Little Women Podcast: Vanity Fair Part 3

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This is Niina from The Little Woman podcast.

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Part three.

I think so because I mean I think she even says later on like if you were like oh why did you say anything and she's like oh I couldn't really say anything it was so awkward I was so embarrassed I couldn't you know couldn't just even just like put my foot down I just couldn't I was embarrassed.

Totally understand that and it will also kind of like I can relate to it as well because I've also been a people pleaser for a lot of my life and I think it comes and comes in phases as well.

Yeah she's she's just like oh like I'll just pretend I didn't hear that remark I'll just act really like I'm having a great time I'm gonna hide that I feel actually really bad about this and so I see that.

It's also really sad because a lot of the most friendliest people you know they're usually people pleasers.

Oh absolutely absolutely.

And Meg is often described to be the nicest and the kindest of all the March sisters.

There's Beth there's Beth as well.

I think with Beth it's more about social anxiety and I don't think Meg has that so much no more like difficulties to say no when there is peer pressure which I think is really relatable especially if you are in modern days you would be in high school or yeah that kind of environment where there is a lot of pressure to be part of the crowd.

I think for me people pleasing comes in in phases right because sometimes I have times where I'm just like yes I will I will really you know try and fit into this community and other times I'm just like oh what's the point I'm just gonna be myself.

And then I think I went through a bit of a phase last year where I was just like oh I really I'm getting to an age where I really need to like start thinking about like a proper person to marry and the proper type of job and really trying to be a very specific kind of person and and of course then I went through like where like basically my dream what I thought was going to be my dream relationship it fell apart very suddenly and then you know I yeah other other things kind of went a bit wrong and so I was just like why am I doing this why like you know I really should have just been you know myself this whole time being in a kind of from a very socially a slightly more socially conservative community like sort of Hong Kong immigrants and the Hong Kong student community it's just not that easy to really just be like hey I'm just gonna be myself and you know I mean Asian societies are much less forgiving of that sort of thing so I can I can understand the pressure.

Meg slowly grows out of yeah she does yes saying yes and goes on saying no which is really good for her mental health and her family.

Yeah no I think it is good she doesn't necessarily stop struggling with like you know wanting things but I think you know is able to kind of rationalize that alongside her other priorities.

Laurie I want you to do me a favor will you said Meg as he stood fanning her when her breath gave out which he did very soon though she would not own why won't I said Laurie with alacrity please don't tell them at home about my dress tonight they won't understand the joke and it will worry mother and why did you do it said Laurie's eyes so plainly that Meg hastily added I shall tell them myself all about it and fest to mother how silly I've been but I'd rather do it myself so you'll not tell will you I give you my word I won't only what shall I say when they ask me just say I looked pretty well and was having a good time I'll say the first with all my heart but how about the other you don't look as if you were having a good time are you and Laurie looked at her with an expression which made her answer in a whisper no not just now don't think I'm horrid I only wanted a little fun but this sort doesn't pay I find and I'm getting tired of it here comes Ned Moffat what does he want said Laurie knitting his black brows as if he did not regard his young host with the in the light of a pleasant addition to the party he put his name down for three dances and I suppose he's coming for them what a bore assuming a languid air which amused Laurie immensely he did not speak to her again till supper time when he saw her drinking champagne with Ned and his friend Fisher who were behaving like a pair of fools as Laurie said to himself for he felt a brotherly sort of right to watch over the marches and fight their battles whenever a defender was needed you'll have a splitting headache tomorrow if you drink too much if you drink much of that I wouldn't make your mother doesn't like it you know he whispered leaning over her chair as Ned turned to refill her glass and Fisher stood to pick up her fan I'm not Meg tonight I'm a doll who does all sorts of crazy things tomorrow I shall put away my fuss and feathers and be desperately good again she answered with an affected little laugh wish tomorrow was here then muttered Laurie walking off ill-pleased at the change he saw in her Meg danced and flirted chattered and giggled as the other girls did after supper she undertook the German and blundered through it nearly upsetting her partner with her long skirt and romping in a way that scandalized Laurie who looked on and meditated a lecture but he got no chance to deliver it for Meg kept away from him till he came to say good night remember she said trying to smile for the splitting headache had already begun silence a la mort replied Laurie with a melodramatic flourish as he went away this little bit of bi-play excited Annie's curiosity but Meg was too tired for gossip and went to bed feeling as if she had been to a masquerade and hadn't enjoyed herself as much as she expected she was sick all the next day and on Saturday went home quite used up with her fortnight's fun and feeling that she had sat in the lap of luxury long enough okay there is a thing with Ned Moffat in here I just never remember him when he appears but she says he's a bore but then she hangs out with him for a while it seems like oh Meg yeah I know I mean I love that Laurie is like you you don't look it's fanning her he has to fan her because she's just kind of out of breath because the dress is so awfully tight and she he's just like you don't seem like you're having a good time are you like it's like when you want to be like yeah I'm having so much fun at this event and people are like I don't think you are we've been to that kind of party and she's hung over she's giving herself a hangover oh the part that I always forget is that even after Laurie tells her she's being silly and she acknowledges it really pretty you know very very wholeheartedly like you know does does accept that she just continues to then play the part that I think everyone expects her to play and she wants to experiment with but maybe isn't completely comfortable with yeah she gets very drunk she she tries to flirt with guys and she dances a ton and continues to be uncomfortable in her dress yeah and then she just continues to drink and so it's a little detailed because I don't know if it's that the family doesn't like alcohol in general or doesn't like an excess of alcohol and but then we see this detail that Ned is refilling her glass again and she's having just I guess a ton of alcohol yeah the drinking prop makes it easier for her to play this part yeah I mean she needs to be drunk in order to even do it the champagne goes to her head I think because the father was a priest yeah teacher of morals they probably did not like alcohol when Laurie smokes cigars Joe does not like that I remember yeah when Laurie plays billiards the March family does not really like that in Little Women sequels Friedrich stops smoking he says that he does that because he needs to be a role model but I always thought it's because Joe does not like him smoking okay yeah yeah I get this because um I think in the 94 adaptation Laurie's like I thought your your family were temperance people so you know temperance then you probably wouldn't drink very much if at all for this girl who probably hasn't had much alcohol before and then now she's just having a ton of champagne so of course yeah she's she's hung over she doesn't understand the rules about migration she's probably not hydrated very much tonight yeah and if the dress is very tight yeah yeah it's going to be hard to concentrate on anything I've been to parties with long dresses with long skirts and yes it's it's an absolute pain to move around in and even if you feel fabulous but I think if it's very tight then it just adds to the discomfort because I mean I've worn these like long Chinese costumes right to university balls and things feel very good but you know standing around but like I think actually walking around is uh is a bit of a it's a pain and uh I like that Laurie just kind of is trying to think of a thing to of a lecture to say to her but then like Meg is deliberately avoiding him so that she doesn't have a chance to say anything to her she wants to kind of play at having the kind of fun that these people play with but she you know it's not it's not it's not enjoyable it's a it's a masquerade because I like this choice of the word masquerade because she's actually cosplaying as another person but it's no fun it's not as much fun as she thought.

It does seem pleasant to be quiet and not have company manners on all the time.

Home is a nice place though it isn't splendid said Meg looking about her with a restful expression as she sat with her mother and Joe on the Sunday evening.

I'm glad to hear you say so dear for I was afraid home would seem dull and poor to you after your fine quarters replied her mother who had given her many anxious looks that day for motherly eyes are quick to see any change in children's faces.

Meg had told her adventures gaily and said over and over what a charming time she had but something still seemed to wait upon her spirits and when younger girls were gone to bed she sat thoughtfully staring at the fire saying little and looking worried as the clock struck nine and Joe proposed bed Meg suddenly left her chair and taking bedstool leaned her elbows on her mother's knee saying bravely mommy I want to fess I thought so what is it dear shall I go away asked Joe discreetly of course not don't I always tell you everything I was ashamed to speak of it before the children but I want you to know all the dreadful things I did at the Moffat's we are prepared said miss smart smiling but looking a little anxious I told you they rigged me up but I didn't tell you that they powdered and squeezed and frizzled and made me look like a fashion blade Laurie thought I wasn't proper I know he did though he didn't say so and one man caught me at all I knew it was silly but they flattered me and said I was a beauty and quantities of nonsense so I let them to make a fool of me is that all as Joe as miss March looked silently at the downcast face of her pretty daughter and could not find it in her heart to blame her little follies no I drank champagne and rumbled and tried to flirt and was altogether abominable said make self reproachfully there is something more I think and miss March smoothed the soft cheek which suddenly grew rosy and Meg answered slowly yes it is very silly but I want to tell it because I hate to have people say and think such things about us and Laurie then she thought the various bits of gossip she had heard at the Moffat's and as she spoke Joe saw her mother fold her lips tightly as if ill-pleased that such ideas should be put into Meg's innocent mind well if that isn't the greatest rubbish I ever heard of right Joe in indignantly why didn't you pop out and tell them so on the spot I couldn't it was so embarrassing for me I couldn't help hearing at first and then I was so angry and ashamed I didn't remember that I ought to go away just wait till I see Annie Moffat and I'll show you how to settle such ridiculous stuff the idea of having plans and being kind to Laurie because he's rich and may marry us by and by won't he shout when I tell him what those silly things say about us poor children and Joe laughed as if on second thoughts the thing struck her as a good joke if you tell Laurie I'll never forgive you she mustn't must she mutter said Meg looking distressed no never repeat that foolish gossip and forget it as soon as you can said Miss March bravely I was very unwise to let you go among people of whom I know so little kind I dare say but worldly ill-bred and full of these vulgar ideas about young people I am more sorry than I can express for the meat chief this visit may have done you Meg don't be sorry I won't let it hurt me I'll forget all the bad and remember only the good for I did enjoy a great deal and thank you very much for letting me go I'll not be sentimental or dissatisfied mother I know I am a silly little girl and I'll stay with you till I'm to take care of myself but it is nice to be praised and admired and I can't help saying I like it said Meg looking half ashamed of the confession I find it noteworthy that Marmee I think while she is very happy to let people let her kids kind of learn their own lessons I think she still has a bit of anxiety about how they're going to process that and I think I mean obviously it's very human it's understandable I think but she's also very very perceptive so she kind of knows when Meg wants to talk about something because she knows it's not going to be that simple yeah I I thought that was a nice touch yeah and we kind of see a bit more of that sort of people pleasing stuff right because I think Jo is just just like well why don't you just like tell them right away about like that it was all wrong and like I think Meg in the beginning she she's kind of like oh I should have just like said what was on my mind I should have just told them right away that what was wrong and she's like well you know I I couldn't it was it was embarrassing and she she was just kind of like oh I you know I I just had to go away and I couldn't help just you know listening in and uh and Jo's just like oh like like I'd do something about it I'd have a thing or two to say about it and you know we she'd deal with that situation very differently the only way to deal with the that gossip is to just not let it not talk about it anymore because we're not going to repeat things that are not true they are both the gossip I was thinking about that part in New York when Jo is in the symposium with Friedrich she goes there very excited to meet all these poets and writers and famous actors and people who she has admired for a long time when she talks to them she realizes that they are like everybody else and they're actually not that great or interesting yeah I always thought that was a fun scene and sort of nice for Jo's growth to see that maybe she has been admiring sort of wrong things wrong ideas in a way it's peril to make in this chapter it's very nice when she realizes maybe the Moffetts are not really the sort of people that she should actually hang out with even though they are rich they are not really that interesting or that cultivated as you know her family circles I think the father seems the most genuine or the other are not that nice no offense anyone like yeah transcendentalism was this idea of authenticity and character in a way with this chapter Meg starts to understand herself better but also what is the characteristics of the people that she admires it's what we can see within hers and John's relationship yeah we we kind of see this in this thing she says about the Moffetts I was very advised to let you go among people of whom I know so little a kind I dare say I think that's a bit charitable but you know I dare say but worldly ill-bred full of these vulgar ideas about young people now I was I thought this use of the word worldly was interesting because typically when I see a word like this it's just like oh well you're very experienced in the world and sophisticated and I actually looked up the alternate meaning which is that you're more concerned with material values and life rather than a spiritual existence rather than cultivation of the self so you're more it means you're more materialistic rather than concerned about develop let's say you know for transcendentalist development of your character and so I was like okay yeah no I mean I guess because Mrs March wants her kids to develop a sense of self and their own value system and rather than really seeking out material goods so that that does make sense for her but I thought that was an interesting nuance I think it's also interesting that Meg says oh I know I'm silly also I'll stay and until I'm like okay to like till I like it but then but I think not many teenagers would admit that I feel like or would make that kind of concession to be like oh I I'm not ready to to take care of myself I you know I'm I'm so I'm so stupid you know I need to be at home until I'm ready to you know go out I think it really depends relationship you have with your family because the March sisters stay bigger sometimes but like 90 of the time they do seem to get along pretty well they have a very good relationship with their mother father is in the frontier but like they seem to have good relationship with their father as well you know if there would be more trauma in the house that you know they probably would want to move away from home faster yeah no I mean I think that moment of vulnerability is um is very nice their father is very supportive but in a way that a father is supportive because I I think the interaction I remember best is when you know he says to he says to Joe at some point like oh well these stories aren't really you is this stuff that you really want to be writing is actually the best and most supportive advice that you can get at that point but it's also the most tough one of the most tough love moments from either parent I mean they I mean I think both Marmee and their dad they have to kind of lecture Joe a little bit they generally have a very good relationship in the family I think it's an interesting moment one of those moments of vulnerability from their mother to be anxious but like just want to be there for the kids and and you can kind of see that Meg is still quite young because you know she's putting her elbows on her mother's knee and like you know she's just like I need to talk about this thing it's a nice exchange that is perfectly natural and quite harmless if the liking does not become a passion and lead one to do foolish or unmaidenly things learn to know and value the praise which is worth having and to excite the admiration of excellent people by being as modest as well as pretty Meg Margaret sat thinking a moment while Joe stood with her hands behind her looking both interested and a little perplexed for it was a new thing to see Meg blushing and talking about admiration lovers and things of that sort and Joe felt as if during that fortnight her sister had grown up amazingly and was drifting away from her into a world where she could not follow mother do you have plans as Mrs Moffat said asked Meg bashfully yes my dear I have a great many all mothers do but mine differ somewhat from Mrs Moffat's I suspect I will tell you some of them for the time has come when a word may set this romantic little head and heart of yours right on a very serious subject you are young Meg but not too young to understand me and mother's lips are the fittest to speak of such things to girls like you Joe your turn will come in time perhaps so listen to my plans and help me carry them out if they're good Joe went and sat on one arm of the chair looking as if she thought they were about to join in join in some very solemn affair holding a hand of each and watching the two young faces wistfully Mrs March said in her serious yet cheery way I want my daughters to be beautiful accomplished and good to be admired loved and respected to have a happy youth to be well and wisely married and to lead useful and pleasant lives with as little care and sorrow to try them as God sees fit to send to be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman and I sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience it is natural to think of it Meg right to hope and wait for it and wise to prepare for it so that when the happy time comes you may feel ready for the duties and worthy of the joy my dear girls I am ambitious for you but not to have you make a dash in the world marry rich men merely because they are rich or have splendid houses which are not homes because love is wanting money is a needful and precious thing and when well used a noble thing but I never want you you think it is the first or only prize to strive for I'd rather see you poor men's wives if you were happy beloved contented than queens on thrones without self-respect and peace poor girls don't stand any chance bell says unless they put themselves forward side meg then we'll be old maids said joe stoutly right joe better be happy old maids than unhappy wives or unmaidenly girls running about to find husbands said mrs marsh decidedly don't be troubled thank poverty seldom daunts a sincere lover some of the best and most honored women I know were poor girls but so love worthy that they were not allowed to be old maids leave these things to time make this home happy so that you may may be fit for homes of your own if they are offered to you and contented here if they are not one thing remember my girls mother is always ready to be your confidant father to be your friend and both of us hope and trust that our daughters whether married or single will be the pride and comfort of our lives we will marmy we will cry both with all their hearts as she bade them good night i think that's pretty much marmy's thesis statement on on marriage now i have always liked that speech that she keeps in the end i remember reading some of those luisa and albert diaries and it's actually really sad sometimes because when she was younger there was this sort of worry would she get married because she's so poor and then when she was older and she became a millionaire and it was like nobody wants me anymore because i make my own money people find me too independent so yeah i can relate to that quite a bit i i think for for me personally i was just like oh i need to like kind of improve myself and become like a more a person so um a more educated person and more accomplished so i can attract better kinds of people and and live better for myself you know of course i wanted to be independent but also i found that actually the more cultivated you are and self-sustaining you are actually it narrows a lot of your choices of romantic partner yeah i can relate to that quite a bit i should go back to my study on the original algut sisters but i do remember like anna algut she was she was about my age when she married she was in her early 30s your age roughly as well yeah yeah my age as well yeah she was like this is my last moment i cannot literally wait any longer i must get married now otherwise i can never get married i'm too old after that and i remember reading that i was like wow the real life beth march when she died lizzie algut when she died anna was about 30 years old and she married john pratt very soon after that and the family was quite shocked because she got married so fast but i think actually part of that was lizzie dying because anna probably thought that well it's time to actually do something about my life and usually when you lose someone you go through some kind of personal change if you lose a family member then i remember reading like may i got diaries she was much older when she married but she also struggled with that finding a partner because i think she wrote that there's a limited number of suitors because i am an independent woman i have a career and it's really really sad to read those journals i love it when mommy says the man who loves you even even if you are poor then you have find the right person yeah i don't think people really speak about those things when they speak about feminism and little woman yeah how difficult it was for woman to marry for love during that time because the society is pressuring you to marry for money and you're not encouraged to have your own career i mean i'm seeing how marmie is just very unusual in this way to just be like no you you really should just focus on love the mrs bennett's of the world just really would not agree she's even really cool if if they stay single as well yeah i hope that you can all experience the joys of a good marriage but i mean but it's also cool if you don't get married too yeah i think people do forget though that she says well i think having a really being loved by a good person like a genuinely good person for you i think is one of the best experiences that you can have i think she's really validating of both paths and marmie was always against joe marrying laurie yes she saw that they had two similar tempers but also i think she saw that they would be very unhappy if they would marry because joe would essentially marry him only for money and laurie would marry her so joe could be his nanny or his mother yeah well or his sister or his sister marmie has prophetic powers yes she does yeah i think she continues to be a very perceptive person in this entire book i and this is why i get so frustrated with the 2019 because marmie is the moral center of the entire family and of the story in general and i think any adaptation that doesn't demonstrate her personal strength and also her her very very deep-rooted authority in her kids lives i think has failed she comes across so feeble in the um in the 2019 and you never get the sense that like without her this family would fall apart would absolutely fail because it's true the fact that she's just like i am here for you your parents are here for you and we accept you entirely whether married or single you would be lucky if any asian parent would say this to you that's vanity fair that's vanity fair just one thing that i was thinking about i think it's funny how joe gets mad when there's this rumor about meg and laurie yeah it's kind of um interesting because joe does wish that laurie and meg would get married yes she does not because of money but because she genuinely wants laurie to be her brother there was this really funny thing going on in tumble little woman community one of the people who i followed make this you know long meme of all these different memes of joe wanting laurie to be her brother and she was like she saw five different adaptations and she could not understand what was going on between joe and laurie then she read the book and she was like oh first she wanted meg to marry laurie then she wanted bet to marry laurie and yeah laurie joe wanted them to get together and then she was like why everyone wants laurie to be a couple why yes it says in the book that joe wants laurie to be a brother and she's pushing yeah her sisters i thought that was so funny yeah she always shipping laurie with other people and not herself yes because she wants him to be her brother and yeah that was so funny my friend and i when we did the ranking of the different adaptations we talked about eight different adaptations and then of course we have the opera the musical and whatnots i think there are like 50 different adaptations of little woman there's not a single adaptation joe wants laurie to marry all her all her sisters yeah i do blame hollywood for this false narration she really does not like this concept that there is in the town she doesn't have anything against meg marie laurie but the idea that her family could go so low that they would want the girls to marry for money that's horrible for joe yeah yeah it's more about the the of the possible marriage that kind of that are quite rebellious it's an interesting foreshadowing of future tensions though in in this chapter because i mean joe is just is realizing that i think it's the first hint to joe that things are going to change her sister is starting to grow up go out of this sphere it's something that she's not quite comfortable with and of course with meg and marmie telling her like you know if a poor man a person who likes you in spite of your poverty i think you know is a sincere lover and of course we can foreshadow her relationship with john in that but also you know with joe kind of being very resistant to rest of her siblings going out of the nest is something that she does not love but she's very young in all fairness i also like that in the beginning of this chapter they mentioned go abroad trunk oh yeah yeah go abroad it's also like a foreshadowing for go abroad it's a very nice chapter and i think it's a turning point for a lot of them in a way that that the other chapters aren't quite like i think this is definitely okay they're they're actually starting to grow up and have to come into awareness of that i think we talked earlier previous episodes that joe is sort of a late bloomer yeah she feels like oh margaret is growing up and uh it's really hard to leave childhood behind but i don't think joe is that against it like some people try to portray her to be in the book there is lots of descriptions of joe growing up as well and i think in the beginning of the part two it's mentioned how joe she became more comfortable with herself or something like that yeah yeah it's like a natural progression of person growing to a good direction they start to appreciate themselves a bit more and i think joe does a lot of growing up herself she's not a peter pan character she doesn't it's not like she resists necessarily growing up but i think i think she has always wanted a comfortable a tight family unit that she could always go back to which we can really see in sequels because she essentially creates a similar type of community in her school that she had with her family what joe values is that she has a safe relationship and then she has these people that she can trust and also people who inspire her to write and you know stuff like that which i like in sort of a lot of common feminist narratives now there's a view like oh well you should be happy on your own you should be happy by yourself before you can be with anybody and i and i think we kind of need to let go of this idea that everyone needs to be just happy you know on i think everyone should be assured in themselves but just because you're assured in yourself does not mean you can't crave having people around you and having a family around you i mean i think it's a very valid desire i think you can really see that in the chapter all alone because joe goes through that identity crisis i don't think she ever really wanted to be alone maybe i end up being a spinster then she thinks oh i'm just going to hang out with john and meg then and doesn't even think that it's a really nice possibility of living like that well no one wants to third wheel their sister like yeah no i mean no she she's always is one in a family and it is very valid she has their sense of identity you know she's comfortable in herself i can understand nonetheless not wanting to be alone a lot and she does eventually have this understanding that meg and john have their own family unit that is autonomous and you know i think she does want that for herself yeah that's always been consistent i don't know why people think of her as being this like person who's just always should be independent and should be happy on her own yeah because especially with chapter surprises and all alone she's not very happy when she's alone no yeah there's even a moment when she says to mormy that she's she's very lonely and it feels like she's missing out on life which like really should tell the people that maybe she's not very happy yeah be like this spectacle of you know what's happening around her with her sisters getting married and having babies it really reminds me of that moment that i read from who's my uncle journal where she and read her sisters marriages it's it's really sad really sad yeah it is really tragic and but the thing is i think in 2019 they have that scene where she says she's very lonely right she just says she's like but i'm so lonely but they never even pay off the completion of that right they just have her write the book and have her stay alone basically right and i'm just like well then what are you saying about her loneliness then are you saying she never has the satisfaction of curing her loneliness with other people or that being with other people having a family is just an illusion i'm like why even include that if you're not even going to pay it off and complete that arc it's because brenda kirk doesn't know how to write relationships yeah he's never written a properly good and fulfilling relationship very well in any of her films i feel like she finishes off meg and john and their story just very abruptly they never have to work through anything it's just like it's all good it's fine even amy and laurie their relationship is not earned at all laurie doesn't do that work for her only amy works for him he doesn't do anything totally the opposite of what happens in the book he puts in the effort to be good for her yeah he's the one who has to come around did you listen to a roast about it oh yes i did i did yeah yeah oh yeah no it was it was good it's a good video yeah well you something that came up in the story was um the thing about her feet and putting her feet in plaster i think it was a it was something that i had forgotten about but i i appreciated that you that you brought it up again wasn't it like in the in the 2019 where they had basically tried to frame all of her actions as being about pleasing laurie which is something i so i disagree with so bad that framing of her actions is just it does her so dirty because she was never about like oh i just have to please laurie i've always been in love with him i have to like do all of these things for him i have never seen her do that in the book i don't know how this idea came about thing that you brought up in in the video i'm just like yeah no this is actually not good i mean it's really good that she has a stronger personality but i think that it does her such discredit to be like oh well all of these artsy things she did it was because she wanted to show off to laurie it's really toxic yeah i i don't think the film actually likes amy that much yeah the more i think about it it doesn't really frame her in a good way even though they try to say that oh it's the best amy ever no i don't think so it is the script really which is the problem and i think it's the worst joe ever because we know that joe wanted freddick's feedback in the book he helps her to become a writer then she became like a three-year-old i hated that there isn't any kind of growth from amy or joe as individuals i have no idea what's going on with that film i do feel like greg has not read little woman because there are these basic plot lines in the book that she seems to be completely unaware of she doesn't seem to know anything about it and it's so weird to me yeah no the i mean i can see how you're like oh well i saw this but it wouldn't work for my script in this way i thought it made a better sense in in this way but like i feel like her takeaway from the story i actually read the book and i'm really yeah i'm genuinely confused because this is literally not what happened but somehow she's convinced other people of things that did not happen in the book which really blows my mind it's really sick yeah yeah yeah i think i i reviewed this film recently on letterboxd and i'm just like i don't think greta gerwig read little women i don't think she even likes little women i don't know how you could create an adaptation like that except without absolute dislike for your source material yeah it seems like she doesn't like relationships either based on her movies yeah no no yeah i she just kind of cannot allow her characters to have a good and wholesome love even between like sisters they can't have a proper healthy relationship i feel like that's not there and i find that she's trying to make joe really strong but she's just made joe just the most obnoxious person she she tramples on the desires of her of her sister of meg and she she and amy are in competition with each other which is not not true and not true of the book when you actually read the book like how would you make these changes unless you just genuinely didn't like all of these fundamental characteristics of the work i don't get it yeah i don't think she has read the book yeah it's really weird i think it's odd but as always really excellent discussion yes absolutely 1994 film does vanity fair chapter really well it gives all the sisters an actual character arc even the weird 70s versions are better because they actually have a good amy and laurie relationships in them yes yes have i have i seen them i don't i'm not sure 78 series is on youtube that one is a little bit better than the 70 series okay okay yeah i mean at least i like that 94 gate um you know they included this scene so that meg and laurie could have a you know have an interaction because then you can actually see that there's a gen this genuine sense of friendship and um actually understands a lot of these meg's motives a lot better and um yeah it's just a good character work and i and i think you know having her actually interact with other rich people and in that situation is um i think it's good they the fact that they just like took this entire chapter and they and they did it so efficiently they're really excellent and it's good because this is a good chapter it is a really good chapter it was great to have you here i'll have a nice rest of the night and um and you too um yes that was the most excellent discussion between emily and myself thank you so much for listening i will see you next time take care and make good choices bye