Anne with an E

The NetFlix series Anne with an E, is my guilty pleasure! It is based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s books, Anne of Green Gables, and the movies. I’ve read the books and watched the movie since I was a little girl. So naturally, when the series came out I was super excited. Even though this is a kids show based pre-WWII and was cancelled; I can’t help but to watch it over and over again. Whenever I have a bad day, I sit down with a drink in one hand and the remote in the other ready to turn on, you guessed it, Anne of Green Gables. At this point, my husband and kids go running from the room.

How can you not love Anne and that's Anne spelled with an E. Anne is a red headed, passionate orphan who had a horrible, traumatized life until she is accidentally sent to live with Mathew and Marrilla at Green Gables.

Marrilla is a no nonsense spinster who lives with her shy bachelor brother Mathew. They are in need of a boy to help keep-up the farm at Green Gables. This show takes place in Canada in Avonlea. Anne turns their life upside down with her amazing imagination and nack for getting into trouble.

Anne starts school and befriends her bosom buddy Dianna, who lives next door, her best friend Cole, along with her soon to be soulmate, Gilbert. During the show Anne runs away, causes trouble in school, helps save a families house during a fire, saves the life of Dianna’s baby sister, helps save her farm, dies her hair green, helps save a school teachers job, stops the town from being robbed by scoundrels, befriends a black man and an Indian girl, and learns valuable life lessons all while excelling in school so she can become a teacher.

If that's not enough for you, you have Dianna.

Dianna is the upstanding, beautiful neighbor with raven black hair, who is kind and tries to help Anne fit in with the other kids in town. Dianna must come to terms with becoming a lady and not going away to college like her progressive friends. Her world is turned upside down when she finds out her friend Cole and her Aunt Josephine are gay. She must overcome years of preconceived notions that being gay is unnatural and wrong, in order to keep her beloved Aunt in her life. She must also choose if she will grow up to be a famous concert pianist or the married lady her parents expect her to become.

Which leads me to my go to episode where Aunt Josephine throws an amazing winter party. It’s full of flowers, stunning costumes, and a delicious mix of sorted individuals. How can you not dream of being at a party like that?

I mustn’t leave out Gilbert.

Gibert wants to be a doctor and is in love with Anne. He doesn’t allow the older boys to bully her at school. He finds Anne to be a breath of fresh air in a small town. He loves Anne’s quirky, strange ways. She is smart, hot tempered, and has hair that makes him imagine far away places. During the show, Gilbert becomes orphaned and must run the family farm. He sets off to work on a ship that takes him across the country. While away from home, Gilbert helps a woman deliver a baby, learns about prejudice, and hard work. Not only does he befriend a black man, which is unheard of during that time period, he gives him half his farm!

This series really upped its game compared to the movie or books. They go over how being prejudiced against gay people and other cultures isn’t right. It teaches its viewers every person is different and that's okay.

I don’t care if it is an outdated children's show. All the trouble Anne gets herself into makes me smile over and over again.