‘Sometimes you just need a good cry’: why Little Women is my feelgood movie — SkimNews
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- Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel "Little Women" has been repeatedly adapted into film, TV and stage productions over the past century, the author notes, in part because of the timelessness of its four March sisters.
- Gillian Armstrong's 1994 adaptation — starring Winona Ryder as Jo, Susan Sarandon as Marmee and Claire Danes as Beth — is the author's go-to feelgood film, even though Thomas Newman's oboe intro alone is enough to bring tears.
- Beth's death in the second act is the film's central tearjerker, with Danes playing the scene — Beth telling a crying Jo she can be brave — with what the author calls "heart-wrenching sweetness."
- The death scene is so culturally embedded it's referenced as a punchline in the sitcom Friends, where Joey tearfully tells Rachel that "Beth is really, really sick" while reading the book.
- The author also praises Greta Gerwig's 2019 remake and recounts watching both versions back-to-back on a holiday flight, disembarking "lighter, happier and more dehydrated than ever."
- "Little Women" is currently available to rent digitally in the US and Australia, and on Channel 4+ in the UK.
Why it matters: This is a personal essay, not a hard news event — but the piece frames catharsis as the point of rewatching a known tearjerker, arguing that Beth's death in Armstrong's 1994 adaptation functions as a release valve that leaves viewers feeling "lighter" despite the grief. It also positions the March sisters as enduring archetypes still being remade for new generations, with Gerwig's 2019 version cited as a worthy companion piece.
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