De Mulherzinhas à Adoráveis mulheres: uma análise das representações femininas

Abstract

It is no secret that women need a room of their own to write fiction, Virginia Woolf was spot on when she talked about this need. Beyond the physical space, having a room of one’s own means having access to real opportunities for literary development. Opportunities that were long denied to women. The representations of women in literature and cinema have undergone transformations as women have taken on the task of telling their own stories. The presence of these women as art makers has enabled new ways of representation and made it possible for women to become protagonists in fictional narratives. Thus, the objective of this study is to conduct a comparative interarts analysis between Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women (1868) and the film Little Women (2019), directed and written for the screen by Greta Gerwig. The analysis focuses on the female representations in the characters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, based on interart studies and feminist and gender theories. Furthermore, the analysis considers the influence of the contexts of production of Alcott's novel in the 19th century and Gerwig's contemporary adaptation. This research is supported by the works of authors such as Clüver (1997, 2006) and Rajewsky (2012), who have contributed to the understanding of central concepts related to interart and intermediality studies. Authors such as Hutcheon (2013) and Stam (2006) contributed to the discussions regarding film adaptation. The analysis of character construction and female representations is based on theories by authors such as Woolf (2019), Beauvoir (2019), Butler (2021), and de Lauretis (1993, 2019). Therefore, in discussing the relationship between literature and cinema, this study aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the representation of women in these media throughout history. Additionally, the research aims to examine the role of film adaptation as a way of redefining traditional gender roles.