Anne of Green Gables: The Collection

Anne of Green Gables is a great movie series. Every time I watch it in get caught up in the whimsy and romance and innocence present in both the story line and the characters themselves.

The story is about a young orphan girl, Anne, who is sent by mistake to an elderly couple in Prince Edward Island who wanted to adopt a boy to help out around the farm. The couple were unhappy with the mistake at first, but ultimately decide to keep her. Anne has a penchant for getting into trouble. She has a lot of pride and a hot temper when she thinks that someone is trying to belittle or make fun of her, and this temper gets her into quite a bit of trouble as the series progresses. She always manages to get out of them however, endearing herself to the other characters in the story, as well as to the viewer. She is constantly loosing herself in fantasy and whimsy, as a defense mechanism to deal with the rejection and pain she's had to deal with. The result is that her head is constantly in the clouds, more in the beginning of the series. She begins to live more in the real world as she receives love and acceptance from those around her. We follow her through school, friendships, family, and romance.

Anne is such a great character. Despite the seemingly head-in-the-clouds quality to her, she is a very strong character. She meets every challenge head on with everything she has. She's both romantic and passionate, romantic both in the relational and idealistic sense. She sees the world through dreamy eyes and is constantly in search of true, strong relationships, 'bosom friends'. She is also very optimistic, but not naively so, like in a Pollyanna-ish sense. She always allows for the best possible outcome, and strives for perfection, but is aware that bad things light happen, because they have already. She's ready to deal with what may come, and has already dealt with a lot in her young life, but still refuses to succumb to the drudgery and depression of the world. The romance between her and Gilbert Blythe is also very sweet... I think we'd all like to meet a Gilbert Blythe.