I also grew up with them - I think possibly before I even read the books, when I was 8 (I believe I read the books when I was 9 or 10). So much so that the "Matthew buys puffed sleeves" scene is more firmly in my head from the film than the book (though I do KNOW the difference). However, the books have a richer wisdom and more nuanced understanding of the religious, philosophical, and mortal nature of life at the time - understandably so. There's a lot of misery and death in the books that the series, for all its emphasis on Anne's suffering before she got to Green Gables, kind of elides because it's so focused on the Anne/Gilbert romance.
I haven't seen the new tv movies with Martin Sheen as Matthew, so I've really only seen the Megan Follows version, and listened to the radio drama. I'm in the middle of the 1975 Anne of Avonlea BBC adaptation, which I am quite enjoying because it's much more faithful to the humor of the book than the 1980s Anne of Avonlea.
tl,dr: Megan Follows is my favorite Anne, but the writing for the series was always a bit flawed, and got significantly worse every series. :)
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Re: "I am in the depths of despair."
Date: 4/1/17 06:07 pm (UTC)I haven't seen the new tv movies with Martin Sheen as Matthew, so I've really only seen the Megan Follows version, and listened to the radio drama. I'm in the middle of the 1975 Anne of Avonlea BBC adaptation, which I am quite enjoying because it's much more faithful to the humor of the book than the 1980s Anne of Avonlea.
tl,dr: Megan Follows is my favorite Anne, but the writing for the series was always a bit flawed, and got significantly worse every series. :)