What to read, watch, and listen to if you loved20th Century Women
Mike Mills · Film · 2016
If you loved 20th Century Women, start with Better Things (Pamela Adlon, 2016) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 2 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to 20th Century Women across media.
You loved 20th Century Women for the way it maps the messy, evolving bonds between mothers, children, and their chosen families.
Books on the same thread
Ghost World
Daniel Clowes · Book · 2001
Shares a thread with 20th Century Women: Female friendship.
Like 20th Century Women, this story captures the bittersweet ache of shifting female friendships and the existential uncertainty that defines the transition into adulthood during a changing cultural landscape.
The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros · Book · 1991
Shares a thread with 20th Century Women: Female Friendship.
You will appreciate how this narrative mirrors 20th Century Women by grounding the universal process of coming-of-age within the specific, formative relationships between a young person and their community.
Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng · Book · 2018
Explores: Mother-daughter relationships, Class differences, Race and privilege.
This novel echoes the focus on domestic complexity found in 20th Century Women, exploring the friction between individual identity and the expectations placed upon mothers and daughters in suburban settings.
The Women's Room
Marilyn French · Book · 1977
Explores: Feminism, Marriage, Divorce.
This classic exploration of female identity provides the same historical resonance as 20th Century Women, examining how women navigate their autonomy and roles within a rapidly evolving societal structure.
Series on the same thread
Better Things
Pamela Adlon · Series · 2016
Shares 2 threads with 20th Century Women: single motherhood, Coming-of-Age.
Much like 20th Century Women, this series centers on the raw, unfiltered experience of single motherhood, portraying the generational challenges of raising children while maintaining one's own sense of self.
One Day at a Time
Mike Royce · Series · 2017
Shares a thread with 20th Century Women: Intergenerational Relationships.
If you enjoyed the intergenerational support systems in 20th Century Women, you will find a similar warmth here in the way a single mother navigates family dynamics and cultural identity.
Podcasts on the same thread
A New Untold Story
Podcast
Shares a thread with 20th Century Women: Single motherhood.
This podcast shares the intimate, biographical tone of 20th Century Women, focusing on the profound impact of single motherhood and the resilience required to forge an identity against the odds.
Life as Modern Women
Podcast
Shares a thread with 20th Century Women: parenting.
This exploration of modern womanhood mirrors the themes of 20th Century Women by questioning how women balance personal independence, parenting, and societal expectations in an ever-changing world of opportunity.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is 20th Century Women set in the 1970s?
Yes, 20th Century Women is set in 1979 in Santa Barbara, California. The film captures a specific moment of cultural change and rebellion during that era as Dorothea Fields raises her adolescent son, Jamie, with the help of two younger women living in their home.
What is the premise of 20th Century Women?
20th Century Women follows Dorothea Fields, a single mother in her mid-50s, who enlists two younger women to help raise her teenage son, Jamie. The story explores their evolving relationships in 1979 Santa Barbara as the characters navigate a period of significant cultural transformation.
Who are the central characters in 20th Century Women?
The central characters in 20th Century Women are Dorothea Fields, her son Jamie, and two women who assist in his upbringing. These women include Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist boarding in the Fields' home, and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor living nearby.
How does 20th Century Women involve the neighbors?
In 20th Century Women, Dorothea Fields enlists the help of her teenage neighbor, Julie, to assist in raising her son, Jamie. Julie acts as one of the two primary influences Dorothea brings into her son's life alongside their boarder, the punk artist Abbie, in 1979 Santa Barbara.