Are men really avoiding Little Women, or is it just overblown anecdata?
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Who’s afraid of Little Women? Men, supposedly.
They’re little. They’re women. And they’re terrorizing grown men everywhere, apparently. According to Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse, men are avoiding the latest adaptation of Little Women because they’re terrified they’ll be the only dude in the movie theatre. In a recent op-ed, Hesse notes that she’s received numerous emails from men who are nervous about seeing the movie, particularly without a female chaperone. You know, because people would think there was something deeply strange about a man choosing to see a film about women.
Related: Why are female narratives still undervalued by Hollywood?
Hesse is far from the only writer to have talked about Little Women’s supposed man problem. Vanity Fair has noted that the first public screenings of the film were largely composed of women – a factor they believe contributed to it only scooping two nominations for the Golden Globes and none for the Screen Actor Guild Awards.
Similarly, New York Times critic Janet Maslin recently opined that “the Little Women problem with men is very real.” Maslin tweeted: “I don’t say that lightly and am very alarmed. In the past day have been told by 3 male friends who usually trust me that they either refuse to see it or probably won’t have time.” As we all know, when two male friends tell a cultural critic something, it’s a coincidence, but when three of them say it’s a Very Real Trend.
So is all this true? Are men really avoiding Little Women because they’re worried it threatens their manhood or because they think a female-centered story is irrelevant to their lives? To test this hypothesis in a scientific way I polled three of my own male friends. One had never heard of the book or film, the other two were keen to see it and raved about the cast. Maybe my friends are just more into period drama than Maslin’s? Or maybe making sweeping statements based on a limited amount of anecdata is unwise? Who knows.
I don’t mean to be facile here. There is a hugely important conversation to be had about the way in which white male experience is still considered “universal” in a way that women’s stories (particularly non-white women’s stories) aren’t. There’s also a very important conversation to be had about the way men are penalized for transgressing gender norms. Women who love “manly” action movies are considered “cool girls” while men who like “chick flicks” or female-centered films don’t get quite the same kudos.
Nevertheless, I can’t help but think that the “Little Women faces misogynistic reception” narrative – which seems to be based entirely on anecdata – has been hugely, and unhelpfully, overblown. Plenty of high-profile men are raving about how much they like Greta Gerwig’s adaptation. Barack Obama listed it as one of his favourite movies of 2019. Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern called it one of the best films of 2019. And Ryan Reynolds has tweeted about how stunning it is. If the three-men-rule is anything to go by, then the movie is doing great. We’re only a few days into 2020 and there’s already a lot to be alarmed and depressed about; Little Women is definitely not one of them.
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