Here are five additional movies that take a deep dive into life in the 19th century. There's nothing like escaping into another world through cinema. These movies can also be informative and educational, as well as eye-opening. Looking back on an era during which equality was but a faraway notion, modern-day viewers can feel empowered by historical figures of the past. Updated on February 24th, 2021 by Svetlana Sterlin: Period dramas are sources of endless inspiration for viewers, and their appeal doesn't seem to be running out any time soon. Little Women is a classic novel that shows how gender roles can be widely accepted, but can also change when rejected and challenged by a few stubborn individuals. Life today is so different than it was in the nineteenth century, but films like Little Women can help to transport audiences back in time. The 1800s were rife with injustice and quiet achievements, as well as some pretty prominent breakthroughs in technology and social justice. From tomboyish, outspoken Jo to sweet and motherly Meg, Alcott painted a realistic portrait of the different types of women from the time period. RELATED: 10 Things You Never Knew About The Making Of Little Women (2019) And though it's one of the most highly regarded period dramas of recent years, it's not the only one of its kind. In many cases, with a little kindness and some accommodation, friendship and love often grew between spouses even if the marriage had been made out of convenience.Greta Gerwig's Oscar-nominated Little Women is one of the most acclaimed films of 2019. Her adaptation of the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott has captured viewers' hearts with its rich storytelling and beautiful recreation of the 1800s setting. This was an opportunity for women who hadn’t found a husband whilst in the first flush of youth, or for widows, to marry a widower and take responsibility for the ordering of his household and, perhaps, his children too.ĭespite the risks, marriage was still a state desired by women and usually preferable to the alternative of a life of uncomfortable spinsterhood. You only have to read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to see what a worry it was, especially in the case of a family with several daughters to settle.ĭeath stalked even the wealthiest families and it was common for women to die in childbed. Spinsters were often forced to live upon the charity of their families, passed around like a parcel to nurse elderly relatives or sick children. Sophie, one of the characters in The Chateau on the Lake, suffered such a husband and this forced her to take dramatic measures.Ī good marriage to a man with a comfortable income was vitally important for a woman as she rarely had any other means of financial support. Amy is worried that Jo may be upset, but she is happy for them. Laurie and Amy come home and announce their marriage. Falling in love, Laurie proposes to Amy at Vevay. The March sister's father is fighting in the Civil War. Divorce was almost unheard of and society didn’t think badly of a man who found love elsewhere, whilst infidelity in a woman might cause her to be cast out of society and to lose her children. Meg is 16, Jo is 15, Beth is 13 and Amy is 12. Sometimes love or affection grew but when love didn’t flourish some husbands were cruel. Following the lives of the four March sistersMeg, Jo, Beth and Amy the novel details their passage from childhood to. Alcott wrote the books over several months at the request of her publisher. Many marriages were arranged between families where the bride had little say in the choice of her husband. Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (18321888), which was originally published in two volumes in 18. The first volume of the novel the original Little Women, which ends with Chapter 23 spans one year, from Christmas to the next Christmas, and ends with the war still going. Today women take it for granted that we have the freedom to speak our minds, own property, marry for love, have a career and gain custody of our children, etc but this wasn’t always the case for our female forbears.Ī woman, and her fortune, became her husband’s property when they married and he had almost unlimited power over her. The first chapter begins at Christmastime in the middle of the Civil War it's not clear exactly what year, but sometime in the early 1860s. Although the women’s liberation movement was gaining strength during my teenage years most women still lived lives constrained by domesticity and their menfolk. Growing up in the nineteen fifties, perhaps it’s easier for me than for today’s young women to imagine what it might have been like to live in the Georgian or Regency era.