Timothée Chalamet getting rejected by Saoirse Ronan in Little Women is now a meme

18 February 2020, 14:34

By Sophie Thompson

Little Women made us fall in love with Saoirse Ronan as Jo March and Timothée Chalamet as Laurie, and now the pair have had the ultimate honour of being turned into a meme for their iconic "I can't!" scene.

Where in the world can you can you find 135 minutes of Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet AND Meryl Streep in the same place? Little Women.

Following its previous two remakes, Greta Gerwig's adaption of the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott was released on Boxing Day 2019, and right into the next decade - we're still going wild for it (despite that Golden Globes snub, ouch)

And, as the internet always does in times of crisis, it has taken one of the most iconic scenes from the movie and turned it into a bunch of memes that oh-my-god-we-can't-get-enough-of.

The scene between Jo March (Saoirse) and Laurie (Timothée) where Laurie professes his undying love for Jo and asks her to marry him is all over the far corners of Twitter right now.

Little Women, directed by Greta Gerwig, has fans of the original novel by Louisa May Alcott gushing. Picture: Sony Pictures

Naturally, Jo, being a total #feminist rejects him, explaining that she "doesn't believe she will ever marry" because she "loves liberty too well to be in a hurry to give it up" before exhaustingly exclaiming "I can't! I can't!"

CUE MEMES OF PEOPLE APPLYING HER DESPAIR TO THEIR EVERY DAY LIVES

Tracy Turnblad when she tries to stop the beat pic.twitter.com/aiyQzmcP6X
— John Robert Allman (@Johnny_Allman) February 17, 2020

Kylie Minogue trying to get you out of her head pic.twitter.com/KWqO0cxqOk
— Jorge Molina (@colormejorge) February 17, 2020

me to my coupled friends when they suggest I try meeting someone nice on dating apps: pic.twitter.com/EjDH2Xw8HO
— Lane Moore (@hellolanemoore) February 17, 2020

you: how about you read the books you already own before you... buy more books?

me: pic.twitter.com/I2QOZHloPW
— Norma 🇵🇷🇨🇺 (@normajeanesays) February 18, 2020

when someone tells me to be nice to myself and implement positive self-talk pic.twitter.com/qdedHF5lA6
— Jill Gutowitz (@jillboard) February 17, 2020

me trying not to think about timothée all the time pic.twitter.com/uvXhoJbeld
— b (@laurieslaurence) February 17, 2020

The original plot of the movie is pretty sinister with Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, four sisters growing up during and after the Civil War. With their father off fighting the war, the girls face the hardships of poverty and social expectations - so naturally when someone managed to find some light in the story, they ran with it. We're not mad. Especially since Beth dies in the movie...and not the book. Harsh, much?

While it's unlikely that there'll be a sequel, Greta herself is clearly a huge Saoirse and Timothée fanatic (who isn't?), casting them for the movie after they worked previously alongside her in Lady Bird - so we don't feel like we've quite seen the end of this franchise just yet.