I must say, I am enjoying this worldwide Anne Boom we are currently experiencing!
Yes, I’ve had Anne Fanatics from as far away as Australia, England and even Korea weigh in on the new “Anne with an E” series, which debuted a mere ten days ago in the US but had already made a giant splash in my native Canada.
And woooweeee did people ever REACT. To the off-book changes. To a slightly darker, more “gritty” slant. And especially to the cast of characters not being played by Megan Follows, Jonathan Crombie, Colleen Dewhurst, and Richard Farnsworth!
As I said here, I revere everyone who drew breath in the 1985 and 1987 adaptations of Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. (Witness: Just yesterday I felt quite faint upon hearing that a friend of mine had worked in a summer day camp with Jonathan Crombie. Quite faint! And it started out as a simple Sunday in May…)
But even upon hearing about the two new Annes, “Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables”, which premiered last February in Canada and this past Thanksgiving in the USA, and “Anne with an E”, I wanted to keep an open mind.
Therefore, I wasn’t quite prepared for the backlash that greeted “Anne with an E,” anyway. Oh, plenty of people slurped it right up like so much red currant wine, but many also vocalized their dismay.
Things got a little heated.
I got blocked on Twitter by a lady with some serious CRUST, and then got called “rude” for defending the right of another lady to disagree with me in liking the new series. YIKES! People have been kicked out of Anne groups for getting belligerent, while other people have vowed to “stay out of it”!
The fantastic news is that all of this swirling, white-hot, trending-on-twitter conversation has been about our 109-year-old Anne Girl.
Ain’t she somethin’?
So I thought I’d start a whole new brawl over here on my blog. Hey, I’ve gone almost a week without someone telling me off for my opinions on the new series, so it’s time to get a new talk going.
Say, let’s compare the four main characters in the three screen adaptations, K?
Starting with Anne, week by week, we’ll give a brief pro and con to each character and then I will conclude which one wins my vote for Best Portrayal of a Sacred AOGG Character.
And I’m starting a NEW contest, too. All comments will be entered in a NEW drawing to win a watercolor print of our Anne from the most kindred Etsy Shop, Carrot Top Paper Shop! Or, this watercolor print of Lucy Maud Montgomery, which is one of the dearest and loveliest renderings I have ever seen.
(The winner of the first contest will be announced soonish…)
Here goes. Are you ready to rumble, Anne Nuts?
1. Megan Follows, Anne of Green Gables, 1985
Pros: Megan (that’s “MEE-gan,” of course) was my first Anne, the one who I laughed with, cried with, and pictured as the one and only Anne through two or three rereadings of the books. I didn’t realize she was charming because she was just so real to me–plucky and vulnerable as she carried her tattered carpetbag “just the right way” from the train station; red-faced and enraged as she thwacked Gilbert Blythe over the head for his insensitive use of the term “Carrots”; filled with wonderment and tenderness as Matthew Cuthbert gave her the pined-for dream of puffed sleeves. Whip-smart, loyal, and prone to featherbrained shenanigans (Plum pudding, anyone? How about Liniment Cake?), Megan’s Anne delighted and fascinated me. She also made me laugh–a lot. One look at her ludicrously imperious face as she clung to a bridge piling after the Lady of Shallott fiasco, trying to avoid humiliation and drowning (in that order), and I still chuckle. 
Lucy Maud Montgomery was often hilarious–and not just in her Anne books. Megan’s Anne lived up to the laughter.
Cons: I never thought this before seeing the new Anne, but was she too charming, delightful and precocious? Did she “get over” eleven years of neglect and trauma too easily?
2. Ella Ballentine, “Lucy Maud Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’, 2016
As I wrote here, I wasn’t overly enthused about this adaptation, but it wasn’t because of adorable Ella Ballantine.
I wrote: “…Ella is a younger Anne, and after all, Anne was eleven when she came to Green Gables. She’s sprightly and giggly and sad and vulnerable, and overall not a bad Anne, if you can get past the fact that she’s not Megan Follows. My eleven year old liked her as Anne, and I’m betting lots of other young girls will, too.”
Pros: If “Anne with an E” is Anne Dark, Ella Ballentine’s adaptation is Anne Light, sweet, utterly charming, and suitable for families with the youngest children to enjoy together. I did hear from a few folks who loved that about this version.
Cons: Compared to Amybeth McNulty’s Anne, and even Megan Follows’ Anne, this Anne seems a bit cotton candy-ish. Sweet and appealing for that moment when you crave something sweet and appealing. But the character definitely deserves some complexity and heft.
3. Amybeth McNulty, “Anne with an E,” 2017
Pros: It bothers me that people seem to be demanding that Anne is always adorable and charm-o-riffic, unscathed, unharmed from a hideous childhood which even the book says was one full of “poverty, drudgery, and neglect.” Viewers have called this Anne “crazy,” “bratty,” and other pejoratives. In a way, I get it. This Anne definitely has a few rough edges, which McNulty plays in absolutely compelling fashion. Her huge eyes convey sorrow, rejection, and a little soul battered by neglect. To me, her performance is daring and brave, salty and a tiny bit scary. She lets it all hang out as far as Anne’s damaged emotions and spirit, and not everyone loves to see their Anne with all her “dirty laundry” flapping in the breeze.
In one of my eight reviews of the new series, I wrote of McNulty’s Anne: “Her needfulness is stark, at times, and not always easy to watch. But true to Anne? Yes. Honestly, Anne is all the more powerful when her orphan roots are exposed, not glossed over and charmed up beyond recognition…Anne’s anxiety to be accepted is palpable. Knowing this about Anne makes her eventual bond with the Cuthberts that much more heartwarming and triumphant.”
This is Anne with visible wounds and cracks, but as Leonard Cohen said once, “there is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.” This Anne teaches me about her cracks and shines her light even brighter.
Cons: I’m all for harvesting nuance from each adaptation, but is this Anne too dark? Is she too melancholy and damaged and broken to really cut loose and make us laugh out loud?
For me, the Best Anne goes to…
Megan Follows. I appreciate winsome Ella, and truly was engrossed and intrigued by the wildly talented acting of Amybeth, but Megan’s Anne made me laugh on top of everything else, and in my book, she takes the (liniment) cake!
Who is YOUR favorite Anne and why?
NEW BLOG: Who played DIANA best? https://bit.ly/2yyR5Rq
Tell me below, respectfully, of course, and we can all talk about Anne, Anne, ANNE until the cows come home (or they get let out of the pasture by mistake!)
Every comment on my blog from now until my “Who is the Best “Anne”?” blog series is done in four weeks will be entered in a contest to win a fetching Anne of Green Gables art piece or frameable quote from my favorite Etsy shop, Carrot Top Paper Shop!
Hi Again. Good article, as always, from you.
I’m in complete agreement. The way the character is played by Follows, is so right. The book makes you laugh, and so does her portrayal.
This brings up a larger point, that was being discussed by some friends and I, just today. We called it the war on whimsy. These friends were saying that in these times, it seems like everything has to be dark and serious. Just look at the most recent Star Wars film! My gosh, what a far cry from the Star Wars we grew up with~! But it’s like that all around. Every generation’s art has its attitude, and it seems that cinema art now, is all about the darkness, and the gloom, & the futility of outcome. In the most recent Star Wars *SPOILER* everyone dies. .
Anyway. That’s what’s missing. That joy. That “being able to laugh, on top of everything else.” Not that there are not moments of whimsy. Moments when we can laugh. Just not many, and they are never allowed to carry the day. We aren’t allowed to really enjoy them.
That’s sad. And back to Anne. That’s not Anne. The feeling of dread I had at the end of the last episode, when that grifter shows up at the door, and then we are left hanging. No. Sorry. Just no. That’s not Anne. That’s breaking Anne.
Always love your insights, Ian! Yes, these days whimsy is not allowed to carry the day. Our hearts are not getting a lot of sunshine in 2017. A fascinating comment about Star Wars! You are so right.
Thank you. Really like your insights, your writing, and this site.
Spring is here, where I am in Canada, and the wild cherry trees have just begun to blossom. Soon they’ll be all silvery in the moonlight.
Ahhhhhhh….!
I’m actually the opposite, I don’t buy the portrayal of Anne in 1985 version after reading the book, I watched it yearss before Anne with an E came out. While I’m reading, I pictured a dramatic, highly imaginative, free bird, rather hyperactive Anne. She’s so talkative in the books, I can’t imagine her being so calm and elegantly like 1985 version. It’s because I’m like Anne in real life, I relate to her personality so much. Anne did mistakes because of her imagination and talkativeness that people usually not used too, like me when I was young, and I have to endure the consequences similarly to Anne, especially when she tries to be the best in the class, people don’t like it. That’s why Anne’s portrayal in 2017 version is so real to me and my childhood life. I don’t mind the added dark elements in the show, because when Anne endures them, and made it and win, it feels more victorious and triumphant far more, than ‘always happy’ Anne stories.
Anne of Green Gables was my first storybook as a very young girl so I love amy version but truthfully as an adult I am addicted to Anne with an E – love it!!!
Megan was wonderful as Anne but after watching Ella I think Ella is better as the young Anne and Megan as the older Anne. Megan is a wonderful actress but I like Ella’s expressions, she is really talented with her eyes and facial changes. I haven’t watched the series with Amybeth yet so I can’t comment on her acting. I like to keep stories in the time and place where and when they were written for then I can travel back into that culture and experience in my imagination another time, but if you lift a character out of their cultural context to try to make them more relevant to our time you lose the flavor and richness of the story as it was told by the author of that era. I’m all for escape into other worlds I don’t t live in now. Maybe that is why I love time travel stories so much or well crafted fantasies like Narnia, Lord of the Rings, etc. Keep Anne as she was first conceived in LMM mind for that is the real Anne I love like the picture I just framed of her standing in the fields with a bouquet of flowers and a dreamy look on her face. My daughter loved that Anne and that was the Anne we traveled to find when we first traveled to PEI with my daughter who loves Anne too.
Thanks, Drake. I appreciate you rooting for Team Ella, because most people will be rooting for the other two! How wonderful that you can share Anne with your daughter!
Thank you for the article Lorilee. It’s all in there. The descriptions are quite apt and the pros and cons hit the mark. What else is there to do but to choose a preference? And it will be just that, a preference, a sharing of one’s taste, neither imposing nor critical.
My list from best to worse is as follows: Amybeth, Megan, Ella. For me it is easy to decide. I like the darkness and I like the extra realism. I watched Megan again after Amybeth’s Anne and the feelings were clear: nostalgia followed by a certain unease with all the happiness.
On a final note I’d like to mention Ella. On the one hand she one me over with some of her expressions, on the other hand the entire show was so much lacking in quality…it just didn’t appeal to me.
PS: My travels through the perilous roads of review town haven’t been as bad as yours, my dear Lorilee. I’ve seen the odd fanatic, but most seem to have liked the new show. I confess that I’ve liked this new series so much, plus adding that last episode filled with cliffhangers, that it scares me a little when I read about the negativity. Makes me think a second season might never be. What a sorrowful world awaits if we are not to get more of Amybeth’s expressions and experience the rest of Moira’s vision.
Mori, YOU are Anne of GG in this comment! “What a sorrowful world awaits…” Love it!
Well, she is in our hearts more than ever right now isn’t she.
I have an Anne in my heart. She is all mine and she is not diminished in any way by adaptations. All the actresses I have seen portray Anne have added certain aspects. I love Megan’s humor and beauty. Ella Ballentine’s innocence and sweetness. And now I have come to love AmyBeth’s raw need for love and acceptance, and her strong survivor instincts- not to mention her passion and fire! I love them all. But mostly, I love when people tell stories about Anne. Over a century and she is still going strong! Long live Anne in all her incarnations!!
Oh my goodness, this is the most luscious comment! Yes to EVERYTHING! And yes, we raise our glasses of Raspberry Cordial to Anne! Long may she live!
While I’ll always love the Anne of the books the best, Megan Follows’ Anne in the first film was the closest to how I imagined her. There’s a charm, a sweetness and, at the same time, a vulnerability to her that makes it all too easy to fall in love with her. She played impassioned and ‘starry-eyed with rapture’ as well as she did ‘tragic heroine’. Of course, she was a little too old to be believably eleven, but she brought a certain gravity, dignified strength, spiritual and moral heft and understated elegance to the role that is quintessentially Anne.
Note: I’m only up to S1E2, so my opinion may change. But McNulty’s Anne is the epitome of lost innocence, so broken that you’re just waiting for her to shatter under the next tragedy. Just as the scene’s becoming more hopeful, she’ll be accosted by a bully, or teased, or laughed at, or ostracised. The kicker is that you believe her when she sobs her heart out before bed. But circumstances have honed her to so brittle a point that there’s no real need to add more drama. She seems to be constantly on the verge of tears and, as others have said, brimming with anxiety and anger. Quite apart from the wooden dialogue of the supporting cast at points (e.g. the scene where all of Avonlea taunts her), I found her rudeness to Jerry Baynard, who’s done nothing but work, not only unconscionable but downright unbelievable for the time. She also… I don’t know, she lacked a lot of Megan’s charm. There’s no appeal to her character, for me, no reason for me to see why the Cuthberts adore her. They might have been a tiny bit too on the sweet side in the 1985 version, but Follows lived and breathed sincerity. McNulty’s Anne seems downright ungrateful and Marilla is downright hostile towards her for the first episode. I quite liked the scene where she and Marilla go to Mrs Spencer’s together – I thought that was a believable portrayal of a more damaged Anne than we see in canon, while still showing us an Anne who could be happy – I mean truly contented, really optimistic. But too much of the show lacked a light touch. I always believed in Follows’ Anne being in raptures, purely because she pulled off all those little touches of melodrama/theatre so well. She was so expressive. McNulty’s Anne reads incredibly on edge or ridiculously socially unaware, to the point of being (yes) crazy, even in what are meant to be happy moments. I read very little hope in this Anne, and that’s because I don’t read her as using her imagination like her bread and butter, as wholesome sustenance. It’s more like she’s grabbing at whatever crusts she can reach out of the flaming ruin of her oven, and even those are bitter.
I haven’t seen the Ballantyne version, so I can’t comment on that.
I’m glad I came across your blog recently, and have greatly enjoyed reading your take on each episode of the new Anne series. I’d have to say Amybeth is now my favorite screen version of Anne, followed by Megan. I’ve only seen clips of the version with Ella. I enjoyed watching a more realistic Anne this time around, even if I didn’t like all of the plot choices. Because we see the darker places and emotions, her victories feel more triumphant, like at the end of episode 4 when she finally returns to school and feels more accepted there. And the way the series was filmed with such gray tones, Anne really shines on screen – her red hair and bright eyes. I wish the final episode had ended on a lighter note instead of being so unsettling. I hope there will be a second season! I’m rereading the books now in a new light after watching the series. Just as an aside, l liked Rachel Lynde’s character in this new version as well. I remember her more as a busybody and not much else from the 80s movies and I was glad to see her have more depth this time around.
Hi Adrienne, Yup, and yup:
“Because we see the darker places and emotions, her victories feel more triumphant, like at the end of episode 4 when she finally returns to school and feels more accepted there.”
“I wish the final episode had ended on a lighter note instead of being so unsettling.”
And SHAZAM! “I’m rereading the books now in a new light after watching the series.”
Yahoo to the books!
I have nothing to add on any of your thoughts other than hear, hear! They are all spot on, and Megan is definitely my favourite!
I simply love it when people say they can add nothing to my thoughts! 🙂 Haha!
Megan is my favorite. How could she not be? I grew up with her version of Anne. I got the books when I was seven. As a freckled red head myself, heroines were hard to come by, and Megan filled the role perfectly. Thanks to Anne (and Scarlett) I always knew just what a lady should and shouldn’t do. Megan was absolutely everything happy and fluffy and sun shiny that L.M. Montgomery every wrote about brought to life.
Ella. My least favorite. But still good. Can anything remotely Anne be bad? But to me, she felt hollow. She brought nothing of herself to the character. Brought nothing from between the lines. It came across as an empty, shallow piece of Anne. Just a quick fleeting glimpse of what Anne could be.
Amybeth. Oh my goodness. She made me cry. She made me angry; made me hate the world for how cruel it unfortunately truely is. I hated it. I loved it. She brought every single thing that was written between the lines to life. She was realistic. I would highly recommend the book “Orphan Text” to anyone who thinks this Anne is unrealistic. She is the exact opposite of Megan Follows. While Megan’s Anne was everything happy, Amybeth’s is everything that was bad. Both are realistic, both are necessary.
Once you have read all the works of L.M. Montgomery, including her journals, you can really start to see the characters take shape.
Anne has survived over a hundred years, so I hardly think the newest Anne is going to “destroy her image” as I have been told. On the contrary, it is helping keep her alive. It is inspiring a whole new generation to meet Anne, to read the books, to watch all the versions, to make Anne real for themselves. And for the rest of us, it is showing us a new side of Anne, where she came from, what made her who she was. And letting us all fall in love with her all over again and again.
Yes to the YAAASSS:
“Anne has survived over a hundred years, so I hardly think the newest Anne is going to “destroy her image” as I have been told. On the contrary, it is helping keep her alive. It is inspiring a whole new generation to meet Anne, to read the books, to watch all the versions, to make Anne real for themselves. And for the rest of us, it is showing us a new side of Anne, where she came from, what made her who she was.”
I feel like I can’t really comment here because I haven’t yet seen the Ella Ballantine rendition, but I still wanted to share my two cents. Great article, you hit on a lot of what I’ve though as well. One thing I’ve noticed with friends is that many are complaining about the darkness and deviation from the story in Anne with an E, but they have never actually read the books! Instead, they are actually comparing it to the Megan Follows version that we all know and love and feel it is too different from that. But, it would be silly to make two movies exactly the same. I wouldn’t want Anne with an E to be just like Megan Follows, I like that it has taken the book itself and made its own interpretation, because that is what we as readers do on our own anyway. There are parts about Anne with an E that I for sure don’t like, but I appreciate the new ideas that they have chosen to explore.
I agree. Most of the people who seem to have an issue with the show have never read the Anne series, or any other works by Montgomery. I don’t mind in the least if people don’t like the show, but I do feel it is being judged unfairly up against a movie that it has nothing to do with. Nothing can every compare to the Sullivan version, and this show did not even try and now it’s being condemned for that.
Yes, read the books, puh-leaasse! 🙂
Hi Amaryah, I agree: People should always read the books before commenting! “I like that it has taken the book itself and made its own interpretation, because that is what we as readers do on our own anyway.” YES!
For Me, Megan holds my heart as Anne. Her spirit and acting embody Lucy Maude for me.
Thanks, Dawn! Many people feel the same way!
When I rewatched Megan Follows’ Anne recently, what struck me was actually how she DID portray sadness, heartbreak and pain under the surface. I had forgotten how Mrs. Hammond actually calls her trash and how obviously distressed Anne was. It is not as obvious, but there is an undercurrent of seriousness that underlies that adaptation of Anne, which to me is more emotionally honest.
The main downside was her age. It became noticeable to me after watching the Netflix Anne. Megan Follows had a tough act to follow with the huge age range she had to portray. She does make Anne seem more mature, and she brought to life the comedy of the books most successfully.
Amybeth is a strong second for me, especially in the moments when Anne is written true to her character, like when she plucked a branch off the cherry tree the morning. She does a great job playing the earnestness, cleverness and imaginative nature of Anne. The weakness is more in the writing (making the character seem a little petulant, in a modern way) than the actual performance.
Ella Ballentine’s Anne is extremely likeable. Again, it’s more the writing that’s at fault, making her seem boy-crazy and like a modern middle-schooler on Nickelodeon. Unfortunately, the famous events in the book lack the spark and the humor when portrayed.
Really like what you’ve written here, Scott H. Particularly agree with you about how sadness heartbreak and pain is handled so deftly (i.e. Without histrionics, and thus, allowed to resonate) in the Megan Follows version. I rewatched the first Kevin Sullivan film after getting through the Netflix version, and I was struck by the, as you call it, emotional honesty. For me, Folllows’ portrayal, & that film, are the benchmark of this literary classic. A classic of a classic.
Great thoughts, Scott, on each actress. Megan did convey trauma and sadness, but it was more subtle. Ella was enchanting, but too “Nickelodeon”? And Amybeth was at her best when being Anne as smart, curious, and imaginative!
Having to choose a favourite Anne, I would choose Megan. When I read the Anne books, it is to enjoy the beauty of LMM’s language, the humour and wit, but also to slip into a gentler world which I think she paints for us on purpose. Megan’s Anne is amusing to watch and brings one easily into LMM’s beautiful world while keeping all those negative and ugly emotions away. Perhaps she is a little more relatable for those of us who did not grow up traumatized.
Excellent comment. For a lot of people who did grow up with trauma, Follow’s Anne is also a more relatable performance.. “Just saying”, as they say.
Further, in her book, Montgomery was basically doing what kids do, they try not to dwell on the trauma. Further, they wish it away. This is why the book is so beloved. Because it has an undercurrent of sadness, sadness that even appears overtly, but it is not dwelled on. If it had been written the way this new series has it, doubtless it would not have had the staying power, as a novel, that it has had. The same can be said of the Megan Follows / Kevin Sullivan adaptation. There’s a reason why it is, & will continue to be, the classic interpretation. It does the interpretation just right.
And.. Well, really what choice is there for current or future adaptations? Netflix & CBC have tried to remake a classic, with mixed results at best. But what would we expect? It would be like trying to remake Casablanca, The Shawshank Redemption, or Gone With The Wind.
Interesting comments, guys! I have been hearing comments from people who have said they DIDN’T relate to Megan’s Anne because of their own trauma. I never thought about her being more relatable to those who had relatively little…
I am somewhat astonished by your comment on people with childhood trauma. What I read from people who did grow up with trauma, most of the time and contrary at your affirmation, is that it was more difficult for them to relate to the joyful Follow’s Anne and more easy with Amybeth’s Anne more realistic character. For me, it seems more logical under the circumstances.
I constate, with all your eulogistic words toward the Kevin Sullivan adaptation, that you are a very big fan but, for me, comparing AfGG to these classics is a little bit exaggerated. Anne of Green Gables is not in the same league than Casablanca or Gone With The Wind. They are good movies with a very strong halo of childhood nostalgia. Personally I saw them as an adult so the nostalgia was not there.
I appreciate that AmyBeth McNulty is younger, and not as obviously pretty, but I agree with your assessment. Megan Follows is just so believable in how she portrays Anne, it doesn’t feel forced or fake the way it did with McNulty at times. I felt that McNulty did the dark and sad parts quite well, but unfortunately the parts that were direct quotes from the book she couldn’t quite pull off and that’s the actual Anne that I want to see.
Agree
Thanks, Lisa. Interesting and astute observation about the “dark and sad” parts!
I did not know there were other versions of Anne…Gables till I saw this site.
IMO Megan Follows is Anne. Accept no substitutes.
Ah to not know there were other versions. How fine that would be.
Like reading that classic novel for the first time, getting it, absorbing the meaning, & you still have all of the month of May outside & waiting.
So poetic, Ian! Love it! 🙂
I think Megan Follows will forever be my favorite Anne. She completely embodied for me what I felt was the spirit of L.M. Montgomery’s intention for the character: precocious, spunky, sometimes haughty, dramatic, yet confident. It is hard for me to separate the actress from the character, because I do believe Amybeth does a good job for the way the character is written in the Netflix series, but the storyline is so far from the original book that I can’t hardly tolerate it. I think I would actually enjoy the new series if it wasn’t based on Anne, but simply a story of AN orphan, not THE Anne. (Not sure that even makes sense).
Amy, yes, I’ve heard that from more than a few people: They would enjoy it more if it was supposed to be AOGG…
I agree with you I would like the “Anne with an E” story better if it weren’t trying to be Anne of Green Gables. I kept getting confused as why this Anne kept running away all the time when times got tough -but only when she got to Green Gables. When she was at the Hammonds, she stuck it out like a trooper and at the orphanage. Anne coped with the tough parts of her life before and while at Green Gables by having a vivid imagination. It’s actually kind of sad to show kids these days that you should literally run away from your problems rather than healthy ways to cope with them. I could get really dark on how this happens in our (American) society too much already. LMM and Kevin Sullivan’s Anne showed us how to cope with tough parts of life in a healthy way with imagination and love.
I grew up with Megan, so of course she’s my favorite 🙂 But if they continue making the Ella Ballantine series and make them faithful to the books, I think that she would grow on me.
Ella is darling, isn’t she? Thanks, Maria.
I am so glad I found this blog. I haven’t a blog of my own and it’s absolutely wonderful to find so many people out there who adore Anne of Green Gables.
That said, I would pick Megan Follows over Kim Braden, Amybeth McNulty and Ella Ballantine. I say this although the very first print-to-screen adaptation of Anne of Green Gables which I have seen is Netflix/CBC’s Anne With An ‘E’. I kid you not.
For a long time, I resisted watching any screen adaptations because I love the books passionately and I was so very afraid of being disappointed. Thus, when watching Anne With An “E”, I was completely unaware of the Megan Follows/Jonathan Crombie version. I had never seen it and never cared to, because the books were more than enough for me. The books sustained me through an awkward childhood and the “stinging consciousness” that I was different, somehow, not the same as other children, because I used big words my peers didn’t understand, I talked like a book, as a classmate told me and I had some odd philosophies unheard of by my fifth-grade classmates — I said once that there’s all kinds of love in the world, love between best friends included (I was trying to broker peace between two arguing best friends; this was before I read the Anne books). My classmates looked at me strangely because they all thought love was, well, all about crushes. Anne of Green Gables essentially justified my existence; I learned that I wasn’t alone and that it was all right to be different because everyone is unique.
All unplanned, I had just finished reading Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, just the day before I started watching Anne With An ‘E’. I read these books from cover to cover, with new eyes, for I had not looked at them in the last three years (those years I spent in pursuit of the short stories and non-Anne novels of L.M. Montgomery, with the occasional re-visiting of the books after Anne of the Island). The next evening, I watched the first episode of Anne With An ‘E’ on Netflix. I watched it with the imprint of the Anne of Green Gables books still burned into my mind. I do think I am not a purist; I enjoy the Harry Potter books as much as the films, and I love the Lord of The Rings trilogy films as well as the books. In my mind’s eye, I dwell in two universes simultaneously — book and screen — and both co-exist in harmony. I was therefore prepared to love Anne With An ‘E’.
I can see why folks would love Anne With An ‘E’. So many reasons why. So lush and sweeping the landscape; so beautifully framed the cinematography; so brilliant the actress who plays Anne, the actress who plays Marilla, the actor who plays Matthew; and what splendid direction! It was an amazing stroke of genius, the examining of deeper social themes and Anne’s painful history, to understand her better. Yet as I watched, I was conscious of a strangely growing dissonance between the characters and plot in the drama, as opposed to the books. Anne’s encounter with Jerry Buote sounded the first odd note because Anne sounded, dare I say it, a bit mean. I know she was insecure, desperate, terrified of losing this new home, and lashing out at someone else who was her nearest competitor. My heart goes out to her, because she was unloved and starved for a place to belong to, a place that was good and lovely beyond any she had ever seen, for the alternative was something she did not want to go back to. But what she said to Jerry Buote seemed to me not quite the character of Anne of the books. I thought they would examine the class structure and how the hired help was looked down upon, and I thought that scene would be used to show us that Anne would have held apart herself from all this, not by conscious design, but simply because it was alien to her crystal-clear nature (paraphrased from Anne of Avonlea). I was startled to find that what she said to Jerry Buote just wasn’t very nice, even if it was very human.
As the first episode wore on, I felt myself getting further and further from the Anne books somehow. Although there was light in Anne With An ‘E’, it cast the shadows into fierce and terribly stark relief for all the world to see. Many times the darkness shadowed the light, although the former did not overwhelm the latter always. In the books, L.M. Montgomery shows us darkness too, but more so through other characters’ words and outlook on life, rather than Anne’s own life at Green Gables. Thus in the books it is Anne who brings light into other’s lives, sometimes being able to change them, and making us believe that we can try to strive for a different kind of life and maybe help make a positive difference to others, too. While Anne With An ‘E’ strives for this, too, it does it with a completely different brush — one of darker dye, made from things that happen to Anne. I learned from Anne of Green Gables that everyone is unique, that being different is perfectly fine. In this spirit, I think that the Netflix/CBC adaptation is excellent for reasons aforementioned in the previous paragraph, if somewhat too exciting (melodramatic?) in perhaps one too many turns. It’s just that the Anne in the Netflix/CBC adaptation is not quite the Anne of the books; she was not written that way.
I watched the Megan Follows and Ella Ballantine versions this past week. I watched snippets of Kim Braden’s version on YouTube (the Anne of Avonlea scenes). I had to; I couldn’t stop wondering what it had been like in the other versions. My conclusion is that at the end of the day, it’s not just the actress — it’s the whole package. It’s the setting, the script, the perspective — the vision.
If we are looking for the Anne of our books, then in my opinion, that honour would still belong to Megan Follows. That adaptation speaks for itself, as does the setting, as romantic as it gets, with fields and flowers and what I imagine to be the St Lawrence Gulf lapping against the shores of Abegweit. The Ella Ballantine version is a lovely introduction, ’tis very true, but I’m waiting for that Anne to grow up just a little bit more so that I can see her over the whole span of the first Anne book.
If we are looking for an Anne for our times, then Amybeth McNulty is our Anne. In changing the plot in order to explore the other themes, Anne With An ‘E’ gave us a different Anne and a different Avonlea — one that resonates because of the world we live in today. Perhaps it’s to tell us that the themes of yesterday are also the themes of today. I am inclined to think that maybe, with just a few changes to the setting to update it to the 21st century (instead of updating only the characters, themes and script) — say, a middle-class town struggling to keep its head above the waters of globalization, Anne in hand-me-downs donated to the Salvation Army, the much-plagued foster care systems of today, Anne’s bewilderment at learning through school textbooks and not by a mother about having a period and about women’s issues, being insulted with worse than just “Carrots”, trading Matthew’s wild horse race against time for a car caught in downtown traffic gridlock (fine, not really romantic enough), ‘grooming’ and child predators as we know now (Prissy Andrews was sixteen in the book, old enough to be married in those days, very different from our time where the police smash the Internet paedophile rings), etc. — I think, maybe, I wouldn’t feel that much of a dissonance. I’d be willing to say, this is Anne of Green Gables: 21st century edition. But it’s kind of hard when the setting is still garbed in the 19th century raiments.
… and in a corner of the world, where I am now, I mourn that I did not know of Jonathan Crombie before he left us all. This world is a poorer, sadder place without him as he was, by all accounts, a bright and shining soul. But at least I have found him and I hope many others will come to know of him in the same way I did. I think he lives on, for as long as there is someone to remember him — as do we all.
Hi Alse, you are very welcome here!
“Anne of Green Gables essentially justified my existence; I learned that I wasn’t alone and that it was all right to be different because everyone is unique.” How wonderful! Hugs!
Thanks to Alse for helping me understand my feelings about Anne with an E. I was hoping for a movie that brought out more of the characters and Anne’s relationships that are in the book. McNulty’s acting is very good but the character and the plot is not the Anne from the books. It feels more like Anne from the OC, the wild chase to find her, the fire, the mother’s club snub, mouse in the pocket and the behavior of the boys and girls. The lack of respect for authority is definitely inconsistent with Anne’s era. But if your trying to get kids of today to relate then that’s the plot. McNulty plays the Anne she was given well.
As you also said Anne of the books brings joy and light into other people’s lives. I have watched four episodes of Anne with an E and the only attempt I see at Anne trying to bring joy into others lives is the scene with Ruby after the fire. You’re correct in saying Anne is basically mean to Jerry not once but multiple times.
I have not watched more than a few clips of the other Anne and actually like how she plays it. Behind Megan Follows, I think she’s closer to the book Anne.
On a side note, I think that older people playing Anne and Gilbert is okay for a few reasons – life expectancy was shorter and kids were expected to be more mature earlier then and I think older actors have a better perspective or are able to look retrospectively at the age the characters are.
Thanks again.
I sobbed my way through Anne with an E. McNulty’s portrayal made Anne real. Don’t get me wrong, I love Megan Follows as Anne and have watched and rewatched the series more times than I can count, but Anne’s character development suddenly made sense when the trauma and emotional fallout was shown through McNulty’s performance. I have a child that struggles with emotions and how she copes with trauma can cause her to be an outcast (i.e. other kids are afraid when she has a panic attack). At times McNulty’s Anne felt heartbreakingly too close to home, but I am so grateful that side of the story was portrayed. I feel like she is a leading character my daughter can connect with and find a true kindred spirit.
Hi Heather, what a great comment! I totally agree that Amybeth’s Anne is so relatable to many of us, and also a role model for getting through the negative emotions!
Hi, I know I’m late for the party, but I’d love to answer this. Megan Follows for acting and Amybeth McNulty for looks. I read the books long before I watched any of the movies (and true, there are a few I have not seen). Megan just plays the character so beautifully and you can’t help but to merge her into whatever you imagined beforehand. On the other hand, Amybeth was exactly everything I imagined that she looked like – long, gawky, kind of homely and yet, you can see she’ll grow up to be a beautiful young lady.
Yes, well said. Amybeth is truer to the book in terms of looks…
I actually like all three Annes but I think Megan Follows wins…for now. I love her eyes when she is mad. I patterned so much of myself after her in my adolescence. Ha! My husband really likes Amybeth’s Anne, but I think I need more time and the second season of the show to fall in love with her. I am currently rereading the Anne books to remember how L.M. Montgomery wrote her. My imaginary Anne maybe is the best one of all, but I can’t share her with you all – she lives in my mind and heart.
Absolutely Megan Follows 🙂
I feel that Anne of green gables paints false stigma on yound adopted children. That only akward and coincidental things happen to the adopted child. That an adoptee has to have an imagination because the truth of their life is so horrid.
I have spent time with adopted children and it was a long road of therapy and psychiatric medication.
Annes story makes it seem that in the end things always work out. The dramatization is surely exaggerated from any of my experiences.
With this said I do enjoy it even more because of the fictional creativity, the costumes and the mannerism style.
Classy and elegant I say. I’m open for the feedback.
Warmest Regards,
Margi Lewis
My dear Margi,
I would like to remind you that this story is more than 100 years old. This of course means that the author couldn’t possibly be influenced by the experiences of today’s adopted childrens woes.
In my opinion, only a fool (and I’m not saying that you are one) would try to understand our modern problems by reading about the accounts of those that lived centuries ago. People must be able to appreciate the story of Anne without trying to make too many comparisions.
I would also like to point out that this character is purely fictional and therefore one can have her go through the most extreme experiences, something that would only happen once in a million years, such is the luxury of existing in a fictional world.
However, I don’t think that Anne is impossible. A child that is very smart and so strong psychologically that she can withstand the most horrid of abuses and still manage to stay sane and happy? It’s very rare but it does happen and when it does, we feel it’s important to know their story, to undestand their journey.
So please Margi, don’t be too critical and enjoy it for what it is, an old tale of a young happy girl that lived in her own world of wonder.
Thanks for reading
Mori
PS: I would like to add, because this is a text message and sometimes it is hard to infer the tone, that I wrote all of this with a smile on my face and a very calm demeanor. I mean to convey that I am not trying to attack your message in any way, just adding to the discussion.
I agree with Megan Follows. She was absolutely perfect. But I loved Kim Braden from the 1972 version. She was a perfect Anne with an E … I liked Anne of Avonlea the best from the 1970s version. I am a bit mad at Keith Sullivan for finding the best cast for Anne of Green gables and then diverting the story to something that was not lovable. I could not love the series beyond Anne of Green gables though Megan and Jonathan Crombie did their absolute best, I cannot like the 2016 and 2017 Annes as much as Megan and Kim Braden.
I have to agree, Kim Braden is my Anne every time.
As an INFP myself, just like Anne, I must say that, just because we are very imaginative, it doesnt mean we are always happy and humourous. A very known characteristic of INFPS is the great intensity of our feelings. Its amazing when we feel positive feelings, but its horrible when we feel negative feelings, because its REALLY intense. And I think Anne with an E shows us how wonderful and terrible it is to be an INFP. We suffer so much some of us have the tendency towards having depression. Maybe Anne with an E wasn´t the most faithful adaptation from the books, but I think it shows best what its like to be an imaginative, sensitive person. Maybe LM Montgomery was afraid of touching darker themes because of the times or because it was a child´s book, I don´t know. The series is a more mature version of the books and that´s why I really like it.
It was interesting to see your insight on the different types.I honestly myself really loved the Ella Balletine version. The three movies are more true to the book and not as dark and overly dramatic compared to Anne With An E. As for the Megan Follows I thinks that she was a bit old to the role of Anne but she is a really good actor.Though it doesn’t really work if you know what I mean.Anyways these were just my thoughts on the topic.
The chemistry between all the characters makes the perfect portrayal of Anne by Megan Follows absolutely untouchable!
I think the new Anne looks SO right! She has the same type of “not for everyone”-beauty, that many of us redheads have. I always felt that the 85 Anne was simple too pretty to make her issues with feeling ugly believable. Therefore, I was so sad to see that whole part of her personality removed, replaced with a modern rolemodel personality, who does what she wants as a strong female. Anne in the books tried SO hard to fit in and be polite, which made it so much more fun how she kept failing.
If we could combine the perfect looks of the new Anne, with the personality of the old, we would have a perfect fit.
Also, the tension of Anne behaving as if she hated Gilbert was a 100 times more interesting than this weird staring thing…
Megan’s version of Anne is the best because it doesn’t feel forced. The style doesn’t matter to me as much as my ability to suspend my disbelief and feel like the characters are real. The acting in both of the newer versions is over the top and very affected. The choices in tone and emotion lack depth, this does not change for me in the darker or lighter version. The casting in the 80’s version is impeccable. The casting, scenery, and music make the 80’s a classic and the other two more of a cute little after school show.
Nope, still Kim Braden for me
I may be unique, but I watched Anne with an E without knowing anything about (*I know I know*) Anne of Green Gables and I was instantly hooked. Everything resonated with me, and I fell head over heels for the character, and the show. I couldn’t get over with the cancellation so I searched and tried the old film with Megan Follows and I find it unwatchable I had to stop it. Maybe it’s just how they make old movies but Anne here seems lost all the time I couldn’t take her seriously. I’m so sorry!
Hi. I was about 41 yrs. old when I saw the Megan Follows version of Anne of Green Gables in 1985. I quite liked it. I recently watched the 2017 version of it with the new girl. (Sorry I forgot her name). I was quite enamored by it, and for a man, it had me in tears on many occasions. I kept thinking, what’s going to happen next that’s going to go wrong? I was practically tearing my hair out (no I don’t want to do that) when that note got lost that the boy who loved her wrote. I was glad it had a good ending. I guess we are to suppose that they wrote each other while they were separated for a while; then got married and lived a happy life together. It’s good to see programs like this, when there is so much awful stuff on Netflix. I am 76 now; so it’s been years since I’ve seen the first version. I would almost have to see it again (it would be nice if Netflix would air it) to compare the two fairly. I have a Masters degree in Theatre Arts; and know a little about acting. I thought the acting in both was superb. I have to admit that this latest version had me on edge a lot. I love period pieces. The costumes are so elegant. Whoever was the costume designer did a terrific job. I was amazed at how narrow minded people used to be; but I believe it. I think this new girl really put her all into that role. It was interesting to see her grow and learn (many times the hard way) from her mistakes. She is a very talented actress for her young age. I can see why she was picked for the part. I know this is more of a woman’s movie or a family movie; and I am a single man now (widower). However, I liked it and that’s that.
My favorite Anne would be Amybeth’s portrayal. Don’t get me wrong, Ella and Megan was spectacular; but i love Amybeth’s version. Her face, her hair, her facial expressions, it was a magnificent portrayal. It is much more realistic, the series Anne with an “e” gave us a brave and selfless Anne, who is not afraid to stand up against oppression. I am always one with the thinking that every art made, should bring meaningful messages, and disturbed those who are privileged. And i think that’s what captures my heart with the series Anne with an “E”, it was able to convey important social messages that should be discussed. It made the people discuss. I firmly believe that Anne should inspire, and that’s what Anne with an “E” did to me. It inspired me to not forsake my imagination, and always do the right thing.
Megan Follows!!!!!!!!! The best!
Oh, I am so very relieved that you said Megan Follows was the best Anne! Had it been me making this comparison, it might not have gone so well… I despise all other versions, for Megan Follows IS Anne, as no one else in the world could be, and I have nothing good to say about any of the others, especially Anne with an E, which I simply ignore the existence of, LOL. But no matter. This was a good and logical comparison, with the perfect outcome. I love Anne and therefore any discussion of her. I enjoyed this!!