Anne with an E

SPOILERS Nope. I have been a lover of Anne for over two decades and wrote/studied L.M. Montgomery extensively while pursuing my degrees. This is a gritty interpretation with the intent to appeal to an older audience and be "relevant" or create issues in the claim of causing discussion but really it feels like it's just to get publicity. Dark twists and plot devices that are not only anachronistic but also completely unacceptable for smaller children have been added to give this more of an adult feel. I believe this is because the Anne book series is now recommended to 9-14 year olds- while when I was a child it was considered reading for 7-12 year olds- my 7 year old now reads it easily. This is possibly a symptom of dwindling reading ability- however that still does not explain why the creators of this show decided to make Anne more PTSD/psychotic with their strange adaptation. Moments from the book (Anne yelling at Mrs. Lynde that she has never been more hurt) make absolutely no sense when juxtaposed against a new/edgier history in this series where Anne is beaten by a man who dies of a heart attack- or where girls almost force her to eat a dead mouse (which she then cuddles and pets...a horrific reimagining). In the first 3.5 episodes alone Anne is returned to the orphanage, almost kidnapped by a man with clearly sinister motives (who we then see kidnap another child), lives outside, begs in train station, is bullied horrifically by her classmates and older women from her community, enters a burning building, loses her mind and starts screaming at Marilla multiple times, lies about going to school, is beaten by her foster family, witnesses her foster father's death, begs her foster mother to not leave her, is bullied by the children in the orphanage who attempt to force feed her a dead mouse, snuggles with said dead mouse while sobbing, and discusses sex in a confusing way (amongst other strange moments)- none of this happens in the book. The real, imaginative and positive Anne is lost in this interpretations dark, horrifying, deeply negative and violent Anne who is constantly abused. It all made me go- why? Why was this added, but the charm of the original removed? I can only assume it is as I stated above- to try to appeal to young adults/older teens which is ridiculous as that is not the target audience. I would encourage parents to screen beforehand.

I grew up loving Anne. Read the books constantly and loved the 80s adaptation. But this show gets more and more political in a way that is just historically inaccurate not to mention storylines and characters completely changed or added. The political agenda is so obviously forced it just ruins the real story.

The first season gets you hooked, the second you find yourself rolling your eyes with the ever growing liberal political connotations and by the 3rd season its so blatant it turns you off completely and I found myself not wanting to complete it.

If you like overdone troupes on a wonderful classic, watch this. This show takes the ideas of the Avonlea characters, twists them into feminist, try hard shells of their former selves. It takes the essence of Anne and makes her wallow in self pity. She turns into the obnoxious character that everyone hates. They added many dark elements and twisted it into a completely historically inaccurate retelling of a wonderful and classic tale.

I finished reading the book with my 5 year old and she was excited to see the show. Little did I know that the show revamped the original story so much. It introduces a very creepy undertone. There is a possible pedifile at the train station, cutting variations on how she gets ostracized from her classmates, and introduces some heavy mental issues for Anne making the whole thing feel dark and heavy. My husband and I watched a few episodes and couldn’t even continue watching as it just left us feel downhearted and icky. I have never written a review before, but felt so strongly about the content we viewed that I had to say something. Long and short, find and old version to watch. This is a terrible reimagining.

Who would have thought I needed to refer to this site for the appropriateness of watching this with my 15 year old. It got darker and harder to watch in Season 2. Conservative adults are portrayed as close minded, angry and judgmental.

I expected there to be some things different but it became political, sexual, and agenda focused. It seems they were trying really hard to push an agenda. Too much sexual situations especially for the age of the children in the show. Children shouldn't be exposed to these sexual situations. Back in the day the books were written. Whether you like it or not, homosexuality was greatly hidden, looked down upon, even forbidden. This show does not stay true to the times. It was not a prevalent thing in those days, MAYBE among the more social elites in Europe it would be seen slightly more often. They have made this series too dark and put in things thst never happened in the books or original series and have changed peoples characters ti have problems/issues where there were none. I do not recommend . Although I would say I started to love the job the actress of Anne was doing. She did a good job and was really growing on me. I am very disappointed that they chose to use this a platform to push agendas.

Anne is more obnoxious, and embarrassing in this adaptation. The books paint her beautifully with grace, imagination and adventure. But alas, this show was very disappointing. It focused on a lot of traumatic dark memories, that didn't all actually happen in the book. Then they added a graphic explanation by Anne to all the school girls of men's mouses in their pockets that if you pet it makes you pregnant.. she went on to describe what she could hear through the door when a woman was forced to pet her husband's mouse and she said it sounded really fun and also sounded like he were murdering her!! So gross and disrespectful to the lovely world of Anne. I decided that I had had enough and would not ever continue to watch the rest of the Anne with an E series. Not worth it, and I most definitely would never recommend it to anyone and I would never show it to a child.

disturbing concepts introduced that weren't a thing in the 1800's.

Yes this show does not follow the book but it is amazing. My 9 year old daughter and I watch it together, and it’s a great way to discuss themes like growing up, friendship, being different and different kinds of families. Anne is a wonderful role model. She is an independent, creative, bright, strong, thoughtful, and adventurous young women. Anne is a character you fall in love with!! The show does explore some themes that were not mentioned in the book, but what better way to talk about these very real topics than through the eyes of a thoughtful young girl going through it herself? I strongly recommend this show!!