The dark side of Green Gables

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New adaptation of the beloved classic makes critics uneasy

A scene from Anne with an E. Netflix

To understand what Netflix has done to Anne of Green Gables, it helps to know producer Moira Walley-Beckett worked on the gruesome shock show Breaking Bad. The new series Anne with an E doesn’t have blood, guts, and smut, but it does fixate on the darker threads of the beloved orphan’s tale, including abuse she suffered before arriving at the idyllic estate of Green Gables. Like Breaking Bad, it also employs the staples of modern TV drama: hand-held camera shots, deep character development (adding back stories not related in the novel), and cliffhanger episode endings.

Many reviewers have rejected the new thoroughly modern Anne, or at least eyed her with skepticism. Entertainment Weekly called it a betrayal of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved book, and Slate bemoaned the series for its lack of subtlety. Why are so many secular critics taking offense at a grittier reboot of a classic story? It seems that even in the age of desensitization, TV viewers still enjoy reflecting on the positive values of yesteryear that have slowly faded with modern “progress.”

Families with young children should stick to Sullivan Entertainment’s definitive 1980s adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, available now on DVD or the company’s streaming platform. For older children, parents would be wise to screen the episodes or watch them together as a family.

Jimmy Kimmel Associated Press/Photo by Randy Holmes/ABC

A late night moment in the sun

First, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made headlines by opening up on-air about his newborn son’s brush with death, making a heartfelt (albeit politically dubious) plea for universal healthcare. Then, last week, he got hired to host the Academy Awards again next year. Usually, Oscar hosts aren’t announced until fall or later, but Kimmel impressed producers enough to score a rare repeat gig early in the year. As Oscar host this year, he avoided the feeling of drudgery that infects awards ceremonies when presenters and winners take themselves too seriously. (He also kept his cool during the best picture fiasco.) Kimmel’s self-awareness and well-timed sincerity offer late-night viewers a needed alternative to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’s ever-cheapening schtick and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s bully pulpit political rants. But viewers be warned: He still embraces the rude, crude, every-dude persona that made him famous. —L.L.

Jimmy Kimmel Associated Press/Photo by Randy Holmes/ABC

The Joshua-slash-Money Tree

U2 fans are rushing to preorder the 30th anniversary remix of The Joshua Tree, the album that in 1987 elevated the Irish band “from heroes to superstars,” according to Rolling Stone. The band wrote the songs to capture their experiences touring the United States, though a cynic might describe the album as the one with which U2 finally figured out how to market to Americans. Either way, the band is still cashing in on The Joshua Tree. On May 12, it launched a summer world tour to play the entire album night after night in stadiums. The tour is on its U.S. leg now, and the anniversary album comes out June 2. —L.L.

Paint the town

Indonesian villages are embracing aesthetics as a path out of poverty, and the results are beautiful. —L.L.

Take down in Dixie

The New York Times offers a street-level view of sites where four Confederate memorials were taken down in New Orleans. —L.L.

Lynde Langdon

Lynde is WORLD’s executive editor for news. She is a graduate of World Journalism Institute, the Missouri School of Journalism, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Lynde resides with her family in Wichita, Kan.

@lmlangdon

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