摘 要

改编文学经典已经成为电影市场的普遍现象。其中路易莎·梅·奥尔科特举世闻名的小说《小妇人》也曾多次被搬上大银幕。这部小说成功描写了马奇家四个女儿的生活经历，奥尔科特尤其擅长描写她们的爱情经历。这本小说于1994年和2019年被改编成电影。这两次改编都成功地描绘了其中的女性角色。 这篇论文将以女性角色——艾米为主要人物，探讨小说和改编电影中的女性形象，并讨论不同时代女性具有的各种价值观以及自我意识的觉醒。此外，本篇论文旨在探讨小说《小妇人》及其电影改编中女人成长的选择。通过分析了解艾米在不同时期的性格特征，总结出现代女性的成长轨迹。

关键词：小妇人；女性形象；电影改编；艾米；女性主义

Abstract

It has been a common phenomenon in the film market to adapt the literary classics. The world-famous Little Women by Louisa May Alcott has been frequently made into movies. The novel itself is based on the life experiences of four daughters of the March family who excel in incisive depiction of their love affairs, and was adapted into films in 1994 and 2019. These two adaptations are successful in depicting the female characters. This paper takes Amy, one of the female characters, as the major role, to discuss the female images in the novel and adapted films, and it also explores the awakening of female self-consciousness in different era with a variety of values. Moreover, this research is aiming at discussing the meaning and choices of woman growth from the novel Little Women and its film adaptations. Through analysis which realizes Amy’ traits of character in different times, this research elaborates how contemporary female grow up.

Key Words: Little Women; female image; film adaptation; Amy; feminism

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 The Novel: Little Women 3

2.1 Feminism in the mid-19th century 3

2.2 Analysis of the main character: Amy 4

2.3 Specific manifestations under the influence of Puritanism 4

3 Film Adaptation in 1994 6

3.1 Feminism in the end of 20th century 6

3.2 Analysis of the main character: Amy 6

3.3 Analysis of the Amy’ choice for her family 7

4 Film Adaptation in 2019 8

4.1 Feminism in the 21st century 8

4.2 Analysis of the main character: Amy 9

4.3 Growth of Amy in marriage 10

5 Discussions 11

5.1 Comparative analysis of three versions of the films and the novel 11

5.2 Growth of Female Image in reality 12

6 Conclusion 13

References 14

Acknowledgements 15

Growth of Female Image in Film Adaptation

——A Case Study of Little Women

1 Introduction

Little Women is an uncomplicated story about the warm family life, the joy and regret of growing up, the sisters who are fighting each other but intimate, and the ordinary and impermanent destiny itself. With a group of highly impressive roles, this story has taught many girls how to deal with the dilemma of identity as a woman. This well-known literary classic is moved to the screen several times in the more than a century after it became a book. It rolls up and down in the wave of the times and interpreted the brightness and beauty of female characters in different backgrounds. The kind of full and warm emotions present in the story of Little Women are so rare to see, and the March sisters hug together and burst into the most energetic and warm images, which is precious in any era. In the Little Women, this group of various characters but lovely women will continue to encourage generations of readers to pursue their love and embrace life.

The morals promoted by the female characters in the novel are benevolence, charity, tolerance and firmness, because the core ideas expressed in this period is influenced by religion. Furthermore, the growth requirements for female characters in this book are also based on the ethics of Christian Protestantism. In the 1994 film adaptation, with the development of the economy and the awakening of female consciousness around the world, the film's portrayal of female characters emphasizes bravery, strength, wisdom, optimism and self-confidence; while in the 2019 film adaptation, women who has different minds between the characters are respected, and each of them is allowed to grow and change freely and write her own life story with her own choice. In an era when the rights and interests of women and girls in the film and television works are overwhelming, but most of them have nothing to say. This value that is expressed in the adaptations has a power to inspire more women.

Furthermore, Alcott is not good at reflecting the warmth of family life through detailed description. Everyday family life is accompanied by various emotions such as joy, sorrow, happiness and regret. There are always countless small surprises in the prosaic life. The plots of the novel are originated from real life. Alcott not only directly reflects the beauty of family life with the help of characters' words and deeds, but also focus on using the environment and other details to highlight the novel's theme. For example: In the first part of the novel, the author depicts the snow at the Christmas masquerade, which is a symbol of the pure heart of the girls; in the middle part of the novel, when Jo learns that sister Amy is engaged to Laurie who have proposed to herself. At the time of the news, the author mentions that the sky suddenly begins to rain, which contrast with Jo's loneliness when he falls in love. At the end of the novel, the author describes the lush crops on the ground, which seems to herald the joy of the world that Mrs. March will soon enjoy, and also implies that the four sisters have truly grown into mature and promising little women.

The novel breaks the traditional and mainstream consciousness of the society about the positioning of female characters, and gives the roles of the four sisters to independent and autonomous characteristics: the four sisters have the courage to break the limitations of the era for women in the process of life and growth. A researcher has summarized that roles who experience constantly awakening and self-consciousness break through the shackles of women, fully demonstrate the value of women’ existence, and it still brings strong resonance and inspiration to the readers. （Zhu yushuang，2017）

2 The novel: Little Women

2.1 Feminism in the mid-19th century

The 19th century was the beginning of an era in which "man can conquer nature". After being fully experienced the Renaissance, religious reform, scientific revolution, enlightenment, and industrial revolution, Western civilization has entered a large-scale reliance on human rational power and science and technology as weapons. In the era of challenging the authority of God, the spirit of proactive exploration has become an important part of the American spirit. Alcott is an activist who advocates bold reforms, and she is a guard who strives for better working conditions and voting rights for women. During the 1860s, a significant change in American society was that more and more women began to get rid of the traditional family constraints and gradually invested in social and political life. And Alcott described the characters in the story with courage and power. At the same time, she challenged the traditional constraints imposed on women. The background of the novel is that during the Civil War in the mid-19th century, the gap between the rich and the poor, social ills, and the moral standards of various classes were already reflected in the rising stage of capitalism. When Alcott grew up, it was the first wave of the women’s liberation movement. The focus of the early feminist debates was simply equality between men and women, opposition to the privileges of nobility, reaffirmation of the sacredness of monogamy, as well as citizenship, political rights, intellectual and power equality.

However, a researcher has pointed out that after the end of the American Civil War, the paternalism and feminine morality of Puritanism govern the United States. Puritanism is originated as early as the 17th century. After two centuries of dissemination, the core idea has already penetrated into the hearts of the people, so Alcott was deeply influenced by Puritanism. （Fu danfeng，2015）Between the lines of the novel, we can see the life and behavior of the characters in daily life deeply influenced by Puritanism. Although the plot of the novel encourages freedom and independence, due to the limitations of the time, it still exists a contradiction among the characters in the novel.

2.2 Analysis of main character: Amy

On the one hand, the youngest daughter of the March family, Amy, is bright, lovely, pure and beautiful. Amy is a beauty with white skin and blue eyes. She has the beauty of a royal princess. Her golden curly hair and fair skin have always been her pride. She wants to be a lady. At the same time, because she was held in the palm of her hand since she was a child, she always liked the limelight and always felt that she was very important. She pursues perfection and is persistent in the pursuit of art. When she was a child, she was accidentally wrestled because of Jo, which caused her nose to become a flat nose. But she longed for a sharp nose, so she drew hundreds and thousands of sharp noses, and she became good at painting. Then she hopes to go to Rome, and becomes an outstanding artist in the world and also a "lady" of the upper society. Despite that, she has her own principles, and she admonishes herself to work hard but not to be greedy or vanity. Alcott portrayed Amy as self-reliant and independent of traditional woman in the new era, setting a good example for young women at that time. She is very confident and strong, not willing to be controlled by traditional ideas, and has won happiness for herself through her unremitting efforts and appropriate methods and skills.

Moreover, no matter how others sneer at herself, Amy never gave up the pursuit of the art path. On this thorny road, she always adheres to her dreams and believes in her talents. She believes that she will succeed in the end. All of this is enough to show that Amy is firmly upholding feminism. As one researcher praises that Amy is not willing to be a housewife who just does some housework all day. She always believes that women can create more value outside of housework. As can be seen from Amy, she has a strong doubt on the value of traditional housewives, and women can exert their abilities in the wider social field and create greater value. (Xie lulu amp; Wang guilian，2018)

On the other hand, Alcott still can't get rid of the influence of traditional female images. While supporting feminism, she also inherits traditional ideas to a certain extent. Women in the traditional society are the main undertaker of family affairs, and they must loyal to the family and filial to the elders. （Pi yanling，2015） Although Amy was tired about housework, she sometimes had to wash dishes and clean the house. In her break time, she is often asked to sit together and knit sweaters or do needlework. Amy also has a spirit of rebellion, but she is always blamed by her sisters and parents. Under the influence of this traditional concept, although Amy showed the awakening of feminism, she still retained the traditional thought that women should get into the marriage, so Amy hoped to change the plight of the family through marriage.

2.3 Specific manifestations of the Puritanism

First, the Puritans recognized the significant role of women in the growth of their children, so they allowed girls to enter the various educational institutions that they set up. In this novel, all four sisters have the opportunity to enter the school, but Amy's school life description is introduced with longest paragraphs. It highlights that the young women represented by Amy have more opportunities to access knowledge, but at the same time the corporal punishment that Amy is received in school and the bullying of her classmates also reflects the disadvantages and extremes of religious influence.