or of her overcoming that shyness to become friends with Mr. Lawrence. The scene in th e novel where she gathers her courage to walk over to his menage and thank him for giving her his piano is one of the most defining outcomes for Beth. Overall I found Beth and Mr. Lawrence to both be sadly underdeveloped in the movie. Mr. Lawrence appears in only three scenes, while m whatsoever of Beths key moments also vanished. Jos wonderful tomboyish nature is also severely tone-down for this version. She does not say Christopher Columbus nor any of her other slang words. We never see the scene where she longs to go be a soldier fighting in the war and wishes she were a man. They transformed the component part of Meg from someone who longs for finer things and tends to be snobbish into the wise older sister who does not care about such things. Lacking is the wonderful moment when she realizes that she does not care about Mr. Brooks poverty as she staunchly defends her love of him against Aunt March. While Amys quest for a perfect nose is mentioned twice, there is n ever a scene showing some of her efforts such as her wearing the clothespin on it at night to make is straight, nor do we get enjoy watching her artistic endeavors such as her attempts to make a plaster cast of her foot.