Recently, I took my granddaughters to the movie, Ocean’s 8. Our grandson had a baseball game, and it was his loss, both figuratively and literally. However, during the credits I was surprised when a familiar movie and novel appeared, Little Women. Queue a grandma’s excitement!

Previews & Remakes

I usually don’t enjoy the previews. If I was alone, I’d come to the movie 15 minutes after the start time just to avoid them (but I doubt I could find my seat in the dark theatre). I deal with the previews and I’m always on alert for a film I might enjoy seeing in the future. At the Ocean’s 8 movie, there was one preview that caught my eye. A film about a family with five daughters. What could go wrong?! It didn’t take me long before I realized it was a modern adaptation of Little Women. I got excited and whispered to the girls, “It’s Little Women!” They looked at me with glazed eyes and continued to eat their popcorn. They had no idea Little Women was a book that continues to inspire many (obviously not my granddaughters).

Previews over, the movie was on. We all settled into our Dream Loungers and watched with anticipation. Ocean’s 8 was a fun movie. No Oscars will be awarded to the cast, but we laughed. The movie is about a group of females breaking the law, getting even with a bad boyfriend and stealing lots of money. It’s everything you don’t want your teenage grandkids to learn lessons from for their future lives, but fun.

After our Ocean’s 8 screening, we stopped by McDonald’s to discuss the movie. The girls laughed at the funny parts and reviewed the scenes which were scary for them. We all enjoyed the idea of the women pulling the wool over the eyes of men. If nothing else, this was a strong female-dominated movie. My granddaughters are strong young women, but I hope that is the end of the comparison between the girls and the movie.

But Who Are the Little Women?

Then I jumped into educator mode and asked the girls if they had ever read or heard of the book, Little Women. Yes, they’d heard of it, but no, they’d never read it. Guilt took over my soul and I felt bad that, as their grandma, I hadn’t introduced them to this great novel. Not even the movie!

I did my best to recall the themes of the book: family relationships and behaviors, women’s love and marriage, sacrifice, work and social class. My strategy was to give them a theme and have them discuss it for a moment. It was my hope they would see how the themes are truly universal and timeless. Discussing family relationships and behaviors was easy. They shared how they can get upset with their parents or siblings, but their love for them is still strong. When we got to women’s love and marriage, their eyes glazed over. Only one of my granddaughters has had a boyfriend and she was certainly not going to talk about it. I decided not to push any further with my experiment. They knew I was excited about the book and the updated version of the movie — that was enough for me. It was certainly enough for them.

Times Have Changed

After I dropped off the girls, I reflected on how times have changed. Yet, I wonder if they’ve really changed. Neither of my grandmothers graduated from high school. They were young when they became the beloved wives of farmers. They worked hard each and every day in their homes and in the fields. I’m quite sure neither of them read Little Women. I realize I’m not better than them merely because I read the novel. My granddaughters will also probably never read Little Women, which certainly doesn’t make me better than they are. The key is to look at what is important: family and relationships, women’s love and sacrifice, and an understanding of social class. I know my grandmothers understood and lived those values. I also believe my granddaughters understand those values and will live their lives spreading the love with or without reading Little Women.