From Idea to Script to Sale
Snow Movies -- #3
What novel, written in two parts in 1868 and 1869 became a play in the late 1800s, a Broadway play [many times revived] in the early 1900s, and films in 1918, 1919, 1933, 1949, 1994 and 2019—not to mention numerous TV movies and series attempts? It’s won Oscars and everything else—in many of its incarnations.
It’s Little Women—and the most recent version was written by Greta Gerwig.
So what’s the deal? Why is this story so endearing?
I seriously think one of the reasons is the snow. In case you’ve missed it, let me elucidate.
The story is set during the Civil War in Massachusetts, on the outskirts of a town where the houses are large and each has a lot of land around it. So you’re removed a bit from town. In this story, these two houses not very far apart—a modest home and a mansion. And the poor family interacts with the rich man and his nephew. Thus we see the difference between the people who have to scrape for a living and those who don’t.
Because it’s set during a war, the March family’s father is off fighting [though in this case, he’s a chaplain] and the mother and her four ‘little women’ have to fend for themselves. And it’s not easy. At one point, Jo, the main character, sells her hair just to get money for her mother to be able to travel to her father when they find out he’s been shot.
So deprivation is at the center of this story. Take a look at trailers from four different versions—noting, also, how much trailers have changed over the years!!:
An aside—one of the interesting things to notice is how differently women behaved in earlier versions of the film and how much more “contemporary” women behave in the more recent versions. It’s a nice little window into mores during the last century.
But back to deprivation. The March family are poor—but they’re not destitute. A destitute family lives in an unheated shack—a mother and her many children, shivering in the winter cold. When mom comes back from tending them on Christmas morning [throughout ALL versions, the mom is self-sacrificing and always doing for others] she shares with her daughters the sad state of the family she’s just come from. And the girls agree to forego their Christmas breakfast and take it to the poor family. No, this wasn’t just a breakfast—this was Christmas breakfast, one filled with delights the girls hadn’t seen all year long.
So off they tromp—through the snow—baskets in hand to give to the poor family.
This scene appears in ALL movie versions of the story. It shows the range of poverty, right down to the destitute. And the conditions—yes, the snow—underlines the hardship.
And that’s the thing about this movie—it’s about poverty and hardship, but it’s full of human comfort and joy. That juxtaposition of harsh weather to the warmth inside the March family home is powerful. It’s as if the story is saying that though the snows may fall, if you have love around you, you can huddle together and make it through everything.
As a writer, remember that kind of juxtaposition. It will stand you in good stead.
Next week, the coldest movie of all and our final snow movie—keep a heater handy to thaw yourself out while watching this one!
Copyright © Diane Lake
21Feb21
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