hello, this is going to be a little bit of a long explanation about the question, apologies for that. I think I'll answer in correlation to the text itself, since I think part of the reason why the movie is so well loved is because the book, in itself, has so much to offer. https://twitter.com/sadboihours68/status/1264299986453291008

While an important aspect of Little Women is the fact that it has a strong female lead, one that challenges the kind of barriers that women in the 1860s would have faced, it is not the only aspect of it which makes it so cherishable. The appeal it hold is because it addresses a

foray of themes, like complex intimate familial relations (which is important because it situate the novel not in the masculine world/ the inner world as seen through the male gaze but, instead, gives agency to the voice and narrative of women in their own spaces), the way war

impacts the 'private' space (which is significant because the war in question is the Civil War, fought over the enslavement of black people esp in the Southern states. This text does not valorize war in the least, and yet it talks about how this particular one was a necessity in

American history), the shifting class structures within America and Europe (I think this is esp pertinent when one considers Amy and Meg's narratives because both, in their own way, struggled between assessing how monetary necessities and class dynamics must be negotiated),

and the kind of agency women could exercise (as seen through how Jo constantly pushes the boundaries with what's traditionally 'masculine' and 'feminine'). And, it does all of this while still being a wholesome, intimate story about for sisters growing up together!

Now, with the other books you mentioned, and how this manages to hold more sway, I think it's impt to look at them one at a time. With To Kill A Mockingbird, you get to see a really significant commentary on racism, narrativised through a small girl's POV.

It's a really, really significant text, yes, but I think what's also impt while positing it against LW is to acknowledge that the narratives of each book occur in completely different timelines. While one is set in the 1860s, the other takes place in the 1930s.

This, in no way, diminishes the significance of either, but it does make sense to contextualize both before comparing them. This applies to the other two as well, ie. Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre.

Now, with Jane Eyre, i think it's a little,, problematic to compare it w a text like LW because, well, while it does have an incredibly fierce and independent lead character who also challenges the normative roles women occupied in early 1800s England,

It also reaffirms a lot of very, very problematic tropes. Such as the whole business with Bertha Mason, whose dissimilarity from European femininity, coupled with her identity as a WoC, quite physically locates her in the attic space, away from 'genteel' society.

Jane Eyre essentially is, well, very complicit with the creation of a link between madness, insanity, and any kind of non-conforming sexuality and identity. It paints a non-white woman as this inhuman creature.

With Pride and Prejudice, well, I think it has garnered a lot of attention of its own accord? I think the one thing that really works in LW's favor and not in P&P's is that while both centre around strong female leads, P&P ends by reaffirming the existent norms of how marriage

is the only recourse a woman has. While Elizabeth exercises a lot of agency in terms of who she chooses to marry, it's still a resolution that doesn't challenge pre-existent social norms (other than the fact, ofc, that Darcy's aunt is disdainful and mortified).

Again, it also says a lot about how society in early 1800s England functioned, and it's really lovely to read the text, I still don't think it has the kind of engagement that LW does? LW doesn't hanker after marriage as an end-goal, it emphasises so much more on the struggles and

growth of the four sisters. Marriage is just something that comes along the way. AAAA phew i'm sorry for this long long thread, please feel free to add in more? I'd love to discuss more about these, these texts are all so close to me ahh.