My thoughts on 'Anne With An E' (I realise I’m 5 years late to this)

[Classica]

I’m a massive Anne fan and had avoided this series so far as I thought I might not love it. My inner 8 year old is very loyal to Megan Follows' portrayal of Anne.*

Decided to give it a go yesterday.

Er…

Anne certainly looks very Anne-ish, skinny and pale and a bit unloved looking.

But why is she such a whiny bitch? Anne Shirley is not a whiny bitch. I realise Anne’s early childhood would have been traumatic, and it’s interesting they explore that a bit more, but they’ve changed her character too much. Bullying the hired hand (whose name they've changed from Jerry Buote)? That is not Anne!

And they’ve changed her surname to Cuthbert. Marilla would have never entertained such a sentimental gesture, certainly not in the early days. I think Geraldine James is a great actress and she makes a good Marilla, but for God’s sake she’s just joined some progressive mothers' circle. Marilla was in the Ladies’ Aid. They gossiped, and discussed preserves and pies, and made quilts!

And as for Matthew (he's no Richard Farnsworth) charging across the island on horseback to rescue Anne from child molesters and a life earning a living by reciting poems to people in a train station. That was unexpected.

Diana Barry’s parents doing some kind of panto turn as bitchy landed gentry, the other Avonlea residents bullying her at the Sunday school picnic, Anne discussing what’s involved in stroking a man’s mouse. I’m discombobulated.

I haven’t seen Gilbert yet, he’s probably a teenage beatnik. No doubt this version of 1880s PEI was an early adopter of the beatnik movement.

Do you think the producer thought the book is too ‘quiet’ to engage modern audiences, so they’ve had to beef it up a bit with more trauma and conflict?

Does this show get any better or am I likely to facepalm myself into a frenzy?

*tho I’m still shook from the final installment in the Kevin Sullivan series where a Anne dressed up as a nun and hared across to France to rescue Gilbert from a WWI pow camp.

I think I wouldn't have minded if it were a completely different series set in late 19th century PEI. It's that it capitalised on a well known story and just changed it. Someone upthread spoke about the arrogance of thinking you know better than the author rather than writing your own.

@DillonPanthersTexas

Ah well, I quite enjoyed the Netflix version

Ha, that's okay!

It seems to have quite a loyal online following and there was much fury when it was cancelled so it definitely has an audience. Maybe I'm just too much of a stickler for the original source material, as well as too much of an 40-something fart to like it!

I really enjoyed it although I did have some issues with it. Especially in season 3 when the girls are supposed to 16 - 17, but a lot of the time they come across as 12 going on 13. They other thing is the lack of chemistry between Anne and Gilbert. I think it's because he comes across as so much older/ maturer than Anne. It's almost like he's her 23 year old brother or cousin rather than her love interest. Other than that I liked some of the modern updates. Especially as they show the emotional and mental damage Anne must have suffered from her traumatic upbringing.

@Dogsaresomucheasier

I’m afraid I loved it, and love the books. I describe it as “Tracey Beakered,” but I think it was well done.

'Tracey Beakered' is exactly it!

I did like the interior shots of Green Gables, it had a good scrubbed and spartan but still appealing vibe going on.

I watched the first episode and a half. I assumed that the script writer had read the first few chapters of the book then dropped it in the bath so decided to wing it and make it up as they went along. Too far from the plot and too heavy with modern sensibilities for me.

I reread them over lockdown for the first time since I was a kid. I was surprised to find both how funny and feminist they are. I missed all the hinted sex as a child! I don't much like Rilla, but I think that was because it was written too close to the end of the war when everything was still a bit too raw and so hasn't aged as well as other war novels

I am very happy to find so many Anne fans. I’m the same as many of you, the books and Megan fellows series were my childhood friends.

I am a bit more tolerant of the new series that some of you. I saw it as Anne themed rather than actual Anne. I agree that making the deprivations of her early life was a good add.

There was one scene in the new series with her and Matthew that had me sobbing, big ugly sobs. My partner came in to see what was wrong and all I could get out was puffed sleeves. He thought I was made but I really saw it as acceptance of Anne by him.

I watched it with my daughter (9) and was for once pleased that she actually watched and enjoyed something that wasn't annoying American YouTubers. I enjoyed it too, but I haven't seen any other Anne adaptations and only recently re-read the books - for some reasons Anne of Green Gables wasn't one of the books that I repeatedly re-read as a child.

It's very much Anne through 21st century eyes rather than a faithful adaptation of the books. I liked how they had fleshed out Matthew and Marilla's backstory, less so how there was much more bullying on TV than in the book. I was less keen on the gold scammer storyline.
My daughter appreciated Anne naming the horse Belle (in the book, she named a geranium but wasn't at all interested in the horse!). I also doubt whether Anne would have been so dismissive of Matthew needing to get back for the harvest given that she lived on a farm that had been through dire financial straits before, in a community that was largely dependent on farming.

I watched this this weekend and I too am very behind the curve

Was excited to introduce to my DDS but they hated the flashbacks in episode one. I am sad as I adored the books as a child have bought on kindle to re visit

Enjoyed it all but was also at some of the modern day stuff
And am team Megan all the way

I loved the books as a child/teen. I don't remember the original TV series so I've nothing to compare it with.

I liked the fact that the new series explored mental health issues and trauma. I thought it was an interesting interpretation of Anne's story. I quite liked the first series and the scenery was gorgeous. But the second series went downhill rapidly. It was like the writers decided to tackle all of society's ills (racism, colonialism, homophobia, bullying etc.) and shoehorn them into the series. I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. There were a lot of plotlines and characters which never featured in the books. My teenage daughter who hasn't read the books (yes, I tried) really liked it and was disappointed it was cancelled.

I actually really enjoyed it BUT I hadn't seen any other version or read the books.
I do remember thinking she was very talkative the first episode and then I realised that's her thing.

I've never heard of Megan Follows. The only TV version of Anne of Green Gables that I know of is the BBC version that starred Kim Braden as Anne. Does anyone else remember it?

I remember that one vaguely, I was very young and I remember mixing the whole thing up with Annie!
The Megan Fellows one is amazing, although nothing quite ever reaches the quality of the books.

I remember being excited when I heard about Anne With an E. Big budget, impressive creative team, actress playing Anne really looked the part, my hopes were high. But oh my days, I couldn't even make it through the first episode. Huge liberties taken with the story from the off. Calling her Anne Cuthbert! Would ya bugger off with that nonsense.

I switched it off, begged Megan Follows' forgiveness and promised never to look at another Anne but her ever again.

Anne With An E seems to have a very devoted fanbase though maybe the problem was that I wasn't 11 when I watched it.

Megan Follows was perfection as Anne Shirley. No one else even comes close.

I grew up on LM Montgomery, and the Anne books have always had a very special place in my heart. They are my literary comfort food.

I absolutely hated the show. I get what they were trying to do, but they basically re-wrote the entire plot and lost the soul of it all in the process. I also feel that the writers deeply misunderstood Anne. I had such high hopes for it, and then it turned into a massive disappointment. Absolutely gutting as it could have been amazing.

Yes, nobody else could ever be Anne!

However, I think we can all agree that the latter ‘continuing story’ films were a monstrosity.

Why do TV people always feel the need to ruin a perfectly good plot?! I for one would have LOVED to see a film adaptation of Rilla of Ingleside. They even had all the important characters lined up to reprise their roles. But no, let’s get them married WAY later than they were supposed to and then send Gilbert (who would have been too old!!) to war and make Anne a nurse. 🙄

Very glad I found this thread, I'd only just seen the trailers and was looking forward to trying this.

Loved Amme growing up, read all the books so many times. It must have been a decade now but I still remember it all. I've never seen any TV adaptation, I find I can't with my super favourites as all I can see is what's wrong! So sounds like this one definitely not for me...

However, I think we can all agree that the latter ‘continuing story’ films were a monstrosity.

I paid to have it erased from my brain. As far as I'm concerned it never happened.

The only TV version of Anne of Green Gables that I know of is the BBC version that starred Kim Braden as Anne. Does anyone else remember it?

Yes! Wasn't it one of their Sunday teatime classic serialisations? In my family, we liked Kim as Anne. She was much too old, of course, but she looked the part and her parents were actually Canadian.

I for one would have LOVED to see a film adaptation of Rilla of Ingleside.

WW1, or at least the Home Front in WW1, doesn't get the attention it should. I think the only tv series which ever really did it justice was the original Upstairs Downstairs.

And I'm another who sobs over Dog Monday at the end of Rilla.

I haven't watched this, I love the Anne in my imagination when I read the books.
I might give the Emily books a try though.

For some reason the phrase “is it Rilla - MY Rilla?” comes into my head at least once a week, no idea why. I grew up reading every LM Montgomery book over and over, but I was the wrong age for the Megan Follows version, so can’t compare. That said, I quite liked AWAE although it is so super wokity-woke and VERY earnest with it. I thought the main actors were excellent, though yes, the accents did wander (to the pp who thought Matthew sounded Irish - he actually had the most authentically rural Maritimes accent of the lot of them!) It is certainly ‘inspired by’ and not a faithful adaptation. Still, I think it was an interesting way to show many of the aspects of Canadian life that were of course present then, but unseen/unnoticed by Montgomery or at least not thought worthy of inclusion by her in the books - whether First Nations, or people of colour or Acadians or gay people. (I have to admit, I did crack up when I thought, hmm, it’s still pretty ableist, and lo and behold they hurriedly introduced a deaf character into the last half of the last episode, as if they’d realised the same thing.)

This. Megan Follows and Jonathan Crombie are my Anne and Gilbert.

And I'm another who sobs over Dog Monday at the end of Rilla.

I read that bit on a crowded tube once. Bad idea.

It is too Pollyanna for me for a girl with such a tumultuous start in life.