Okay, so I’ve read a graphic novel called Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, and I’ve read The Spring Girls by Anna Todd, and I’ve seen a movie from 2018, set in then-present day. They all get one thing way wrong, IMO. Dad is always *in the army*, as an enlisted man or an officer. Except the canonical Papa March was *not* a soldier! He went in as a chaplain; before the war, he was some kind of philanthropist, like the real Bronson Alcott (correct me if I’m wrong about Alcott). The crisis was that he got pneumonia, and he recovered with no permanent ill effects. But in the modern versions, he’s always career Army, he’s in country, gets wounded, and sometimes has permanent damage. Argh! Why don’t they make him something in the medical field? Have him be away because he’s working for Doctors Without Borders, and then he gets the same disease he’s trying to heal others from.
Does this bother anyone else? It was particularly irritating in The Spring Girls, where the family was living in military housing, and then the wealthy Laurences moved in “next door”. Zuh?
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I was up in the middle of the night absolutely miffed that they had the audacity to cast Timothee Chalamet as Laurie after powerhouse Christian Bale. I will never watch it but it’s just awful to know. What a twerp.
I really liked whoever played him in the PBS miniseries with Maya Hawke. Christian Bale is probably still the best, but that guy was way better than Chalamet. But I admit I do not understand Chalamet’s appeal.
I think I was more bugged by the uggs in Greta Gerwig’s version.
You might enjoy reading March by Geraldine Brooks. It’s a novel about their father’s experiences during the civil war. A different perspective, though perhaps not always flattering to Marmee.
Chaplin’s are still in the military. That’s just their job while serving.
Seems like it doesn’t really have any bearing on the actual story. Not really sure why it matters honestly.
It has a huge bearing on the story. It explains the philosophy of the March family and their attitude to life
I agree. I’ve read Little Women, Little Men and Jo’s Boys and I honestly didn’t remember that he was a chaplain and not a soldier. Other people are saying that philanthropy is so important to the March family, but we get so much of that with Marmee already and it’s basically what kills Beth, do we really need to see the father (such a minor character) being selfless?
Philosophy and political / moral positions mattered to the March family, a LOT. They’re members of a specific group / school of thought that was kindof radical at that time. It runs through the entire book, and is a huge part of their characterization. Even at the end, when Jo wants to open a free school, that’s a radical political stance.
Taking the politics out of ‘Little Women’ just makes it a story about girls finding husbands.
they still have chaplains…
Because the book has the father being a chaplain away for the civil war. It’s not a modernization at all, it’s from the actual book.
I’m looking at the real Alcott’s wikipedia entry, Amos Alcott btw Bronson is his middle name, and he certainly wasn’t a chaplain. He was instead a wealthy and minorly famous abolitionist that personally knew Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, he even met Lincoln once.
Also did you watch the 2017 movie or 2019 one?
Damn
Still not as bad as the children’s/YA sequel that had the March girls vs. a gothic castle that’s somehow in Concord, MA. I see your point, though.