Prowling With the March Women

LittleWomen&WerewolvesWhen I was younger and first getting into reading for pleasure, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott was one of my favorite. I identified with Jo with her tomboy attitude and passion for writing. I even had a crush on Laurie and couldn’t for the life of me understand why Jo and he didn’t end up together. This of course was well before my dating years, and thus I completely lacked the understanding of relationships and compatibility. 

I watched the Little Women anime series that came out in 1981, which added to my love of the book. I’ve seen the 1933, 1949, and 1994 movie versions–my favorite being the most recent as I imagined Winona Ryder was the perfect Jo. It was also in this version that I finally, truly understood the appeal of the professor. I was thrilled when my college put on a production of Little Women and was among the audience on opening night with more excitement than I could explain to my friends at the time. So you can imagine my interest when I saw that it had joined the ranks of the mashup genre with Porter Grand’s Little Women and Werewolves.

As I began reading, I have to admit there were a few moments I started to drift. I’m ashamed to admit that I was a bit bored because while I adore the story, I’m not overly fond of Alcott’s writing style. Her style is not as refined as Jane Austen’s, which makes sense as Austen was British and Alcott American. The roughness of that difference never struck me until now, but Grand’s addition of the werewolf subplot seemed to make it more coarse.

That being said, I didn’t find the werewolves a poor addition. It definitely cast shadows of interest. I stopped comparing this version to the one I remembered and began enjoying it thoroughly for what it is. By the end I was pleased with the alterations, and how the lives of the March women turned out.

What about you? What was your favorite movie version? Have you seen the musical or any other production of Little Women? 

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