'Anne With An Due east' Is Not Your Mom's 'Anne Of Green Gables'

When Anne With An E debuted on Netflix last yr, I was charmed. Though I consider myself a loyalist when it comes to my Annes and their Greenish Gables — Megan Follows forever — I thought that Moira Walley-Beckett's starker take on Lucy Maud Montgomery'south classic was interesting. Amybeth McNulty's Anne wasn't the soft dreamy-eyed girl I grew up with, merely her plucky desperation was endearing notwithstanding. And I also didn't mind the harrowing flashbacks to when Anne was abused by her former caretakers. If anything, I thought they helped illuminate a reason for Anne's dramatic hunger to be loved.

Nevertheless, jumping dorsum into the evidence a twelvemonth later on, I'1000 kind of…baffled. And you might be, too. Anne With An E is non the Anne of Green Gables yous grew up with to the extent that I'm not sure if information technology'south Anne of Green Gables at all.

Last summer, I thought Anne With An Eastward was making the noble argument that Anne Shirley was way more than "twee." Today I accept one question: Why is Gilbert Blythe on a steamer to Trinidad?

Okay, I have more questions than that, but that is the big all-encompassing one. Come across, for me, Anne Shirley is an indefatigably romantic character, and what drives all that romance is the crackling chemical science between her and Gilbert Blythe. The 2 are more than just dearest interests: they're rivals. And then much of Anne's drive for success comes down to wanting to beat Gilbert Blythe. The ii egg each other on in an intellectual tug-of-war. Information technology'south the closest thing to foreplay the ii teens can go to in their picturesque Prince Edward Island school. And it's this boxing that defines both characters and their dearest.

Anne with an E
Photo: Netflix

So making Gilbert an orphan and putting him on a steamer headed for the Caribbean (considering that, honey friends, is why he's on the steamer) certainly opens up the world of Anne With An E, but it limits the telescopic of what Anne and Gilbert's relationship is supposed to be. Anne Shirley is also not supposed to take on the name Cuthbert, and Green Gables isn't meant to be in such terribly bad economic straights. There'southward not supposed to be a scrappy retainer boy named Jerry, but near of all, Gilbert Blyth is not supposed to be on a steamer on an overseas adventure.

These are all choices that make me wonder who Anne With An E is for. I'thou non such a purist that I need TV adaptations to hit every trounce of a novel, but I do think that television made for families should empathise what their own cadre philosophy is. While Walley-Beckett's instincts are proficient, I call up this show is also enamored with its trappings of darkness to realize that Anne of Green Gables has endured this long considering people honey the small specificity of the characters' lives. Warping these details for showier Television set kind of dilutes the story.

What is Anne With An Eastward? Well, it's a family prove shot to look like Wyeth paintings, it'due south a reimagining of a archetype for our modern age, and it is revisionist version of Avonlea history. It'southward pretty to look at, but challenging to rectify with its source material.

Anne With An Eastward is a great Anne of Green Gables show for kids and adults who have never journeyed to Lucy Maud Montgomery's Prince Edward Island. But it's frustrating march into darkness for those of u.s. reared on CBC miniseries and dogeared copies of books set in Avonlea.

Stream Anne With An Due east on Netflix

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