Formative Performances: Winona Ryder in “Little Women”

[The following is a guest post from abovethetitle.]

Hello everybody! I’ll be guest-blogging on The Funny Feminist for the next 31 days as we celebrate the female performances that helped shape us, move us and inspire us to become the women we are today. Coming up with this list was certainly not easy. In fact, as Lady T will attest to, it went through half a dozen re-writes as we tried to figure out a balance between those we like and those that have truly meant something to us. In the end, the only real barometer was could we say that each of these inspired us to think about something for even a minute after the screen went dark? Some may be big Oscar-heralded legends (like Lady T’s bravura first choice), some may be guilty pleasures, some may be forgotten gems but they all share a commonality that made them a part of this list. I encourage readers to comment and to share some of their own.

For my first choice, it was actually not difficult. Growing up, this was my favorite book. It still is. This remake came out in 1994 and my parents took me along with my other 11-year-old friends to see it in the cinema for my birthday. For many generations, Katharine Hepburn was the definitive Jo March but for me, it is and always will be Winona Ryder. As an aside, she received a very well-deserved but very shocking Best Actress nomination for this performance in “Little Women”: