Being one of the principal stars of the Harry Potter franchise is a life-changing opportunity, and there's no doubt that Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson are forever grateful and appreciative of their adventures in Hogwarts across nine feature films. However, in an era where the movie star industry has fallen by the wayside due to the preference for franchise entities and brands, these three actors have not taken films by storm as leading stars who can open movies with their faces on a poster. Among the three of the Harry Potter main stars, Watson — who especially shined in Greta Gerwig's critically acclaimed adaptation of Little Women — has parlayed her fame to star in thoughtful, auteur-driven films.
Emma Watson Is One of the Best Parts of Greta Gerwig's 'Little Women'
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
Following the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the series concluded after a decade of dominance as a cultural touchstone. With all that success and goodwill, anyone with a fractional relationship with the film series could get far in their career. Emma Watson, who played the precocious wizarding prodigy, Hermione Granger, carried her Potter momentum by starring in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, a prescient satire on celebrity obsession and materialism. Six years later, she worked with another renowned female visionary, Greta Gerwig, before the director became the hottest name in Hollywood with Barbie. Adapting Louisa May Alcott's Little Women yet again seemed ill-advised, but that's also what people said about turning properties based on Mattel dolls into an artful blockbuster.
The 2019 adaptation of the beloved 19th-century novel is faithful to the original text about coming-of-age and feminity, as it follows the March sisters, four girls entering womanhood and experiencing the ups and downs of life as they enter romantic relationships and become autonomous. Gerwig retained its period setting while updating the text to make it feel like a contemporary piece. The primary revision from Alcott's original work is the nonlinear structure, coloring the film with a cozy and autumnal orange color palette during their youth and a chilly blue color palette during their troublesome adult life. Gerwig's balance of reverence for the past and forward-thinking commentary on gender politics and social norms without resorting to preachy hand-wringing resulted in a triumphant film that touches viewers indifferent toward period costume dramas.
Emma Watson Brings Understated Humanism and a Dynamic Personality to 'Little Women'
Emma Watson plays the eldest March, Meg, who takes on a leadership role among her sisters, Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Amy (Florence Pugh), and Beth (Eliza Scanlen). Although strong-willed, Meg has a weakness for wealth and luxury and is shown to be myopic in her financially motivated worldview. Rather than making her vain and selfish, Watson allows the character's longing for a better life as a source of sympathy, as she carries most of the burden surrounding her family's poverty and the absence of Father March (Bob Odenkirk).
Meg's desire to marry into wealth speaks to the expectations of females during this period, which Jo is trying to upend as a writer. Still, we believe that Meg just wants the best for her family, even if that means sacrificing any materialist gains. Despite her concerns about being stuck in poverty forever, Meg overcomes her fears by marrying John Brooke (James Norton), a tutor who does not come from money. Later in life, they struggle to make ends meet, to the point where purchasing costly fabric causes dread for her. Nevertheless, we admire Meg for following her heart and not her bank account, even when Jo tries to convince her older sister to run away.
While her co-stars, Ronan and Pugh, received Oscar nominations and other awards acclaim for Little Women, Emma Watson's sturdy and intimate work as the overlooked Meg was worthy of mass consideration from voting bodies. Greta Gerwig was inspired to cast Watson because she "embodies" the emotionality of the March family thanks to the actor's outspoken activism on gender equality. Watson, who brought a needed open-heartedness combined with genuine pathos to Meg, described the character as "long misunderstood." While every character and theme in Alcott's story is rich and complex, Meg is perhaps the most undefinable. Her desires contrasting with her deep-seated cautions about the world are universal, and not just applicable to young women from the 1860s. While not officially retired, Watson has not acted since production wrapped on Little Women. Her performance as Meg March in Gerwig's film perfectly encapsulates everything she brings to the table as an actor — even if we take it for granted.
Little Women is available to watch on Hulu in the U.S.
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