Congrats to our friend Greta Gerwig on the success of her film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel, Little Women!  Today we had about 30 folks come to my forum before church to hear about the Unitarian and Transcendentalist connections of the May and Alcott families.

Below are the contents of a handout I compiled to help you prepare to see the movie if you’ve not read the book.  The scenes in the film switch back and forth in time (during the Civil War, and then 7 years later, and perhaps a later time when Jo March is negotiating with a publisher).  Hence, this guide might help you know who is who.

First, here are two helpful links, which were my main sources for today. Each is a listing from the online Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography.

Click the name to see a listing for Louisa May Alcott.  Click the names to see a listing for Abigail May and A. Bronson Alcott.  In each listing you will see links for other prominent clergy or leaders of Unitarian churches as well as leaders of the Transcendentalist movement.

Little Women — an introduction on the premiere of the film by Greta Gerwig

Setting:

Concord and New York.  The Boston area was the intellectual, cultural and literary center of the United States in the mid-1800s.  Gerwig’s movie scenes alternate between Civil War and 7 years later.

Production:

Alcott’s book is semi-autobiographical, but not precisely autobiographical.  It’s worth noting that Marmee (the mother) is based on the author’s mother, but Mr. March (the father, is a minister serving as a chaplain in the Civil War, which was not the case with Bronson Alcott, an educational reformer; Mr. March has few scenes in the book or film).

Book was published 1868 in two parts. Movies made in 1933, 1949, 1994, also a PBS miniseries in the 1990s and now 2019, by Greta Gerwig.

Characters:

Meg March – The oldest March sister, responsible and kind, with a weakness for luxury.  2019: Emma Watson, only sister with dark hair.  Marries a teacher/tutor who can’t afford her tastes.

Beth March – The third March daughter. Quiet and virtuous, and she does nothing but try to please others. She adores music and plays the piano.  Mr. Brooke, wealthy neighbor man takes a liking to her and invites her to play the piano in his mansion.

Amy March – The youngest March girl. An artist who adores visual beauty and has a weakness for pretty possessions. She is given to pouting, fits of temper, and vanity; but she does attempt to improve herself.  Gets a chance to travel to Europe and paint.

Josephine/Jo March— The lead character/protagonist.  The second-oldest March sister. Wants to be a writer. Jo has a temper and a quick tongue, although she works hard to control both. She reacts with impatience to the many limitations placed on women and girls. She hates romance in her real life. She does not want to be dependent on a man, but to support herself as a writer. When she lives in a boarding house in New York, she sells short stories to magazines, but they are not literary, because what sells is entertaining, especially “thrillers.”  As the story of the March family unfolds, Jo wants nothing more than to hold her family together. 2019: Saoirse Ronan, young Irish woman who played the title role in Ladybird.  In 1933, played by Katherine Hepburn, age 26.

Frederick Bhaer – A respected professor in Germany who becomes an impoverished language instructor in America. Mr. Bhaer lives in New York, where he meets Jo. (Due to the shifting times in the film, their meeting is early in the film but it takes place in Part 2 of the novel.)

Theodore “Laurie” Laurence – The rich boy who lives with his grandfather, Mr. Lawrence.  next door to the Marches. Like a son and brother to the Marches, he is charming, clever, and has a good heart.  2019:  actor Timothee Chalamet was in Ladybird.

Mr. Lawrence—Wealthy neighbor to the March family in Concord.  Hires Mr. Brooke to be Laurie’s tutor.  He befriends young Beth March, and invites her to come over to play his piano.  (She reminds him of his deceased granddaughter.)  2019: actor Chris Cooper plays him.

Marmee March—loving mother of the girls and their moral role model.  She wants them to help out a desperately poor woman and her children who live in a shack in the woods. The March family is not rich, but they have a comfortable home and a housekeeper, named Hannah. Yet money is tight for them.  2019: Laura Dern plays Marmee.

Aunt March – Aunt to Mr. March, hence a great aunt to the girls.  Crotchety, opinionated,  and difficult, but she loves her nieces. In the 2019 movie, played by Meryl Streep, she is a rich single woman but she wants her nieces to be secure and encourages marriage for them.

Mr. March – The March girls’ father. We don’t see him through most of the film. He serves in the Union army as a chaplain.  Late in the film you see him conducting a wedding for one of his daughters.  2019: played by Tracy Letts, who also was in Ladybird as the father.