Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

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Jabroniville
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Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by Jabroniville »

Okay, so I recently watched both of these via their versions on PBS and I... huh? What's that? Okay, FINE- *hands over Man Card*

ANYWAYS, I find the similarities in both of these works pretty interesting. Both are very much in the "plucky girl at odds with expectations" vein, with Jo & Anne both being adventurous sorts (I've heard this became a bit of a cliche in the early 20th century as a result). Curiously, despite both books being wildly famous and popular (I knew about them even as a child), I'd never had to read them in schools or anything, so the overall plots were completely unknown to me.

Reading about the backstories was interesting- both authors met with IMMEDIATE and glowing reviews, becoming wildly successful and churning out sequels as a result. But Louisa May Alcott, a proto-feminist from the late 1800s, had an open revolt against Little Women's fandom, as she imagined herself a "serious author" and hated how many girls asked her to write if Jo would get married. She famously said "I won't marry Jo & Laurie to please anybody" in one of the first known instances of "Shipping" in popular culture.

Both women did a "Write What You Know" kind of thing- both books take place near their respective hometowns. LW was basically autobiographical, with only a few things changed here or there. In essence, it's almost a fantasy version of Alcott's life, as her real life was full of tremendous pain- instead of a well-off doctor, her father was a philosopher- ie. a penniless failure. The family wasn't a "former well-off family now down on their luck", complete with servants- they were beggars who constantly moved about and desperately looked for work. Her sisters mostly met worse fates- one was a widow and the other died in childbirth- both very young.

Anne of Green Gables, of course, is pretty world famous, and a bit of a cottage industry in Canada (EVERY BOOKSTORE sells like 90 copies of the first book). But only the first one is very well-known anymore- only that one and the later college-themed one got the movie treatment in the famous Megan Followes '80s version.

Is anyone else familiar with these works overly much? I largely had to research stuff from TV Tropes, bastion of wonder that it is :).
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Ken
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by Ken »

I've never read them, but Little Women was kind of popular with some of the women in my family... particularly my mother (Joan, sometimes called Jo), my Aunt Peg (which like Meg is a diminutive of Margaret), and my sister Elizabeth (or Beth).

There was some amusement when my brother married a woman named Amy.
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MacynSnow
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by MacynSnow »

I've read both of these books actually....your not getting my Man Card,you pack of hethens!( *brief sound's of violence*)

I honestly reccomend Anne of Green Gables over Little Women as a first read.Anne has less characters to keep track of and a slightly more engaging story over Women.Little Women,however,has a better depiction of the time period with a better understanding of the Societal Expectation's....
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Batgirl III
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by Batgirl III »

I read both, and you’re not getting my man card either!

But, of course, my pubescent girl lot of choice ran even a bit more old school than Little Women or Anne of Green Gables. I got all obsessive over Pride and Prejudice.

Okay, mostly just because of Colin Firth’s famous wet shirt scene... But it did get me to read the novel a bunch of times.
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MacynSnow
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by MacynSnow »

Batgirl III wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:11 pm I read both, and you’re not getting my man card either!

But, of course, my pubescent girl lot of choice ran even a bit more old school than Little Women or Anne of Green Gables. I got all obsessive over Pride and Prejudice.

Okay, mostly just because of Colin Firth’s famous wet shirt scene... But it did get me to read the novel a bunch of times.
I thought Pride and Prejudice was a bit too full of itself,TBH.Red Badge Of Courage and All Quiet On The Western Front were pretty good(though part of me wanted to Pimpslap the lead in Front if he'd lived through the story.YOU DON'T RUN OUT INTO NO MAN'S TERRITORY FOR A STUPID BUTTERFLY,YOU IDIOT!)....*ahem*...i'd also reccomend The Scarlet Pimpernel if your intrested in the Swashbuckling genre of books.Cerano de Bergerac and Don Quioxte of la Mancha are also really good read's,but they'll make you cry at the end....
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Batgirl III
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by Batgirl III »

Read the all. In fact, I’m currently re-re-reading Cervantes (the sequel, sadly, does not live up to the first).
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HalloweenJack
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by HalloweenJack »

when in doubt, hit Gilbert with your slate. That's what Anne taught me.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by Batgirl III »

HalloweenJack wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:58 pm when in doubt, hit Gilbert with your slate. That's what Anne taught me.
Redheads, man. Redheads. That’s what Anne (and a metric ton of comic books) taught me.
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HalloweenJack
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by HalloweenJack »

Batgirl III wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:47 pm
HalloweenJack wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:58 pm when in doubt, hit Gilbert with your slate. That's what Anne taught me.
Redheads, man. Redheads. That’s what Anne (and a metric ton of comic books) taught me.

Hey, preaching to the choir, lady. preaching to the choir.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by Batgirl III »

This theory was scientifically proven by the development of the Universal Hot / Crazy Matrix.

“Redheads, strippers, anyone named ‘Tiffani.’”
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HalloweenJack
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by HalloweenJack »

dated a few of both....well no Tiffani's. But I did attract a huge amount of Andrea's , Sarah's, and Becky's
MacynSnow
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by MacynSnow »

My first kiss was from a Curly Red-haired irish gamer girl that was visiting her Aunt for the summer.True,it was given to keep me from breaking her high score on Dragon's Lair, but i personally considered it a fair trade considering i dated her over that summer vacation.... :D
Jabroniville
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by Jabroniville »

The interesting thing about Anne, to me, is that the book is more or less a Series Of Antics- no real villain, no huge plot climax, or anything- it's just a never-ending series of errors Anne makes, usually making enemies. Pissing off her friend's aunt, yelling at Marilla's friend, hitting Gilbert, etc. But it's entertaining how this stuff is not only FUNNY, but usually paid off with her apologizing SO PROFUSELY that the person ends up forgiving her and loving the girl in the end. It could come off SO stupidly if done improperly, but Montgomery is really good at making Anne not only likable, but funny. The somewhat snarky, "can you believe this?" attitude of the narration really saves the whole thing from coming off as melodramatic and eye-rolling.

I like how the movie sequel in the '80s actually showed how Anne KEPT DOING THAT, even as a young woman- pissing off everyone she meets, but doing such a good job of making up for it that she makes friends with the old lady, her bitchy principal, and gets a proposal from her student's father.
MacynSnow
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by MacynSnow »

I actually watched all of the Anne Of.... movies when i was growing up(i was a BAD PBS junkie as a kid.), and they were suprisingly good.I especially liked how they had the same lead actress play the role from the start of the Franchise all the way to the last movie(Megan Follows is a tremendous actress,imo.) giving it all a nice sense of Continuty.True,they DID veer off the timeline of the book with the 7 seasons(!!) of Road To Avonlea,but they were still as faithful to the characters as always(you never saw Anne act like Diana,for example).They also have an animated series entitled(i kid you-not) Anne Of Green Gables:The Animated Series,which aired from 2000-2001 and had a total of 26 1/2 hour Episodes....
Last edited by MacynSnow on Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Anne of Green Gables & Little Women

Post by Jabroniville »

MacynSnow wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 6:42 am I actually watched all of the Anne Of.... movies when i was growing up(i was a BAD PBS junkie as a kid.), and they were suprisingly good.I especially liked how they had the same lead actress play the role from the start of the Franchise all the way to the last movie(Megan Follows is a tremendous actress,imo.) giving it all a nice sense of Continuty.True,they DID veer off the timeline of the book with the 7 seasons(!!) of Road To Avonlea,but they were still as faithful to the characters as always(you never saw Anne act like Diana,for example)...
They only made two, right? I saw the one where she was in college, but not the one where she's a kid. I've seen the modern one with Martin Sheen, and it's had two so far (just covering 2/3 of the book, I believe).
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