Mr. March is away serving in Afghanistan rather than Antietam. Beth is diagnosed with leukemia instead of scarlet fever.
But the underlying story is the same: Jo wants to be a great writer and “do all the things,” and her stories are rejected by a male-dominated publishing industry. She finds support and inspiration from her sisters — marriage-minded Meg, spunky Amy and saintly and sickly Beth, as a classic family is reimagined in the 21st century.
Filmed in Utah, an updated movie adaptation of “Little Women” opens in theaters nationwide Friday — 150 years, almost to the day, after Louisa May Alcott’s book first published on Sept.