MonkeyPants

Anne of Green Gables.

I’m watching it on TV right now. E is out talking music with an old friend in town for Christmas shopping, and the choice of TV channel is mine.

I didn’t realize how much they had shifted events around. I suppose the last time I saw it I was about 12, and I was a much less critical viewer than I am now. And although I am still loving the movie, I’m hating the shifts in events.

This is the peril in loving a book. Sometimes I can even get enraged by how a movie is treated onscreen.

I have read the Anne books probably once a year, starting from about Grade two, so I know what happens pretty well. I know the language verbatim in some places. More, I know the pictures in my head, and when they are different from the actions in the movie.

I love Anne of Green Gables. She is part of the reason I spent so long willing my hair red when I was younger. What, that can’t happen? I must have just naturally gone from mousy to red(dish) with no input from my wishes? You know nothing. I totally wished my hair red. No, I did!

I also love how Anne rises from adversity. Even now, I can learn a lot from her determination and good grace. If it’s a silly disaster (dying her hair green, for example), Anne wallows and then makes the best of it. If it’s a serious disaster (Minne May may die of croup) Anne acts swiftly and decisively. I’d like to think I was like that, too.

Hm. I think I’m going to watch Part 2 tomorrow. I may send E out into the cold to watch it in peace, too.