Little Women notes (1st edition)

This time Christina and I are chatting about the fact that Friedrich Bhaer has never been played by an actual German actor in a major Little Women film adaptation, even though Louisa May Alcott was nuts about Germany. We are chatting about Daniel Brühl and the presentation of Germans in the modern media.

There was a real-life Friedrich Bhaer. In fact, Louisa May Alcott wanted to marry him and even start a school with him. This man appears in literal disguises in all of her novels. He is Friedrich in Little Women, Mac in Rose in Bloom and David in Work and many more. Henry and Louisa shared a deep friendship, was it more than friendship? In Little Women Jo's and Friedrich's age gap is 16 years. It is the same age difference as between Henry and Louisa.

It might come as a surprise to some people but there are actually quite a few sex scenes in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. In this episode, we shall dive into 19th-century courtship and how Alcott writes about courtship etiquette. Laurie is based on Alcott's ex and Friedrich to a man she wanted to marry.

In today´s episode, we are discussing the character of Amy March and her real-life inspiration May Alcott Nieriker and the harmful things that follow when one self-inserts themselves into but also the misconceptions about Jo´s insecurities and especially about her looks. Society likes to put two characters against one another but is this true to reality? Find out that and more in the Little Women podcast.

Friedrich Bhaer is based on philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Louisa was in love with him and he appears in literal disguise in all of her novels. He is also based on Alcott's favourite writer, the German poet Goethe. Unlike Greta Gerwig that lies to millions of people, Jo and Friedrich never argue in the book, and Friedrich is the one who helps her to become a writer. He literally gives the same advice to Jo, as Goethe inspired LMA to improve as a writer. Laurie is partially based on Alcott's ...

Some of the criticism towards the 2019 Little Women, is the fact that a lot of the promotion of the film included several fatphobic comments from Gerwig regarding Friedrich's character. Obviously this is not ethical or morally correct. There is a problem within Little Women researh, because there are Alcott's scholars who dismiss Friedrich as a love interst for Jo because of fatphobia. Based on her diaries Louisa May Alcott seemed to have liked more stout and stacked men, and she even critices...

Today´s topic is all about people misreading Little Women. How come film directors and even some Alcott scholars complain about Friedrich´s looks, when Jo herself is not written to be beautiful or superficial, or the fact that Louisa May Alcott´s self-image was affected by the people making fun of her? Dissecting Greta Gerwig´s quotes, how the things she says about the novel, actually don´t happen in the novel, she just wants you to think they do.

In Little Women, Louisa May Alcott wrote that Laurie has "curly black hair, black eyes and brown skin", but Laurie has never been played by a brown-skinned actor. Friedrich Bhaer is based on philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Louisa was in love with him and he appears in literal disguise in all of her novels. He is also based on Alcott's favourite writer, the German poet Goethe. Unlike Greta Gerwig that lies to millions of people, Jo and Friedrich never argue in the book, and Friedrich is th...

Emily and I combined our powers and had an in-depth chat about Laurie Lawrence, his character arc and the lack of it in every-single-little-women adaptation. In the novel, Laurie starts out as a very idle and sometimes pretty misogynistic figure and it is thanks to Amy he becomes a better person, but these elements of him are not in the adaptations. Friedrich Bhaer is based on philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Louisa was in love with him and he appears in literal disguise in all of her novels....