Little Women: What Makes Jo March Tick?
Niina Niskanen/ Little Women Podcast
Summary:
Emily and I combined our powers once again to discuss Jo's and Friedrich's
relationships and Louisa May Alcott's attraction toward intelligence. When Friedrich
gives feedback to Jo, Jo appreciates it, because she wants to develop as a writer.
You can Listen the Podcast here https://tinyurl.com/3vzyb4uz
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 ex, Laddie
Wisniewski, and her friend Alf Whitman. She had a maternal relationship with both of
these men who were younger than she. One of the goals of the Little Women
podcast is to examine these relationships, and how (several) Little Women
adaptations ignore their significance.
Little Women Podcast episode transcript, season 1
Niina Niskanen and Emily Lau
Welcome to the Little Women podcast. Podcast on all things Little Women and Louisa
May Alcott. I am Niina. Your host. The last collaboration that Emily and I did together
about Laurie and his character arc got really good feedback from you guys so thank
you. It´s wonderful and encourages us to do more. Emily and I got together again to
make another episode about Friedrich and his and Jo´s relationship.
Now...Jo and Fritz were the otp of the 9-year-old me. That´s fandom lingo for one-
true-pairing. I could make a thousand-hour-long lecture series on their book
dynamics alone. This is going to be the first part of our Friedrich discussions.
and now Little Women Podcast "What makes Jo March Tick".
Emily: Hello my name is Emily and this is my channel Emiloid. I mostly talk about
books here and I do video essays. Niina why don´t you talk about yourself?
, Niina: I do gender studies on Little Women. You might know my channel "small
umbrella in the rain" where I share my research and lately, I have been focusing on
Laurie and Friedrich Bhaer.
Emily: Alright. Niina and I found each other when I found her blog post about
professor Bhaer when I was preparing to make my long and very critical review of
the new 2019 Little Women adaptation she reached out to me and I realized that I
have read her work before and we decided to do this collaboration because we love
talking about Little Women and having long discussions about the adaptations of the
book and today we are talking about professor Bhaer and Jo.
Niina: I found Emily when one of my friends in Louisa May Alcott - group on Facebook
told me that I should watch her video!
Emily: Oh yeah? (laughter)
Niina: Yes, Thank you Kymberly for all of this.
Emily: I am so flattered that people took the initiative to share the video. I was so
excited when you reached out. I remember thinking "this person agrees with my
views" because I loved your post on professor Bhaer, where you compared all the
Fritzs and the actors and you were like "oh I wonder how the 2019 film is going to
treat him" and then I came to the end of the post and I was like "well..." you know. I
was so happy when you reached out to me. Professor Bhaer is kind of a topic of
contention in the Little Women fan base. He is seen by a lot of people as someone
who was shoehorned in at the last minute because Louisa May Alcott was forced by
her publisher to marry Jo off to somebody because that is what she needed to get
her book published. She wrote this random guy and married Jo off and then that was
that.
Niina: This is all propaganda, mostly shared by Jo and Laurie shippers.
Emily: Yes. That is also what I think because people were so upset that Jo did not
marry Laurie, so I think that is part of where the resentment for professor Bhaer
comes also I think professor Bhaer is not a conventionally romantic hero. He is this
older guy. He is an intellectual and he is not into genre fiction at all and he doesn´t
operate in these big romantic gestures in the way that Laurie does. So I think people
who are very attracted to Laurie resent that.
Niina: If you talk to teambhaer fans it´s pretty much a different story.
Niina Niskanen/ Little Women Podcast
Summary:
Emily and I combined our powers once again to discuss Jo's and Friedrich's
relationships and Louisa May Alcott's attraction toward intelligence. When Friedrich
gives feedback to Jo, Jo appreciates it, because she wants to develop as a writer.
You can Listen the Podcast here https://tinyurl.com/3vzyb4uz
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 ex, Laddie
Wisniewski, and her friend Alf Whitman. She had a maternal relationship with both of
these men who were younger than she. One of the goals of the Little Women
podcast is to examine these relationships, and how (several) Little Women
adaptations ignore their significance.
Little Women Podcast episode transcript, season 1
Niina Niskanen and Emily Lau
Welcome to the Little Women podcast. Podcast on all things Little Women and Louisa
May Alcott. I am Niina. Your host. The last collaboration that Emily and I did together
about Laurie and his character arc got really good feedback from you guys so thank
you. It´s wonderful and encourages us to do more. Emily and I got together again to
make another episode about Friedrich and his and Jo´s relationship.
Now...Jo and Fritz were the otp of the 9-year-old me. That´s fandom lingo for one-
true-pairing. I could make a thousand-hour-long lecture series on their book
dynamics alone. This is going to be the first part of our Friedrich discussions.
and now Little Women Podcast "What makes Jo March Tick".
Emily: Hello my name is Emily and this is my channel Emiloid. I mostly talk about
books here and I do video essays. Niina why don´t you talk about yourself?
, Niina: I do gender studies on Little Women. You might know my channel "small
umbrella in the rain" where I share my research and lately, I have been focusing on
Laurie and Friedrich Bhaer.
Emily: Alright. Niina and I found each other when I found her blog post about
professor Bhaer when I was preparing to make my long and very critical review of
the new 2019 Little Women adaptation she reached out to me and I realized that I
have read her work before and we decided to do this collaboration because we love
talking about Little Women and having long discussions about the adaptations of the
book and today we are talking about professor Bhaer and Jo.
Niina: I found Emily when one of my friends in Louisa May Alcott - group on Facebook
told me that I should watch her video!
Emily: Oh yeah? (laughter)
Niina: Yes, Thank you Kymberly for all of this.
Emily: I am so flattered that people took the initiative to share the video. I was so
excited when you reached out. I remember thinking "this person agrees with my
views" because I loved your post on professor Bhaer, where you compared all the
Fritzs and the actors and you were like "oh I wonder how the 2019 film is going to
treat him" and then I came to the end of the post and I was like "well..." you know. I
was so happy when you reached out to me. Professor Bhaer is kind of a topic of
contention in the Little Women fan base. He is seen by a lot of people as someone
who was shoehorned in at the last minute because Louisa May Alcott was forced by
her publisher to marry Jo off to somebody because that is what she needed to get
her book published. She wrote this random guy and married Jo off and then that was
that.
Niina: This is all propaganda, mostly shared by Jo and Laurie shippers.
Emily: Yes. That is also what I think because people were so upset that Jo did not
marry Laurie, so I think that is part of where the resentment for professor Bhaer
comes also I think professor Bhaer is not a conventionally romantic hero. He is this
older guy. He is an intellectual and he is not into genre fiction at all and he doesn´t
operate in these big romantic gestures in the way that Laurie does. So I think people
who are very attracted to Laurie resent that.
Niina: If you talk to teambhaer fans it´s pretty much a different story.
