History Literature / AnneOfGreenGables

!!The Kevin Sullivan miniseries provide examples of:
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: In the first Kevin Sullivan movie, this is Marilla's reaction to Anne smashing her slate over Gilbert's head. She can be seen smirking when Anne admits she smashed it "very hard I'm afraid" - and says that Anne's trial is over now and she can stay at Green Gables.
* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The third film is an original film with an original script, as Sullivan had reportedly lost the rights to adapt the other books in the series. This film moves the timeline up 30 years and involves Gilbert volunteering to fight in World War I and Anne going to Europe to look for him after he's reported missing in action. It went over...lukewarm...with fans, at best.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: It sounds weird, given Gilbert's reputation as a DoggedNiceGuy in the book series, but he is a much more sympathetic character in the first film than he is in the first novel. This might be due to the AgeLift he's given in the adaptation; he's 16 in the film to 13 in the book, and his actions (particularly the way he "ruthlessly torments" the girls in class), might have come off as too immature for a 16-year-old.
* AdaptedOut: The second film omits pretty much all of the secondary characters from ''Anne of Avonlea'' and ''Anne of the Island''.
* AdaptationAmalgamation: The second film combines the story arcs of ''Anne of Avonlea'', ''Anne of the Island'', and ''Anne of Windy Poplars'' into a single mini-series. Story arcs are sometimes portrayed out of order so it makes sense within that narrative, but it's still a fairly faithful adaptation.
* AgeLift: Anne is 13 at the beginning of the first miniseries, whereas she was 11 at the beginning of the original novel.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: While the scene is nearly identical to the one from the book (only with Davy replaced by Minnie May, since Davy [[AdaptedOut does not exist]] here), this trope is combined with a BirthDeathJuxtaposition since Anne and Diana are admiring baby Fred -- and laughing -- when Minnie May innocently asks Anne if she's heard that Gilbert is dying when pressed for more interesting news than growing an inch. It's effective in achieving the same 180-degree MoodWhiplash as the book.
* AskAStupidQuestion: The scene in which Gilbert rescues Anne after she nearly drowns while re-enacting ''Literature/TheLadyOfShalott'' is tweaked a bit to be funnier to a modern audience. In the book, he asks what happened, and she tells him. In the film, as he comes upon her soaked and clinging to a bridge:
-->'''Gilbert:''' Anne Shirley, what in the heck are you doing?\\
'''Anne:''' ''[acidly]'' Fishing for lake trout.
* CanonForeigner: Roy, Anne's college boyfriend and near fiance, is replaced with Morgan Harris, who serves the same function in the narrative but enters at a different time than Roy does in the book series.
* CompositeCharacter: Mrs. Lynde took on many of the characteristics of another irascible neighbor, Mr. Harrison, in ''Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel'', partially as a result of PragmaticAdaptation. Other plot functions of Mr. Harrison's were given to Gilbert (for example, he is the one who gives Anne advice on her writing now). Emmaline Harris in the same movie is a combination of "little Elizabeth" Grayson and Sophy Sinclair, with a touch of Paul Irving.
* CulturallySensitiveAdaptation: The casual xenophobia and racism portrayed in the book series is omitted.
* DanceOfRomance: Gilbert and Anne share one in ''Anne of Avonlea''. It's one of the first signs that Anne may have feelings for Gilbert; they dance for a few moments before she gets flustered and pulls away, apologizing and blaming it on her "two left feet".
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story" miniseries, and the musical, which, while still very lighthearted, has a decidedly darker edge to its humour, mostly derived from DeliberateValuesDissonance.
* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Matthew's death scene in the film is much longer and more emotional than how it is portrayed in the book.
* DeadpanSnarker: Marilla. So much.
-->'''Anne:''' ''(after saying her prayers)'' Did I do alright?\\
'''Marilla:''' Yes, if you were addressing a business letter to the catalogue store.
* DyingDeclarationOfLove: Gilbert makes one while suffering from typhoid fever. Cue the waterworks.
* HeldGaze: Gilbert and Anne share a passionate look when the two reconnect in a gazebo in the second miniseries. After having held each other's gaze at least ''twice'' in the first miniseries, during important tests at school.
* LongingLook: Gilbert does this a ''lot'' in ''Anne of Green Gables'' (1985). One scene in particular has Anne and Diana wistfully gazing at each other, and then Gilbert in the background casts a LongingLook in Anne's direction. Naturally, she doesn't notice.
* LoveInformant: Marilla informs Anne that Gilbert is in love with her in ''Anne of Avonlea.''
* MythologyGag: When Anne is informed of what Mrs. Blewett is looking for in adopting a home child, and guesses that she has twins, Mrs. Spencer asks how she knew that. Anne resignedly says that "twins seem to be my lot in life", which is funny for anyone who has read the book series and knows she grows up to ''have'' twins.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: You can hear that Schuyler Grant, who played Diana, is not Canadian.
* OneHeadTaller: Gilbert and Anne, when played by Jonathan Crombie and Megan Follows in the Sullivan production.
* PragmaticAdaptation: In the first film, the producers didn't want Anne to give up her academic dreams at the end, so a throwaway comment of Anne's in the book that she's planning to keep up her studies turns into a full-blown correspondence course.
** In ''Anne of Windy Poplars'', Anne is appointed principal of a school immediately following graduation from college. She is qualified because she has a B.A., even though Katherine Brooks has many more years' experience. Since this would [[ValuesDissonance have seemed odd to a 1980s audience]], the Sullivan adaptation ''Anne of Avonlea'' flips it so Anne is the teacher and Ms. Brooks is the principal. [[invoked]]
* TitleTheAdaptation: ''Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story'' and ''Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning.''
* TrainStationGoodbye: Anne and Gilbert get one in the third film adaptation of the series, as Gilbert is sent to fight in World War I.
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarI: ''Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story'', an originally-written addition to the series rather than an adaptation of the last four books in the series, features Gilbert travelling to the front lines. Anne joins the fray when it is revealed that Gilbert has gone missing.
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[[DerivativeWorks/AnneOfGreenGables Derivative Works]].

-->'''Gilbert:''' Anne Shirley, what in the heck are you doing?
-->'''Anne:''' ''[acidly]'' Fishing for lake trout.

* ChekhovsGun: Anne tells Marilla that she was used by an earlier family to raise three sets of twins. Much later, when Minnie May falls ill with croup, and her parents and the doctor are away, [[spoiler:Anne cheerfully goes to take care of her because she says all six of the children had the same sickness regularly. The doctor explicitly says that Anne saved the little girl's life by staying up all night with her and administering a correct treatment, and Mrs. Barry is grateful enough to let Diana and Anne become friends again]].

* AskAStupidQuestion: The scene in which Gilbert rescues Anne after she nearly drowns while re-enacting ''Literature/TheLadyOfShallot'' is tweaked a bit to be funnier to a modern audience. In the book, he asks what happened, and she tells him. In the film, as he comes upon her soaked and clinging to a bridge:

[[AC:The books (in chronological order, date of publication in parentheses) are:]]

All the novels are now in the public domain and have been adapted into several movies and television series.

A series of Hollywood movies in the 1930s were produced, starring an actress who subsequently legally changed her name to Anne Shirley.

Arguably the most famous and popular adaptation is the franchise established by Canadian producer Kevin Sullivan in the mid-1980s, primarily involving a trilogy of two-part movies starring Creator/MeganFollows as Anne. Only the first, ''Anne of Green Gables'', is actually a close adaptation of a Montgomery book. The second, ''Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel'' (aired in some countries as ''Anne of Avonlea'') was as noted above constructed from various elements of the later Anne novels. The third, ''Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story'', which followed more than a decade after the second chapter, was a completely original story set during World War I.

At this point, Sullivan was also deep into production on a long-running and hugely popular TV series. ''Series/RoadToAvonlea'' transposed characters from one of Montgomery's non-Anne books, ''The Story Girl'' and ''The Golden Road'', into the Avonlea setting and mentioned Anne herself in passing. ''The Continuing Story'' sparked fandom wrath against Sullivan not only for his decision to create an original story but because that story actually contradicted major continuity points in ''Road to Avonlea'' (specifically involving Anne and Gilbert's marriage).

In 2008, Sullivan produced a fourth film, ''Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning'', which is a combination prequel and sequel to the trilogy of films, featuring Barbara Hershey as a middle-aged Anne during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII looking back at her life before the events of the first film (with young Anne played by Hannah Endicott-Douglas). Sullivan has made a cottage industry out of the Anne franchise, as in 2001, he produced ''WesternAnimation/AnneOfGreenGablesTheAnimatedSeries'' for Creator/{{PBS}}, which acts as an AlternateContinuity somewhere in the middle of the original novel after the majority of Anne's childhood mishaps have already occurred. The success of the series led to the release of an animated retelling of the original story, ''Anne: Journey to Green Gables''.

Creator/{{CBC}} began airing another miniseries, ''Anne'', in May 2017. Disconnected from Kevin Sullivan's programs, this instead presents a DarkerAndEdgier retelling of the first book. Creator/{{Netflix}} distributes it internationally under the name ''Series/AnneWithAnE''.

* AdaptationalNameChange: Carrie Sloane is renamed Sophia in the 1979 anime. However, the English dub changes her name back to Carrie.

!!Tropes particular to the anime adaptations:
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: Western dubs of the 1979 series use a different theme song from the Japanese. The theme songs in the English and French dubs are adapted from the German theme.
* FillingTheSilence: Averted with the Western dubs, including English. While English dubs in particular often tend to fill silent moments with music or dialogue, the Western (including English) dubs of this anime actually have dead silence or realistic background noises (such as muted conversation) where there was music in the original.
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Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert had made the entirely sensible and practical decision to request a ''boy'' from the local orphanage to help the aging Matthew around their farm, Green Gables. Instead, they found themselves confronting a very redheaded little ''girl'', who's already busily fantasizing about instead having [[RavenHairIvorySkin "raven black hair rippling back from an alabaster brow"]] and being dressed in blue satin with puffed sleeves. Oh, and would they mind calling her "Cordelia"?

In addition, there are two (three if you count ''The Road to Yesterday'') companion books that tell stories of the surrounding community: ''Chronicles of Avonlea'' (1912) and ''More Chronicles of Avonlea'' (1920). Anne is referred to and makes a few cameos here and there, but 'stars' in only one story in each volume. A few of these stories were turned into episodes of the spinoff television series ''Series/RoadToAvonlea,'' usually with the main characters of the show replacing the disparate protagonists of the stories. The stories of all three volumes were originally independent short stories written by Montgomery that were reworked to set them in the world of Green Gables. In 2008, for the hundredth anniversary of the original novel's publication, Canadian writer Budge Wilson was given authorization to write her own prequel novel to the Anne series, titled ''Before Green Gables''.

Creator/{{CBC}} began airing another miniseries, ''Anne'', in May 2017. Disconnected from Kevin Sullivan's programs, this instead presents a DarkerAndEdgier retelling of the first book. Creator/{{Netflix}} distributes it internationally, under the name, ''Series/AnneWithAnE''.

* AccidentalGoodOutcome: The sequence of events that led to Anne Shirley coming to Green Gables led to a proverbial game of telephone. Matthew and Marilla [[WantedASonInstead never wanted a girl]], they wanted a boy [[AdoptAServant that could help on the farm]]. Instead they got Anne. For the longest time they refer to Anne's arrival as a mistake. It actually takes four years for Marilla to admit that this was more than an accident, it was something akin to divine intervention.

** Marilla is furious with Anne when she gives Rachel Lynde TheReasonYouSuckSpeech but feels guilty about wanting to laugh. This is probably why she doesn't object when Anne's apology includes "what I said about you was true, though I shouldn't have said it."

* AgeLift: Several of the many adaptations - 1934, 1985, and ''Series/AnneWithAnE'', for example - lift Anne's age from eleven to thirteen or fourteen when she first comes to Green Gables. Since she ages to sixteen in the first book, the slight age lift from the start lets the same teenage actress play her throughout.
* AlphaBitch: Josie Pye, especially in the movieverse of the books.
* AltarTheSpeed: In ''Rilla of Ingleside'', Rilla's friend Miranda and her sweetheart Joe have a rushed wedding because Joe is about to ship out for World War I and Miranda's father doesn't approve of the marriage.
** This happens hilariously in ''Anne of Windy Poplars.'' Anne facilitates a hasty elopement for two young people, Dovie and Jarvis, who had been engaged for over a year but were unable to get married because Dovie's father did not approve. So, they elope and Anne is left with the task of telling Dovie's notoriously bad-tempered father. She goes to break the news ...only to have her father say that he already knew and is relieved, as he was beginning to think Dovie would never muster up the pluck to go through with it. He'd picked out Jarvis for his daughter when they were children, but was savvy enough to realize that Jarvis would lose interest if there were no challenge, so he pretended to disapprove in order to encourage Jarvis to hang around more.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: A particularly pointed use of the trope causes severe MoodWhiplash in ''Anne of the Island,'' when Anne returns to Green Gables after visiting friends. Davy tells her in one breath that he's grown an inch since she left, then [[InnocentlyInsensitive innocently]] asks "Did you know Gilbert Blythe is dying?" in the next.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption: In the first book when Matthew first drives Anne to Green Gables. At one point they pass through an area of great natural beauty that startles Anne in mid-speech; as [[LemonyNarrator the narrator snarks]], Mrs. Spencer did ''not'' say: "Oh Mr. Cuthbert! Oh Mr. Cuthbert! Oh Mr. Cuthbert!"

* BabyTalk: Prior to their birth, Anne is adamant that baby talk not be spoken to her children, having been 'solemnly' impressed by a parenting book on the subject. She and Gilbert agree--no baby talk. This ''of course'' goes completely out the window the minute Jem is born, much to Gilbert's amusement. When he calls her on it, she airily dismisses the author of the book as a fraud, given that no one could be expected to be that stern with a cute little baby.

All the novels are now in the public domain and have been adapted into several movies and television series. For instance, there is an {{anime}} series (''Akage no An'' (meaning "Anne with the Red Hair"), later made into a {{manga}} as well) directed by Creator/IsaoTakahata and storyboarded by Creator/HayaoMiyazaki that aired in 1979 as part of the ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater'' series, which also featured an adaptation of the authorized prequel ''Before Green Gables'' (''Konnichiwa An'' (meaning "Hello Anne")), released in 2009, in time for the original series' 30th anniversary). The first series was a big hit in Japan, Europe, and Latin America and is said to be largely responsible for the influx of Japanese tourists who continue to visit Prince Edward Island to this day. An English dub was made in South Africa, but never aired in North America; however, a French-Canadian dub, made in Quebec, aired on [[Creator/{{CBC}} Radio-Canada]] beginning in 1989.

* AgeLift: Several of the many adaptations - 1934, 1985, and ''Series/AnneWithAnE'', for example – lift Anne's age from eleven to thirteen or fourteen when she first comes to Green Gables. Since she ages to sixteen in the first book, the slight age lift from the start lets the same teenage actress play her throughout.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: In the musical, minor antagonists Mrs. Pye and Mrs. Blewett have some disparaging things to say about Tartrars, Turks, and the Roma.

* StepServant: Anne lived with a few stern, bossy foster parents -- who were alcoholics, and made her care for six children before she even turned twelve -- and this is Anne's account ''downplaying'' how bad they were before she moved in with the kinder Marilla and Matthew, who are conservative and stern but also care for her well-being. In Avonlea, her talents and traits are allowed to blossom, which bring her rewards in addition to Matthew and (eventually) Marilla's love.

* AccidentalGoodOutcome: The sequence of events that led to Anne Shirley coming to Green Gables led to a proverbial game of telephone. Matthew and Marila [[WantedASonInstead never wanted a girl]], they wanted a boy [[AdoptAServant that could help on the farm]]. Instead they got Anne. For the longest time they refer to Anne's arrival as a mistake. It actually takes four years for Marila to admit that this was more than an accident, it was something akin to divine intervention.

In addition, there are two (three if you count ''The Road to Yesterday'') companion books that tell stories of the surrounding community: ''Chronicles of Avonlea'' (1912) and ''More Chronicles of Avonlea'' (1920). Anne is referred to and makes a few cameos here and there, but 'stars' in only one story in each volume. A few of these stories were turned into episodes of the spinoff television series ''Series/RoadToAvonlea,'' usually with the main characters of the show replacing the disparate protagonists of the stories. The stories of all three volumes were originally independent short stories written by Montgomery that were reworked to set them in the world of Green Gables. In 2008, for the hundredth anniversary of the original novel's publication, Canadian writer Budge Wilson, was given authorization to write her own prequel novel to the Anne series, titled ''Before Green Gables''.

''"Fare thee well, my beloved friend. Henceforth we must be as strangers though living side by side. But my heart will ever be faithful to thee."''

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anne_of_green_gables_9.jpg]]

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-->-- '''Anne Shirley'''

* HeroesWantRedHeads: Not quite played straight. Gilbert Blythe, however, sure doesn't seem to mind her red hair as much as Anne does...