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In the one hundred years since the publication of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, the story of Anne Shirley has undergone multiple adaptations; beginning with a (now lost) silent film from 1919, there have been musicals, feature films, television movies, an animated series, and Japanese anime versions.1 Over these hundred years, one thing only has remained stable-Anne's red hair. Currently, Sullivan Entertainment produces more Anne-related materials than any other media company. Further, the best known film version of Anne of Green Gables was directed by Kevin Sullivan and released by Sullivan Films (now Sullivan Entertainment) in 1985. It gives every appearance of being an authentic reproduction of the text, especially with regard to the landscape of Prince Edward Island, the household goods, and the clothing. Additionally, from the years 2000-02, Sullivan Entertainment produced Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series (broadcast on PBS). Loosely based on the characters created by L. M. Montgomery, the series follows the adventures and, more often, misadventures of Anne Shirley and her friends.
Before we begin our examination of these two adaptations, we need to put forward the critical stance we use when looking at adaptations of children's literature. According to Linda Hutcheon's A Theory of Adaptation, "To deal with adaptations as adaptations is to think of them as, ... inherently 'palimpsestuous' works, haunted at all times by their adapted texts. If we know the prior text, we always feel its presence shadowing the one we are experiencing directly" (6). Hutcheon's view on all adapted material is that it should not be judged on its faithfulness to the original text, but rather on how the transformation from original to adapted text works in reestablishing the original story within a new medium and genre that may lend itself to tropes and themes not available in the original text. Adaptations of children's literature are haunted by an additional construct-the idea of childhood presented in the original text. With regard to children's television, media critic David Buckingham writes, "Like children's literature, children's television is not produced by children but for them. As such, it should be read as a reflection not so much of children's interests or fantasies or desires but of adults. The texts which adults produce for children represent...