koalathebear @ 03:12pm

MRS. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.

She had been watching him ever since he had passed her and she had her eyes on him now. Matthew was not looking at her and would not have seen what she was really like if he had been, but an ordinary observer would have seen this: A child of about eleven, garbed in a very short, very tight, very ugly dress of yellowish-gray wincey. She wore a faded brown sailor hat and beneath the hat, extending down her back, were two braids of very thick, decidedly red hair. Her face was small, white and thin, also much freckled; her mouth was large and so were her eyes, which looked green in some lights and moods and gray in others.



So far, the ordinary observer; an extraordinary observer might have seen that the chin was very pointed and pronounced; that the big eyes were full of spirit and vivacity; that the mouth was sweet-lipped and expressive; that the forehead was broad and full; in short, our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded that no commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child of whom shy Matthew Cuthbert was so ludicrously afraid.

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I loved the Megan Follows version but feel no disloyalty in saying I thought that this version was great. There is nothing that says you can only like one version of something.I was apprehensive and delighted when I read that there was a new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. Known as Anne in Canada and "Anne with an E" outside of Canada, it is a Canadian television series adapted by Moira Walley-Beckett. Seven episodes long, it featured Amybeth McNulty as Anne Shirley. I grew up with the LM Montgomery novels, the Anne series in particular. I still remember first discovering it during one of my many extended sessions a the Belconnen library ... when a kindly librarian directed me toward a little display with a series of Anne books, a doll and told me I might like it.This was the book cover.I didn't know what to expect when I first started reading.And then I never looked back. I devoured every single book in the Anne series I could find ... becoming obsessed with Anne. While she hated her red hair, after reading Anne, I wanted red hair.Anne/Gilbert was probably one of my first ever ships (before I even knew what shipping was) ... to be honest though, Anne of Green Gables is the best of the books, I found the rest a little disappointing. Even Anne of the Island was frustrating with Roy Gardner ... and then after Anne married, she basically becomes a baby factory.Anyway, suffice to say there is something rather golden and special about the first novel. The first adapation I ever saw for it was a black and white movie which was absolutely ghastly ... I still remember the twanging accents, petulant tones and talk of a "hay ride" of all things, as if Anne was a prairie girl and Gil her cowboy ...I remember being in the 7th grade when the Kevin Sullivan mini series came out and how incredibly excited I was to see what promised to be a good adapation. I loved it ... Megan Follows was perfect as Anne, Jonathan Crombie was perfect as her Gilbert and Prince Edward Island was as beautiful as I thought it would be. The Megan Follows interpretation of Anne was a dreamy, romantic, whimsical interpretation of the novel. Very faithful in its tone and hopefulness ... despite her 'queerness' and quirkiness, Anne just won everyone over ... despite the troubles of her past, she remained optimistic and positive throughout. Megan Follows' Anne was outspoken, brave, articulate and very lovely. I was delighted when Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel was released, but although Sullivan went on a fan ficcy tangent that was almost as bad as Anne of the Island, I found I didn't really care to rewatch that series and usually would just skip through all the bad bits to get to the magnificent ending which made up for all the badness.Kevin Sullivan has churned out what I consider to be poor quality fan fic since then in relation to the Anne franchise and I was also revolted by the PBS remake. The trailer for Anne with an E caught my eye though.It was kind of moody, ambient ... I knew there would be controversy, there always is. The 1985 mini series is beloved to many people and comparisons are always difficult. As a fan I've found it difficult not to compare and to see this new series in its own right. Nonetheless, I did try - and Anne with an E had certain improvements over the 1985 mini series and certain things I did not like so well.I have no issue with the poster although some people did The title credits are interesting. Beautiful image-wise , they are accompanied by the Canadian band The Tragically Hip's song "Ahead By A Century." There's something almost anachronistic about it but it works.I was startled and charmed by our first images of Anne. Amybeth McNulty looks startlingly close to how I'd always imagined Anne to look in the novels before Megan Follows had showed up.But if you recall in the chapter "Matthew Cuthbert is surprised", Matthew first meets Anne:Don't get me wrong, I adore Megan Follows' portrayal but her Anne was always rather beautiful from the get-go and didn't blossom into beauty the way that book Anne did.Although slender, Follows face had a roundness and her body had the curves of a slightly older woman whereas McNulty really is very thin and child-like with her tight-braids that emphasise her borderline homeliness. Megan Follows' Anne always had more princess-like braids, more softly plaited with wisps of hair escaping to soften her face. Megan Follows always looked lovely and healthy ... McNulty's Anne is much more waif-like and gaunt. The actress is lovely but the show has 'plained' her up a little to make the contrast more marked when she transforms.It's such a small distinction but there's quite a striking contrast.When Rachel Lynde told Megan Follows “She’s terrible skinny and homely, Marilla. Come here, child, and let me have a look at you. Lawful heart, did any one ever see such freckles? And hair as red as carrots! Come here, child, I say”, it never really made sense to me ... but when she says it to McNulty, it kind of hurts because it's kind of true ...And the effect on an already troubled child is devastating:This version of Marilla is wonderful. Marilla is a difficult character to portray. Colleen Dewhurst was magnificent, grim and tender by turns but always quite in control. Geraldine James also has a softness, a vulnerability that we haven't really seen before. She is genuinely non-plussed, taken aback by the tornado that has entered their lives. You can see that she is genuinely not able to figure out how to deal with Anne.The flashbacks to a young Marilla were lovely and they did well in their actress selection.Matthew has been a little controversial. Richard Farnsworth was most beloved and almost perfect in his portrayal of a seemingly flawless benefactor. By contrast, R.H. Thomson's Matthew is very human and very flawed.He's almost frustrating sometimes ... and very plausible. Farnsworth's Matthew is a very accurate portrayal of the novel's version. LM Montgomery didn't give us much more than a gentle, avuncular almost saint of a person. Matthew had no flaws, no faults, no back story ... He had no purpose but to be the gentleness and kindness in Anne's life but it makes sense to me that like Marilla, he had a backstory, he had a past love, he has demons with whom he wrestles.I'm not quite sure we had to have him get to the point of having suicidal thoughts - I suspect suicide would void an insurance policy - but it was an interesting storytelling decision.Mrs Lynde was fine. She discharged her duties well, combining her nosy ways with a genuine fondness for the Cuthberts.Diana always suffers in comparison to Anne, being rather boring ... but I rather liked this version's Diana. She genuinely likes Anne and is drawn to her strangeness and her odd ways, but struggles to reconcile those ways with being included in the "popular group" at school. Nonetheless, it's a sympathetic portrayal that I rather liked.I was always a bit ambivalent about how I felt about Schuyler Grant's portrayal of Diana ... there was something a little sharp about it. She almost had an edge to her in the Sequel days whereas Dalila Bela's Diana seems genuinely loving and affectionate. Openhearted and inclusive.Gilbert Blythe is such a critical character to get right and young Lucas Jade Zumann had some pretty massive shoes in which to step. I've read some disparaging comments about his performance but I really liked his Gilbert. It was quite in keeping with the cheeky, playful Gilbert from the books although I wasn't quite sure they needed to pour on the tragedy by killing off poor John Blythe and orphaning him. It creates rapport between the two characters, but to be honest, I felt as though that was already there.Nonetheless, this Gilbert is smart, caring and immediately drawn to Anne - in the same way he is in the novels.Interesting choice to take Jerry Buote from the novels, a character with no dialogue and turn him into Jerry Baynard - a potential friend/love interest for Anne? Played charmingly by French Canadian actor Aymeric Jett Montaz, a tweet from the actor has reminded me of something I forgot to mention. Although notionally based on a canon character, the character of Baynard is essentially a new invention for this reboot of Anne. He shows up in every single one of the 7 episodes, has a line of dialogue in each of the 7 episodes and arguably has more dialogue than any of the other child characters. He even gets a backstory - which is also quite significant. He provides humour and an opportunity for Marilla, Matthew and Anne to interact with a more light-hearted character. There isn't really a canon equivalent to him so it's going to be interesting to see where they take his character.The potential Jerry/Anne shippers are already out there ...So it's probably lucky for young Jerry that he's flying under the radar because Anne/Gilbert shippers are a fierce lot (supported by canon) and I don't relish the shipper wars that will inevitably ensue ;) That being said, poor Jerry already took a massive beating (literally!) in episode 7 and it was actually not very easy to see a child being beaten up by two adults like that. I hope he gets his revenge in season 2!The inclusion of Jerry seems to have escaped the ire of most fans - who are no doubt focusing on other more controversial changes from canon.Finally, I have to say that it is McNulty herself who has the lion's share of the credit for making this portrayal of Anne such a successful one. The reason I loved the Megan Follows version of Anne was that it was such a wish fulfilment version... Like many kids in school, I was isolated, unpopular and hung out with the uncool kids. I hid in the library, I was sometimes physically bullied but most of the time it was verbal. My quirkiness and love of books which would be a plus in university, condemned me to unpopular geek primary school and high school. Yet somehow Anne was able to take all of that bullying and weirdness, turn it around and make everyone love her ... being more Pollyanna than Pollyanna herself ...McNulty's portrayal of Anne is probably closer to reality and to be honest. She's awkward, she's an oddball. She doesn't fit in and it's painfully obvious she's out of place amidst the other girls.It hurt to watch. Her Anne is a tortured soul. She cries a lot. Throws herself on her knees a lot. Apologises a lot. Has a lot of wisdom about things like baby making, looking after children, being abandoned and looking after herself, yet knows nothing about so many other things, including her own body. At times, her portrayal jarred - while Follows made Anne look quirky, whimsical and artistic, McNulty looked mentally ill ... jabbering ceaselessly to herself and to her reflection ...Scenes like this where she's overly theatrical and melodramatic while everyone around her looks aghast and snickers are actually pretty accurate reflections of what I remember from high school when oddballs spoke up and got the attention of the class ...We still get a little wish fulfilment though because Gil's not revolted ... the contrary, he's impressed by her fervour...Some people have asked why the kids and the community had to reject Anne so badly and treat her so badly ...I found it realistic actually. I've experienced that kind of bullying and mistreament as a child and Billy Andrews is all too recognisable. The books and the 1985 version romanticise it to a certain extent ... it's an idealised version of what would have really happened, whereas the 2017 portrayal is stark and true. Respectable folks would have been horrified at the Cuthberts adopting a no name girl from God knows where. And Anne - she would not have travelled through 13 years of neglect, abandonment and mistreatment unscathed. She would have emerged strong, brave but still quite damaged and troubled.The series teeters on having Anne look outright mentally illBut does pull it back enough to make it clear that she's just very traumatised and still suffering what appears to be a form of PTSD.I thought that addressing menstruation and Anne's interpretation of sexuality to be quite interesting. On the one hand, she's a child-woman, all knowing about child-rearing and knowing that there's some sort of connection between the sex-act and childbirth, but not really knowing the details. Also her horror at menstruation was kind of hilarious and it's one of my pet interests to have it explored in fiction. Too many times, it's hand-waved away but I often wonder how it plays out when a girl has no one to teach her and tell her about what would otherwise seem so alarming. I even wrote a small fic once about Rey from Star Wars , growing up alone on Jakku ... Anne is no different, although I do wonder that the other girls at the asylum didn't tell her about it.Also interesting was the character of Josephine Barry. I really don't recall it being implied in the book that she was gay ... but next time I re-read them I shall keep my eyes own for any signs. All in all it was very interesting and if the ending left me wanting more and left me perplexed about what is a pretty significant canon deviation - I am generally pretty satisfied with this portrayal and looking forward to the next season.There's been some positive and some negative press about the new reboot of Anne. reddit forum . Not a lot of activity yet but hopefully it will grow. Anne of Green Gables: Netflix’s Bleak Adaptation Gets It All So Terribly Wrong . Vanity Fair hated it. Empathy for Anne is a nice counter point to the negativity of the Vanity Fair article. Netflix’s dark, gritty reboot of Anne of Green Gables has all the subtlety of a chalkboard smashed over your head . Slate didn't really like it. I was an 'ugly' child – but Anne of Green Gables helped me cope . The Telegraph rather liked it. Anne With an E turns Anne of Green Gables into a high gothic tragedy, missing the point . Vox didn't like it. Anne With An E offers a winning, darker take on a familiar tale . AV Club rather liked it. Lush, sad and perfect: at last, TV gives us an Anne of Green Gables for our times The Guardian liked it. How Not To Adapt Anne of Green Gables . The New Yorker hated it.