I just wanted to express my own opinions on the many topics that were discussed today in class. First of all, I am a huge fan of Hepburn…USUALLY…Her performance of Jo almost made me sick. She completely overdid everything, was loud and obnoxious, could not control her voice and made the character into completely fake Hepburn romping around. Of course, she is a phenomenal actress, and the “layering” mentioned was noticeable, for example in the scene we watched in class when Marmee tucked her into bed- every movement was carefully planned and enacted. But even then, though I have to admire the subtlety, it just didn’t seem REAL to me. No real teenage girl moves around like that, sweetly smiles at her perfect mother and looks so confused or so wondering. Some of her sickening smiles even creeped me out. It is true that in the novel, Jo shows her emotions on her face, but I just felt like Hepburn, MOST OF THE TIME, was still acting for the stage, rather than a film. She did seem too “big” and completely unnatural to me. Hepburn seems to excel more in films where she can be herself; kind of screwy and annoying like in Bringing Up Baby, or even rebellious and eccentric as in Holiday and as a “goddess” to be “worshipped” and maturing in The Philadelphia Story. Even as she aged, Hepburn’s roles were a little wacky, for example her Best Actress role in On Golden Pond…Her first line is “The Loons! The Loons!! They’re welcoming us back.” I would have thought she would play a great Jo with her quirkiness and strength, yet she just overdid it, and at least in my case, disappointed immensely. I had to struggle through the 1933 version, honestly.