Anne of Green Gables/YMMV


 * Canon Defilement: Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story, the third Kevin Sullivan film, is hailed as this by many fans of the book series. Unlike the first two films, which were fairly accurate to the series (for being films based on books), the third was an original film with an original script. Not only did it ignore any of the canon after "Anne of Windy Poplars," but it was set in World War I with Anne and Gilbert as newlyweds, moving the entire series forward nearly 30 years. The characters are out-of-character as a result.
 * Double Standard: It's perfectly all right for impoverished, orphaned Anne Shirley to make up stories to make the world more bearable--but it's not remotely all right for Jenny Penny, who is also poor and who seems to have a horrible family, to use her imagination in a similar fashion. In fact, Anne doesn't want her daughter Nan associating with the Pennys because they're "unsuitable", a common euphemism of the time for "not of our social class." (Granted, Jenny's family is awful, with both children and adults being invasive, unmannerly bullies, but it's still strange to read of Anne looking down on Jenny for being poor, lower class, and imaginative, especially when the narrative agrees with her.)
 * First Installment Wins: Raise your hand if at any point you believed there were only three books in the series.
 * Three? Most people don't even realize that Anne of Green Gables is a series. So much emphasis is put on the first book, most people don't even know there are sequels.
 * Fixer Sue: And not in a bad way. Basically, just read Anne of Windy Poplars as Anne being the Fixer Sue for all the people of Summerside and their scene-stealing antics, and the entire book flows much better.
 * Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The novel has a huge fanbase in Japan, of all places. It's theorised that the idea of a determined little individualist is just that fascinating to female Japanese culture.
 * Supposedly, General McArthur's wife introduced the Anne of Green Gables novels to Japan with the aim of making Japanese women more individualistic. Make of that what you will...
 * The fanbase in Japan is so huge, it is not uncommon to see two Japanese get married in Green Gables on Prince Edward Island. Or for the nearby inns and hotels to be filled with other Japanese tourists. Even the signs in the tourist attractions on Prince Edward Island will often have Japanese printed right under the English.
 * Anne of Green Gables is even popular on an academic level in Japan. It's required reading in the curricula of many schools; in fact, it's even been republished in manga/comic format for the sole purpose of encouraging more children and teenagers to read it.
 * Les Yay: Albeit largely a case of Values Dissonance -- the stories being set in an era in which gushily sentimental overtones were a standard part of any female friendship -- this can be read into much of Montgomery's work. Anne Shirley and Diana Barry's relationship in the first book hits pretty much every Les Yay button there is. (The 1980s TV version makes it even more obvious.)
 * The Masochism Tango: Ellen West and Norman Douglas.
 * Suetiful All Along: Largely averted. While Anne does go from an impossibly plain and scrawny kid to a tall, slender and beautiful adult beloved of her family and friends, her high intelligence -- plus a tendency 'get into scrapes' -- are both consistently emphasised throughout. It also helps to realise that Anne's appearance was inspired from the get-go by this photo of model Evelyn Nesbit.
 * Not to mention the fact that her social enemies still seem to legitimately see her as plain. It's implied throughout many of the books that 'kindred spirits' or 'the race that knows Joseph' are the ones who consider her pretty, being the ones who see her temperament through her physical appearance.
 * Plus, of course, she grew up, which probably handled "scrawny".
 * Though at one point a character who quite dislikes her tells her "you're just as skinny as ever", and doesn't mean it as a compliment.
 * The environment she grew up in most likely helped as well. Anne spent most of her childhood basically being a nanny or servant for various families who were quite poor. It was only after Marilla and Matthew took her in that she got good clothes, care, food, and education.
 * Values Dissonance: Young Anne is celebrated specifically for being smart, creative and ambitious, so her eventual career choice -- a doting mother of six -- may end up being cringeworthy to some. Especially after she makes reference, as an adult, to her 'pretty fancies'.
 * Gilbert LampShades this in Anne's House of Dreams, saying, after Anne points out how wasted Leslie's potential is being impoverished and stuck with her idiot husband, that some people would consider a B.A. and burgeoning established magazine writer to be "wasted" as the wife of a poor country doctor.
 * There are intelligent and ambitious female characters who have careers in The Blythes Are Quoted: Penelope Craig, child psychologist; Alma Winkworth, who worked in a beauty shoppe; and Susette King, sub-editor of The Enterprise. However, the last two characters are portrayed as having become disillusioned with their careers, which could be social commentary on gender inequality.
 * Adopting an orphan for the purpose of having more help around the house or farm seems to be considered a perfectly acceptable motivation. Even Matthew and Marilla, who fully intend to provide the child they adopt with a good home and education, are in part motivated by the idea of Matthew having the extra help that he requires. Mrs. Blewett, who almost took Anne off Marilla's hands in Green Gables also wanted help around the house, and while Marilla felt concerned about how Mrs. Blewett would treat Anne, no one questioned Mrs Blewett seeking to take in a child to get some extra help. Today, this kind of motivation to adopt would be considered unacceptable.
 * "Home children" are mentioned several times throughout the series, and though mention of their being abused is treated negatively, nobody's at all surprised by it. Mary Vance is the most extreme example: the entire neighborhood knew she was being horribly abused by her "caretaker", but nobody bothered to do anything about it.
 * Anne of Avonlea features a lot of talk about teachers whipping their students and Anne only gains respect from some as a schoolmistress when she beats one of her kids.