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Logic of Deconstruction and Path of Reconstruction in Feminist Discourse: A Case Study on the Film Adaptation of Little Women



Author(s)

SONG Yu-jie, YANG Luo-qi, ZHANG Shun-sheng

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2026.06.007

Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China

This study takes the 2019 film Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig as its research object, focusing on the film’s feminist discourse reconstruction of the original novel and traditional patriarchal narratives, and conducts an analysis from the dual perspectives of deconstruction logic and reconstruction path. The research finds that, with “translational feminism” as its theoretical core, the film deconstructs patriarchal narratives through a threefold strategy of “discursive revolution—symbolic re-empowerment—structural disruption”: It rewrites lines to break the logic of emotional blackmail, reconstructs visual symbols to endow them with new feminist meanings, and subverts the narrative framework to break the paradigm of happy endings. Meanwhile, during its cross-cultural communication, the film achieves the accurate transmission of its feminist core through the “resistive negotiation” of Chinese subtitles, and its global box office success confirms its ability to transcend cultural barriers. However, the study also points out limitations in the adaptation, such as “class blindness” and “racial homogeneity”. In conclusion, Gerwig’s practice not only accomplishes the modern translation of a classic text, but also constructs a new “diverse choice”-oriented feminist narrative path, providing theoretical references and practical paradigms for feminist film and television creation.

Little Women, film adaptation, feminist discourse reconstruction, patriarchal narrative deconstruction, threefold deconstruction strategy