“Anne with an E” addresses real-world problems

“Anne with an E” is a Canadian television series released by Netflix and CBC. “Anne with an E” is loosely based on Anne of Green Gables, a children’s literature classic in 1908. “Anne with an E” also goes on to be an heartfelt show that attacks real world problems like gender inequality, racism, LGBTQ rights, and growing up even though it was in the 1800’s. 

It all started with a mistake made at the orphanage, but from that mistake blossomed family, friendship, love, and perseverance. In the fictional town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island, an elderly pair of siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, decided to adopt an orphan boy to help out on their farm, Green Gables.  To their surprise, they receive Anne Shirley, a 13 year old girl, instead of the boy they expected. Due to the mixup, the question of keeping Anne is debated between the siblings.  “Anne with an E” shows Anne learning to grow up and learning to navigate relationships with people  while dealing with bigotry for being an orphan.  

Anne’s troubled past from being an orphan influences her to act in ways that could be described as eccentric. For example, she once smashed a slate against Gilbert’s head, who is Anne’s love interest. As the story progresses, Anne is able to connect with her classmates on a deeper level and her actions are less eccentric. This change shows that she is growing up and healing.

Ms. Stacy, a newly hired teacher, went against stereotypical women’s standards at the time which made her hated by the town’s people. A town’s meeting was held to fire the teacher just because her lifestyle went against their expectations of how a woman should be.  Through the introduction of one female character, “Anne with an E” addressed gender-inequality. The sublime way they did it shows that gender-inequality is something that women have to deal with everyday of their lives.

The melodramatic visuals have an immense effect on the high quality production of “Anne with an E.” Through the show, the color scheme for visuals is consistent with mostly blacks, grays, earth browns, and dark blues. Through the color scheme, “Anne with an E” portrays a grim fact of life and that it is not all rainbows and sunshine. The dark pellet helps viewers to understand Anne’s backstory as an orphan that has had to deal with an abusive traumatic pass. Meanwhile the contrast of Anne’s bright red hair shows that there is hope to heal and learn. The visuals being consistent with the story helps move the plot along and help the viewer see the depth of the story. 

“Anne with an E” is a show I watched twice. When I watched it the second time, I realized why I fell in love with the show. The second time around I felt like I had a deeper understanding of Anne. I was older the second time I watched “Anne with an E” and with age came a deeper understanding. Contrary to other coming of age stories,  Anne grows into a better person because even though she makes mistakes, she learns from them and takes them as lessons for life.  “Anne with an E” is really entertaining and just leaves you wanting for more. I fully recommend others to watch “Anne with an E” and see what they can take away from the spectacular show.