Just days ago, a New York Times opinion writer was bemoaning the limited appeal of the Greta Gerwig re-re-re-make of “Little Women,” chastizing men who refused to spend several hours being inculcated in femininity in the company of their significant others, and blaming the film’s lack of recognition on abject sexism among critics and audiences.
But now, it seems, the tables have turned. Teen Vogue (of course) penned its own review of the acclaimed adaptation of the American classic and, it turns out, the Civil War era epic about a family of women struggling against the misogyny, gender-based expectations, and institutionalized sexism of their time, is just far too white for our time.
“It’s time that classics that are constantly remade to better incorporate diversity,” Teen Vogue’s astute film critic, Natalie de Vera Obedos, says. And “Little Women” must be the first to go.
Casting any of the female leads as “racebent” — that is, filling the roles with a non-white actor — would be difficult, de Vera Obedos acknowledges, because the film’s protagonists — four sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy, and their mother — are all related. But, de Vera Obedos says, there’s at least one character, Laurie, the love interest of two of the sisters, who could have been portrayed by a person of color. – READ MORE