I first read the Anne of Green Gables series when I was a child. I reread the series aloud to two of my siblings as a teen and read some of it to my own kids as well. One thing I always loved about Anne was how she was ever curious and inventive. I also liked that she tried to help others and accepted them without judgment. That is why I think Anne with an E is the best adaptation because it really captures what her character was like even if it changed certain parts of the story.
Anne with an E is a modern adaptation (not set in modern times) which adds things that wouldn't have been possible to explore in a series written at the time Anne of Green Gables was first written. Anne with an E does a good job of highlighting Anne's past trauma before coming to Green Gables. It differs from the books in several ways. The first major diversion is added for dramatic effect (which I didn't like because I rarely like it when they change the story for purely dramatic reasons), it is them sending Anne back to the orphanage and Matthew needing to go after her once Marilla realizes that Anne did not (in fact) take her brooch. In the books it was much less dramatic, Marilla just banning Anne from going to the ice cream social and making her stay in her room.
The major changes that I liked revolved around including LGBT issues and issues of class and race which would have existed at the time but not been talked about. In Anne of Green Gables, Diana's great aunt is rich and eccentric and crochety. In Anne with an E she is all of those things, but also gay. It was so well written, and so in keeping with the spirit of her character that it made me doubt my own memory about the actual books not containing even a hint of this aspect of her character. I know for a fact that the books did not contain Anne learning of this or anything like that (which happened in the series). The fact that Anne is so open to and accepting of Aunt Josephine even after learning this was so in character for her that I loved it even more.
Another major change was the inclusion of Ka'Kwet who belongs to an indigenous tribe that lives nearby Avonlea. This wouldn't have been included in a major publication at the time Anne of Green Gables was written, but the indigenous peoples of Canada and their struggles would have been happening and it is really good to see a work that was previously entirely anglo-centric being adapted to include people of color. Also, the entire struggle with her being sent off to a conversion school is in keeping with the policies of the day when dealing with indigenous peoples. There is also a side story with Gilbert befriending a black man after his father's death when he goes off the sea. This is an entirely Anne with an E storyline as Gilbert and Anne exchanged letters because she was working while he attended medical school (see Anne of Windy Poplars) not because he went to sea following his father's death. Even so, I liked this development of Gilbert Blythe because the one in the book isn't really very well developed, especially not compared to Anne or even several other characters around her.
One character that hasn't really been adapted into any of the movies or television series that I've seen is Lavender Lewis. I really liked her character when I read the book (Anne of Avonlea) and I have always been disappointed not to see her character appear in any adaptations of the series.
I have also seen the movies starring Megan Follows as Anne. The series of three movies stays pretty true to the story for the first two movies changing only a few details and skipping a great deal of both Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island by combining them into one movie, but it goes an entirely different direction with the third movie. It seems to have moved the timeline up as the war (which started when Anne's youngest Rilla was a teenager) is already in full swing and Gilbert is fighting. I didn't like this change much. I would have preferred to see Rilla of Ingleside adapted. I loved the books focusing on Anne's children, but especially Rilla of Ingleside. I wish Anne with an E would continue its adaptation after Anne's marriage to Gilbert and follow her children, or that an adaptation would be made that focused solely on the last two books of the series. I can completely see Walter being gay, from the way he is described and his whole tragic story, given that he is Rilla's favorite brother I would say that Rilla possesses a lot of her mother's open-mindedness.
Thanks for reading. Tune in next time when I talk about the BBC adaptation Sherlock as opposed to the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
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