When we were discussing the male equivalent to Little Women, the suggestion of Fight Club certainly was not made in jest. Though it is a book of more mature themes, and would not be suitable in the children’s section, I immediately thought about how that book clicked with guys in high school. Dr. Campbells right about the themes of questioning masculinity beating the audience over the head (which applies to both the movie and the novel), but what young man angry and frustrated by his recent pubescent journey is going to seek out subtlety? I received it as a Christmas gift from one of my good friends, just as Little Women would be given to a younger lady. And I too tried to pass on the word about it, writing a review of the book, training to be a future servant of criticism. It may be laughable, it may be to recent to know for sure, but if you ask a 15 year old guy (preferrably one that reads) about Fight Club, they will light up, drop the surly act, and actually engage you in conversation.
Moving back to the 1933 Little Women, Cukor was obviously gah-gah over Hepburn/Jo and I have two examples of blocking that prove it. I hope to explain this sufficiently as I cannot find screenshots of the scenes, but I managed to find the film poster and it will give my observation some visual aid.
Both on the poster, and in the two early scenes, one when Mrs. March reads her children the letter, then when they sing as Beth plays the piano, there is always blocking which gives Jo an extremely prominent spot. Sort of a Number One ranking. Then Amy and Meg are usually of equal prominence, and Beth is always featured last. In the former scene, it is almost like Jo is the top of a pyramid. Amy Meg and Marmie are in the middle, and Beth, quite accurately is the base. The piano scene is an example of horizontal balance, with Meg, Amy, Marmie, and Beth all on the left side of the screen, and Jo on the right, with a considerable gap in between. If you were to imagine the screen as a scale, Cukor essentially is demonstrating through cinematic measures how Jo is equally as important as her three sisters and her mother COMBINED. It seems to me that there is no question that Cukor was going for was the “Jo March Story”