They's doin it wrong!

[merrily]

I was working through catalogues today, and had to enter a listing for a movie tie-in: "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning" by Kevin Sullivan. I may have accidentally not ordered it. BECAUSE ()

1) it's a sequel, but not one of LMM's sequels
2) where Anne and Gilbert have two daughters and one adopted son
3) who is missing somewhere in World War One
4) and her father (not Matthew, but her actual father) didn't die of influenza, like Anne thought, but
5) is alive! somewhere!

The wrongness appalls me. It makes me want to call Sullivan and suggest he read fanfic (since he's writing it) in order to learn the protocol, such as: 1) declare your fanwork as fanwork, and 2) show canon some respect because 3) much of your audience loves the canon.

I have no problem whatsoever, on the other hand, with Budge Wilson's "Before Green Gables," the authorized prequel Penguin published this year. Budge respected the text: she read A of GG carefully and tried to extrapolate character from it. Before taking on the project, she spent time considering whether she should. Furthermore, she's honest enough to say that she's not sure LMM would have wanted her to take a crack at Anne.

I may not really want to read the book, but I think Budge did right by Anne.

Kevin Sullivan, however, can eat my shorts. Or my slate. Or my carrot-colored braids.

Comments

[merrilily.livejournal.com]

Here's the IMDB listing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063034/). Nary a Jonathan Crombie or a Megan Follows to be found.