Therefore, sticking with my self-made tradition of reading Little Women every year just before Thanksgiving and again at Christmas/New Year's, I am getting ready to work through it's pages. So, (also due to me being the weirdo that I am) I am preparing myself by listening to the Little Women 1994 film soundtrack. As the strains of Thomas Newman float in one ear and out of the other, I can't help but dwell on a family feud that my mother and I have over the story.
Naturally, given my love of Little Women, I've seen each film adaptation there is. The interesting thing is that I did not love reading as a small child, so I didn't read the book at all until high school and even then I could never get through the whole thing. I had a problem because, out of all of the film adaptations, the 1994 version has always been my favorite, and since I became familiar with it before I ever read the book, I was afraid to finish the book because I was afraid of the differences I would find in it. And Beth has always been my favorite sister, so I was actually afraid of reading her death scene, because they made it so special in the movie that I didn't want it to be different and not as sentimental. Well, finally, in my freshman year of college, I bucked up and read the whole book, laughing and weeping my eyes out along the way because I began to see that the book was very similar, but even the differences it had were okay--they weren't so different that I couldn't hold onto my movie details, and they were more special because they were original, came before the film, and were written by Louisa May Alcott herself. Who knew?
So, anyways, back to the family feud. Since I fell in love with the 1994 film long before I ever read the book, naturally, when I did finally read it, Susan Sarandon was my Marmee, Winona Ryder was my Jo, Trini Alvarado was my Meg, Kirsten Dunst was my Amy, Claire Danes was my Beth, AND Christian Bale was my Laurie. My mother is a literature purist and doesn't tend to adhere to film adaptations very well because "they are never the same," so you have to take whatever she says with a grain of salt, but the big issue we have is that Christian Bale is not her Laurie. Do you need me to repeat that? I don't blame you--it's pretty shocking.
Christian Bale is not her Laurie.
And it gets worse. Not only does she just not picture him as Laurie in her head, but she does not think he makes a good Laurie at all. It's an endless debate. I think he's the perfect Laurie--more perfect than Douglass Montgomery, Peter Lawford, or Richard Gilliand. And just like all of the rest of the cast from the 1994 version of Little Women, it doesn't matter what movie I see any of them in or how well they craft and play their part, I will ALWAYS look at Susan Sarandon and see my Marmee, Winona Ryder will ALWAYS be my Jo, Trini Alvarado will ALWAYS be my Meg, Kirsten Dunst will ALWAYS be my Amy (what happened to her, by the way?Did she just fall off the face of the earth?), Claire Danes will ALWAYS be my Beth, and it doesn't matter if he's playing a serial killer or he's decided that he's Batman, underneath his feeble costume, Christian Bale will ALWAYS be my Laurie. End of story.
So, to all the people who are undoubtedly not going to read this, if you have read the book or seen the movie (preferably both), what do you think? Who is your favorite Laurie? Or do you have a Laurie all your own inside your head? But, for arguments sake in this post, please just tell me I'm right and my mother is wrong.
"I'll try and be what he loves to call me, a 'little woman,' and not be rough and wild; but do my duty here instead of wanting to be somewhere else."
-Jo March, Little Women
"I may be strong-minded, but no one can say I'm out of my sphere now, for woman's special mission is supposed to be drying tears and bearing burdens."
-Jo March, Little Women
"If we are all alive ten years hence, let's meet, and see how many of us have got our wishes, or how much nearer we are then than now.."
-Jo March, Little Women
"Seldom except in books do the dying utter memorable words, see visions, or depart with beatified countenances, and those who have sped many parting soul know that to most the end comes as naturally and simply as sleep. As Beth had hoped, the 'tide went out easily,' and in the dark before dawn, on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath, she quietly drew her last, with no farewell but one loving look, one little sigh."
-Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
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