Anne of Green Gables: A Xennial Girl Summer Re-Read

We’re wrapping up Xennial Girl Summer with a re-read of the original 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables and discussing all of the spinoff pieces of pop culture it has inspired. 

We hope you've enjoyed Xennial Girl Summer. Let us know what you'd like us to watch and read next time!

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Transcript

Welcome And What We Got Wrong

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What do we say? We get stuff wrong here.

SPEAKER_02 0:01

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the welcome to the podcast. We get things wrong here. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Generation in Between, a Xennial podcast where we remember, revisit, relearn, and sometimes reread things from our childhoods in the 80s and be 90s teens. Hi, I'm Katie. That was an interesting twist. I was like, how do I say the things? Because I've already gotten off track. But by the way, this is Katie. And this is Danny. Hey. Hey, and you've found us. Sorry, guys. It's tech week for us. Tech week. We don't know. We're so tired. Um, and by we, I mean me for sure. But yes. So we are on our last episode of Xennial Girl Summer 2026 Summer Show.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

It's coming to a complete.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

It is. And so today we are going to be discussing the last book in Xennial Girl Summer, and that is the original Anne of Green Gables novel.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

And Danny has thoughts. I look, I knew going in that it was gonna be a thing. Before we start, though, we do have some corrections. Yeah. Shock. We got some stuff wrong, we think. Maybe. Uh so uh when we were talking about Space Camp on our last episode, Tate Donovan, I said, was a voice of Hercules, which is true, but he did not sing the part. Interestingly enough, Hercules had three different voices. There was a voice actor when he was a teen, then there was uh uh a singer, and then there was Tate Donovan who was Hercules as an adult.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

So my bid. So let me tell y'all who it was, because I had to look it up. Sarah. Sarah was the one who corrected us. Now I don't know why. Y'all need to understand, it is the two of us that do research, and usually just one of us does research for an episode. There's only so much we can find, and we do fact check ourselves. There's somebody on the internet came for us one day and they were like, they are like, no, that's incorrect, whatever, whatever. And I was like, Oh, yeah, we must have missed that. Sorry. And she's like, Well, you're a podcast. Sorry, doesn't do it. And I'm like, okay, well, we do make mistakes. Like, we're a two-person team, and like if we make mistakes, we will say, Hey, we made a mistake. So thank you for the tip. Like, relax, okay. Um, so the singer of that was Roger Bart. Okay, Roger Bart. Roger Bart, and then Josh Keaton was Teen Hercules. Okay. So three voices for Hercules. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

And then we had another YouTube comment about Sweet Valley High. Maybe. Okay, so for Sweet Valley

Fact Checks And Internet Pushback

SPEAKER_01 2:45

High, if you guys listen to that episode, I did mention how Francine Pascal didn't write all the books. And she wrote the first seven, and then she had this whole team of ghostwriters, and they all wrote under a pseudonym and that whole thing, Kate Williams or something like that. So when I was researching that fact, I found like five different versions of it. I found some that said she didn't write any of them. She only had the concept, it was always ghostwriters. I found other ones that said, Oh, she wrote the first one. No, the only one she ever wrote was that 2011 one that everyone hated. Anyway, so all the research was all over the place. So I just went with what I found on like the official Sweet Valley High page, which said she wrote the first seven and then hired um a team. But someone did come on YouTube to basically say that I was wrong and that she didn't write any of them. And to be honest, unless I talked to her or her team directly, I don't know that I will ever find the answer to that. But just know she did not write all 180 books of that series.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

And the level that she did write, we don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Bottom line. Yeah, well, this is what they said. First of all, the first line the person said was misinformation. It's not misinformation about Sweet Valley High. Watch out. Anyway, she said Pascal wrote four to five-page plot outlines in bullet point bullet point format. Eileen Gouge ghostwrote five of the first 12 books, including the first book. I don't know. It said editive Eve Becker is responsible for creating much of Sweet Valley, like the Darry Burger and the Twins, Red Fiat Spider and characters, etc. The only Sweet Valley book Pascal actually wrote was Sweet Valley Confidential, which was that 2011 one.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

But I don't know. I'd be interested to know where she got that, and maybe I'll ask her. Like, not in a mean way, like I really would like to know like where you found that. Yeah, because I went to the yeah, I didn't see that. But and also, like the official page also might not be telling the truth because it doesn't look great to say she wrote none of them. So I don't know. True. Who knows? Who knows? But just know, everyone, none of us think that Francine Pascal wrote them all. Yeah. And also, like, know that we're human beings and we make mistakes. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Obviously, what do we say? We get stuff wrong here.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

So yeah. Welcome to the podcast. We do our best. Welcome to the podcast. We get things wrong here. Yeah. But anyway, we'll do our best. I think that was I think that was most of the corrections for now. For now. For now. Wait till. Oh, but I know Sarah's listening, and I almost texted you, Sarah, and said, hey, send me all the Anne of Green Gables stuff you want me to mention. And then I thought, no, that's pretty too much on it. She's gonna say a lot. She's gonna send us a lot. So I didn't. So hopefully I covered a lot of the things because I know this one's near and dear to your heart. And you can tell me all the things I missed, and we will follow up um on our next episode with it. So here we go.

Why Anne Of Green Gables Matters

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Anne of Green Gables.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Y'all, she's got like a book of papers sitting here on the table.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

We're gonna try, we're gonna try to get through it, and I may skip over a few things if if we figure they're not relevant. We'll see. So Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel written by the Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. So she published under LM Montgomery, which, you know, woman writing at the turn of the century, that was pretty common. Right. It is an all-ages book, but it is considered a classic children's novel. It is set in the late 19th century and it recounts the adventures of 11-year-old orphan girl and Shirley sent by mistake to two middle-aged siblings, which I thought was a weird thought. Super weird. It's kind of weird. Um, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm. Also weird. Like we are adopting a kid for child labor. I know it's weird. I mean, again, that's the time. It was a thing, but yeah. Um, and it's set in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts in school and within the town. Basically. And there's more books later, which we'll we'll talk about. So it was first published uh June 13th, 1908, uh, by a Boston publisher, LC Page and Company. And since then, over 50 million copies have been sold worldwide and it's been translated into 36 languages. Crazy. So you loved this book as a kid. I did. I think I loved like the TV miniseries more than the book. Like I remember watching those. Okay. And then that got me to read the book. Did you read all of them?

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Because I know it's a series. Did you reread it? I reread it. Yeah. I reread it. Read this as a kid, but I do not remember like enjoying it. Maybe I did, but man, it is boring.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

But I was, I will say this time through, I was a little bored with it. Were you?

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Okay, that was what I was gonna ask. Because I'm like, did it still hold up? Like when like when I reread from the mixed up files, I still enjoyed it as much as I did as a little kid. I if I read this as a kid, I may have liked it. But man, I was like, this book never be ending.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Yeah, it kind of goes on and on, which is pretty common for novels of the time. But yeah, it's it was uh a little too long, little and obviously things that stood out to me now as an adult, too. Like we've already mentioned like the siblings adopting someone, and then they wanna like the idea that you can just send a child back because they're not the right gender. I know. I mean, obviously, again, written long time ago and written before to cover the time before it came out, again, doesn't make it right, but you know, things that sort of like made me like, ooh.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

But listen, we've said this before, just because when people say, Oh, it was a different time, yes, but that doesn't make it okay. Right. So, like, I think we get trapped in that when we talk about things from a long time ago. Like, I mean, like, I and I always go back to this, like slavery, okay. Oh, is of the time, great. But does that make it okay to treat other human beings like cattle? No.

unknown 8:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Like, that doesn't make it okay. Or the child labor stuff, or the child labor. Does that make it okay to that's why I don't like Annie. The whole plot of Annie, I don't like. This rich man wants to adopt a little girl. Like, it's weird. It is weird to begin with. Y'all should not like that musical.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

You should not. And and it's not like I'm ever gonna do it at my studio.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Maybe are you doing it? I don't know. I might at some point.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Don't do it.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Don't do it.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Uh so I like it only because it's got a lot of parts for little girls.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

But everything has parts for girls.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

I mean, not everything, unfortunately. Not as many.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Well, kid shows, I mean.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Depends. If you do one about animals, yes. If you do like the jungle book or Madagascar, then you can honestly, and I'm not saying like, oh, I only want to cast girls, it's just I have way more girls to cast. So I'm always looking for the shows where there's a lot of opportunities. Yeah. But anyway, we're not talking about Annie today. Anna Green Gables and has been adapted as films, television film, animated, and live action television series. Musicals and plays have been created. We're gonna talk about that a little. With one that has a production annually in Canada, and there's actually international productions of the musical in Europe and Japan. This series, and Anna Green Gables specifically, is it has a huge Japanese following. Really? Yes. Interesting. We'll get into like some of that, but it's like a mandatory thing that's read in Japanese schools. Um, it's like a whole thing like buying the fake red braids and wearing them and like all sorts of stuff. It's like a huge, huge deal, okay. Uh so there are eight main books in the classic Anna Green Gables series, and it follows from this series on. There's Anna Green Gables, 1908, Anne of Avon Lee, 1909, Anne of the Islands, 1950, Anne's House of Dreams. I don't think I ever read that one. That sounds like a broccoli. I know it kind of does. Rainbow Valley, yeah, followed up by Rainbow Valley, 1919. Rilla of Ingleside, 1921, Anne of Wendy Poplars, 1936, Anne of Ingleside, 1936. So she downwrote those a long time. Mm-hmm. Yeah, she, yeah, 1908 to 1936. Yeah, yeah. They they came out a bunch. And then there's also companion books, the Chronicles of Avonlea that came out in 1812. It's a short story collection. 1812. Mm-hmm. I'm sorry. Yeah, before she was even born, it came out. It's crazy. And it Anne is like a cameo in those. It's really about the other characters. The side characters. Basically, yeah. Further Chronicles of Avonlee, that was 1920. And then The Blythes are quoted, which is a final related book that features poetry and short stories involving Anne and her family. It's a lot of Anne. That's a lot of Anne. Um so, and then in 1908, an authorized prequel before Green Gables by listen to this author's name, Budge Wilson. Budge, Budge, was published on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the series. Dang. So that's pretty cute. Um, when Anne of Green Gables first came out, the New York Times review, the critic, hated it. They thought it was bad. It was an unnamed critic, which I think is interesting. It was me, guys. I mean Pass Life. Just like that story was written a year a century before you also wrote this before you were born. Uh, it called Ann Shirley a Little Asylum Waf. Okay, well, that was not me.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

That you're like, I take it back. I take it back. It wasn't me.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

And it implied that Ellen Montgomery hadn't laid any character development. However, guess who was a huge Anna Green Gables fan? You're never gonna guess, so I'm just gonna tell you. Just tell me. Mark Twain. Well, look at you. Yes. Mark Twain praised Anna Green Gables by calling the main character Anne Shirley the dearest and most loving and delightful child since the immortal Alice from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. But do we love Alice even? No. Right. No.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

I know. There's a whole thing about Alice that we we could go into.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

I think we will one day. I obviously never met Mark Twain. But my guess is I think Mark Twain really liked characters that were different,

Reading It Now Versus Then

SPEAKER_01 12:40

right? Like that's what he was really good at writing about. And I'm guessing, at least at the time when this came out, too, Anne was outspoken and different and like kind of just doing her own thing in the world. And I'm guessing he liked the nuance of that, if I had to guess. Mark Twain, you can correct me. Look at you. Character analysis of Mark Twain. Yeah.

unknown 13:00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

When we're talking about Anna Green Gables, it's fine. Oh, guys, did you notice we're wearing our green shirts? Yes. Danny's favorite. My least favorite. With the green background. I know.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

We forgot to flip it.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

It's okay. It's appropriate for today. It's for those. Okay. So even though Anna Green Gables is a work of fiction, it was inspired by a real story about an orphan mix-up that Lucy Maud Montgomery read about, her own childhood loneliness as well, and a real farm that was in her family that's on Prince Edward Island. So all those things combined. So the newspaper article she read was a couple who applied to adopt an orphan boy, but they sent a girl instead. But rather than sending her back, the couple decided to keep her. Wow, good for them. And a similar real life incident happened to Montgomery's cousin-in-law and her neighbors, the McNeils. Um, and they had something like that happen too, where like a mix-up with adopting. Yeah. I don't know. Montgomery lost her mother as a toddler. So she was orphaned, um, and her father went off to live somewhere else and marry someone else. Yeah. So she was raised by her strict maternal grandparents in Cavendish, Prince Edward, and she coped with isolation by using imagination and creating imaginary friends.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Did you have imaginary friends? No. I sure did. Did you? Oh my gosh. Did they have names? I don't remember. Uh I I totally did. I totally had that.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

No, no. Sorry. I was just thinking, like, I didn't, but I would definitely like play like games or pretend that like my stuffies and dolls and stuff were my friends. Okay, well, it's a similar same universe. Yeah. I if I was like by myself, I'd make up a whole Katie was born an adult. I was like, now sit there and eat your vegetables.

unknown 14:52

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Time to clear the table.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Go make your bed.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

That was what we played.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Those were the fake luck you gave me with the funny. It's like when we talk about cartoon, but now imaginary friends. Like you were like, no. How dare you?

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Who told you that? Give me their name. But that's okay. That like everybody's imagination works differently. It's true.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

I definitely had a big imagination. I'll tell I'll tell you that I talk to myself. Don't you worry. I talk to myself a lot. You still do that. I still do that. I mean, I do too.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

So yeah. It helps me stay on track with myself. It Troy can't stand it. Because he'll always be like, Am I supposed to be listening and responding right now? Because he can't tell sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Like, you know? And then I get frustrated when my husband's like, Are you talking to me? I'm like, Yes. Oh, right. But he's like, Well, I never know. Yeah. You know, I'm like valid. Because sometimes I'll just be like, okay, I'm gonna grab this and do that. I think female's a dog, and then I'm gonna every female I know does this. I think so. Most. We're very verbal. Yeah. In general. But yes. All right. So she also, Montgomery was inspired. There was a type of storytelling at the time that was popular called formula stories because they followed this kind of strict formula of how things happened. And she liked those. And they often featured orphans, and often the girls were named Anne. Why? I don't know. But it was they were named Anne A-N-N. So she decided to distinguish her character not by using a different name. Anne with an E. But by doing Anne with a knee. I don't know. It was a thing. And then she based other characters in the novel, such as Gilbert Blythe, in part on people she knew. Um, but she did say, and I thought this sounded so lovely, she wrote the novel in the twilight of the day while sitting at her window overlooking the fields of Cavendish. Well, that's very picturesque. That's very beautiful. And that's what I think of when I think of these novels, and when I think of the like movie and TV depictions of it, just that like idyllic nature kind of feel. And I think what they got really good, at least on the visual representations of this novel, is that sort of like freedom of childhood and nostalgia and that sort of thing. And I remember even as a kid really liking that. I don't think it's badly written.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

I just think it's boring. That's all.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Oh yeah. I mean, it's super old too. So I know.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

I'm not huge into and also like Anne talks a lot and unnecessarily, which is something for me to say because I also talk a lot unnecessarily.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

I mean, me too.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

But like, I mean, we have a podcast where all we do is talk unnecessarily. Correct. But but anyway, it was written well. I mean, it was very descriptive. Like, it was yeah, it was and the narration was good. We both listened to the one that Rachel McAdams read on Audible, and she did a great job.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Oh yeah. I meant to tell you, I looked that up just to see, you know, why she was picked or how she felt about it. But essentially they did approach her because she's Canadian. Oh yeah. That's it. And she um they approached her to to read it, to narrate the book. And she has said it's one of the most one of the things she's most proud of in her whole career. Uh huh. Because she grew up with these books and um she's just like really excited that they asked her to do it. Uh. And she did a great job. Love it. I think she did a great job. She was a good narrator.

Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Real Life

SPEAKER_01 18:15

All right, so let's talk a little more about Lucy Maud Montgomery, who was born November 30th, 1874. Holy ball. She lived till April 24th, 1942. She published 20 novels and more than a thousand short stories and poems. And she was also a prolific essayist. Okay. She wrote a lot of essays. When she was 21 months old, her mother died of tuberculosis. Her father left her in the care of her mother's parents and moved to Western Canada, where he eventually settled in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and remarried. But she stayed with her. So I said, Here, take my child and bye.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Patriarchy.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Yes. So she was so then Lucy was an only child living with an elderly couple. She found companionship in nature, books, writing. She started writing poetry when she was nine and keeping a journal. And then she also spent time with her Uncle John and Aunt Annie, which was her mother's sister. They all kind of like live near each other. So they were sort of parent figures to her, too. At the age of six, she began attending a one-room schoolhouse near her grandparents' home. She completed early education there. And then from 1893 to 1894, she studied for a teacher's license at Prince of Wales College and she completed the two-year course in one year and graduated with honors. Gigger. So she was a teacher right before the turn of the century. She taught at three island schools and then she left teaching to go back to school and selected courses in English literature at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. And she was one of the only women at that college at the time, of course. Because she already sort of had her teaching certification. So now this was like an extra thing she was doing. But it was while she was there that she started becoming a published writer and actually getting paid for things like essays and short stories and that sort of thing. But while she was still in school there, her grandfather died suddenly. So she returned to Cavendish to help take care of her grandmother. And she remained with her grandmother for the next 13 years, which is when she wrote and published a lot of it, because 1908 is when Anna Green Gables came out. And then she was also a proofreader for a newspaper there. So she was just all in on writing and editing and all of those things. In fact, she put it away. It was done, I believe it said it was, she was done writing it in 1903. And then in 1905, she had gotten so many rejections, she just kind of like put it away in a hat box. Don't blame her. And then decided again in 1906 or 1907 to try a few more places. And the place in Boston. She said, All right, this is it. One more time. And do you know that original manuscript still exists? Really? Where's it at? It's in a museum in Canada. Mm-hmm. That's cool. They don't have the first, they said um it's been lost to time, the like handwritten edits to like that the publisher had for a copy of it. And then the first typeset version are lost to time. But her original version that she like hand wrote that's cool. Exists. That's so, so cool. I love that. So she started to make some money as a writer even before Anna Green Gables came out. So in 1899, sh for the year, she earned $96.88. Woo, big line.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

But for hey, for women to earn any money back then, right.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

And that's the equivalent of about $3,800 today, which again, still not much. Bring it in, no.

unknown 21:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

But then by 1903, she was earning $500 a year. Ooh. Which is the equivalent of almost $19,000 today. Wow. So that's not bad. She was earning like five times more by now. Five times. Yeah. Which is crazy. That's a crazy huge job. That's a huge jump. Whoa. Um, and then of course her first novel came out, and then she was making a lot of money after that. Her grandmother did die in nineteen eleven, and that's when she decided to get married to the Reverend Ewan McDonald. Ooh. Why she got married? No, she had been secretly engaged to him since 1906. But he was old. You think he was old, and that's why it was a secret? Was she just waiting for her grandma to pass home?

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Or she's a reverend. Maybe they have religious differences or something. He's a reverend.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Yeah, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Look, I'm creating all kinds of drama that maybe not.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

You might be on misinformation. Why? That's a misinformation. No. So in her journals, she expressed her pain at the death of their infant son, Hugh, the horrors of the First World War, the death of her cousin, and the discovery that her husband suffered from religious melancholia, which I looked up. It's a profound sadness, dread, or despair stemming from spiritual concerns. It involves obsessive fears of damnation, agonizing guilt, or the paralyzing belief that one is fundamentally unworthy of God's love and salvation. Hence what we call religious trauma nowadays. Yes, same thing.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

And so I guess he was kind of hard to live with as a result of Well, and his job just reinforces all his fears. Oh, the thing. But see, that's what the church be doing. They get you that fear, and then you just live your life by fear.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Yes. Anyway. He did die uh before her, I didn't write it write it down, but it was like 10 years before she died. And then she died in Toronto in 1942, and she was her body was returned to Prince Edward Island, and she was buried in the Cavendish Cemetery close to the site of her old home.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

So she wrote her whole life, lived that way her whole life. Uh her only child uh died. Golly. I know it sucks.

Characters We Love And Side-Eye

SPEAKER_01 23:50

So I have a little bit about the characters. Um, I might skip over some of these, but obviously Anne, we've already talked about she's 11 in this novel. She and then she grows to be what's her age when the book's done. I f I to me it was when she's like going off. Yeah, because she goes off to learn to be a teacher.

unknown 24:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

But that happened younger. I don't know if they said, but I I feel like she was like 16. Yeah. It's spanned a long time. It does. Yeah. It starts at 11. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Um so we already talked about her a little bit. Marilla. That's Marilla.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

I do like that name. I like that name too. And I like how Rachel McAdams says it.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

When she's Anne.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Marilla. Marilla. It was cute. Marilla.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

She says it like with a U, like Marilla. Marilla. Whatever. I like how she says it. Yeah. It's cute. It's cute. So she's the sister of the pair that adopt Anne. And she has this is a quote from the book glimmerings of a sense of humor. Her life has been without joy, apparently, until the arrival of Anne. Well, I mean, she's living kind of a hard life. Yeah. I mean, she's stuck living with her brother on a farm. On a farm.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

She's gotta do a lot of shit.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Yeah. She does try to instill discipline in Anne, but ends up kind of growing to love Anne's vivis vivacity and joy. So that's Marilla.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Then freaking Anne cracked the code with Marilla. She did.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

Broke that wall down. She figured out. Broke it down.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

She did. And then Matthew, the brother, who is a shy man, uh, who does like Anne right from the start. They become friends. Uh, even though Marilla has primary responsibility for rearing Anne, Matthew has no qualms about spoiling her and indulging her with pretty clothes and fancy shoes. Such a man.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Like, eh, you do all the hard shit. I'm just gonna give her presents.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

I'm gonna buy her the the gifts. I'm gonna be the human.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

And I'm gonna be her friend. You do all everything else that's super hard. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

You be the disciplinarian and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Care for her, cook for her, teach her things. Yes. I'm just gonna go over here and buy her presents.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

That sums up Matthew. Yes, it does. All right, Diana Berry, Anne's best friend and kindred spirit, who are quote unquote bosom body.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Okay. Okay. I'm like, and I think that was probably Ann's first crush.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

I really as a kid never noticed any of that. Of course. But I noticed it this time.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

But you but you know what? I bet, I bet some kids may have noticed that back in, like, especially when this these books were older and felt validated in a way they didn't know they needed to feel validated.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

I agree with you. Do you know what I mean? Yes. There's a lot of um, and I found discussion online about this too, LGBTQ coded stuff in these books before there was a name for it.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

She probably didn't even know. I wonder if she didn't even realize that's what she was doing. Probably not. Do you know what I mean? Which is kind of great, actually. I th I think that's sad because you can't, you know what I mean? Like you you're writing this and not understand. Listen, I'm also creating my own narrative here in my brain. Right. That would be sad. Just like, because we do know of people, like when we are talking about Lost Boys, how there's some stuff in there, um, which I did find out in the musical, they do acknowledge. Good. Um, you know, there is like code like that that the director put in there on purpose. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Maybe she did. Um, the adaptation and with an E that's on Netflix is more explicit with that, makes LGBTQ choices. Because that's the one that was done in modern day. Right. So because this book is so old, it is in the public domain now. Oh, okay. Um, there's still certain rules surrounding it through her estate, so it's not like Shakespeare where you can just like take it and do whatever you want with it. But that's why places like Netflix and all that have been able to sort of do their own adaptations because adaptations of it are completely in the public domain at this point. Hmm, idea. Anyway, I don't know. Like I need more to do. Okay, so Diana Barry, she's the bosom buddy. There we go. Gilbert Blythe. Handsome question mark. Gilbert. Gilbert, smart, witty classmate. He's two years older than Anne, and he has a crush on her. Unaware of Anne's sensitivity about her red hair, he tries to get her attention by holding her braid and calling her carrots in the classroom. She breaks a slate over his head. Understandable.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Girl, I don't blame you.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

He does try to apologize. She's mad about it anyway, but by the end of the book, they become good friends. Question mark. In later books, they're married. Yeah. What? Yeah. Yep. In later books, there are a couple. In fact, some of the criticism about the later books that I found when I was researching is that Anne is so full of life and so her own person, all these adventures and crazy things. The older books are like her as like a housewife, and all she does is like think about him. But that happens. I know. It's real to the time. That happens. And happens now too. But that was they were kind of like these books aren't really about anything. It's just if you love Anne and you kind of want to follow her life. But But maybe that's what happened to Anne.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

Yeah, maybe. I mean, it happens to lots of ladies. And men too.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

And men too. I mean, if the world's a reverse to people, yes. Um, Ruby Gillis is another of Ann's friends, and she has several grown-up sisters, and she loves to share her knowledge. I don't remember this for sure. She must have been in the later books. It's like reading about her this time either. So actually, a lot of these might be like you're throwing a microphone later.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

What about the nosy neighbor? The bitchy neighbor. She was funny.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Um Rachel, the one who starts the book. Miss Rachel. She's a she's a busybody, but I know she's charitable. I love a busybody. I do too. You gotta, and they're great in stories. I know.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

I love a busy like uh Mrs. Cratchit. Well, I had a neighbor. This is so funny, who's not. She's she was lovely. She was not like it, but she called herself Mrs. Cratchit because I lived on a cul-de-sac, and it was like we were all Air Force, and um we all had small kids, and she they were not Air Force, but she um her and her husband actually, her husband is a music dean at you because so she said she used to be Mrs. Cratchit, always looking out her window, spying on all the I mean, of course, she would come hang out with us, and she was a great person. But like it was funny. She used to call herself Mrs. Cratchit. That's true. She always knew what was going on in that cul-de-sac.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

You gotta have one though. Hey, you gotta have one.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

We also did I ever tell you that I think we had a Russian spy living on that cul de side? No. We'll we'll pin that for another day. Remind me. I'm not even kidding.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

All right, I'm not even kidding. If you have time at the end, you can tell us today. Yeah, but if not, you can tell us today. Stay tuned. Um, so that's her, and then Teddy, Mr. Teddy Phillips is Anne's first teacher. Oh, yeah. Um, unpopular with students, and he keeps misspelling her name on purpose without the E. Yeah. And then she doesn't want to go to school because of him. I mean, teacher bully. Yeah. Yeah. He was just using his power to be mean. I had a teacher, I had a teacher bully. And then he openly courts um some of the older pupils. I don't think that's in this book. I think that's later ones. I don't remember that. Yeah, Prissy Andrews is one. Yeah, where he's like, yeah. Um cool. Oh, and then we've got um Diana's parents. Wow, you got a lot of people. I know. I'm like, I'm just gonna skip some of these. Um, oh, but we just talk about Minnie Mayberry, who's Diana's baby sister, whose life is Saved by Anne when she becomes croup. That's what I thought. I know how to say a word. As soon as I started to say it, I was like, I don't know if I've ever said this word out loud. Our kids ever have that? Uh-uh. Yours?

SPEAKER_02 31:28

No, but they had everything else, I feel like. Yeah, oh yeah, mine too. Oh they've never just officially known. Well, it's because they have vaccines now. That's true. We vaccinate our kids, so there you go.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

No croup, but just everything else.

Adaptations And The Anne Industry

SPEAKER_01 31:40

All right. So I already talked about the TV mini miniseries. Um there's been how many? Um there's only been one, but then there've been like other um movies and stuff. So like movies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um But isn't there one on Netflix now? Right. So that's an adaptation.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

But isn't that a mini-series?

SPEAKER_01 32:00

It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

There's the original one, and then there's the most recent one.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

Correct. Got it. And then there's like other, I think there's like a TV movie or two in there, stuff like that. So the TV miniseries aired on CBC, that's the Canadian broadcasting company, PBS and the Disney Channel in 1985. And then in 87, producer and director Kevin Sullivan reunited much of the cast for the second um film released in Canada, Anna Green Gables, the well, it was a miniseries, so I don't know why it's saying film. But anyway, it was a sequel to the miniseries, and those covered like further books. I remember watching that.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

My sister loved Little House on the Prairie. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure we had this on VHS. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Probably. It was really popular, like, yeah. And then they um and then in the the hundredth anniversary publication, there was a film, Anne of Greengables A New Beginning, that was a prequel and a sequel to the original series, and that was released in 2009. Okay. And then we've got the Netflix one that was, I want to say 2023, but I have that later in my notes. So there's a lot. There's a lot like surrounding this. But when you think about how old it is, that kind of makes sense. Yeah. It's over time. What's like little women? How many that's been totally? There's a musical. That one now too. Yep. Um, so the Greengables farmhouse is based on a real place located in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. And there are tourist attractions there that people can go look at that the histor the fictional Anne was based on. It's so crazy. Last week, a friend of mine whose kids have done stuff at our studio before, just on her Instagram randomly, they had pictures from Anne's like house in Greengable. You're like, Hey, I'm reading that right now. I did. I told her, I was like, Oh, we're just about to do it. How was it? And she read the books as a kid, so she was just like so in heaven. And of course the pictures were gorgeous. Yeah. Because it was like a breeze was blowing and the sun was out, and there were wildflowers, and then the homes are very like quaint looking. So it was just really funny. I was like, oh my gosh, that's so ironic. Yeah. Um, so Balsam Hollow, which is the forest that inspired the haunted woods in Campbell Pond, is is there. Um, that's an actual forest in that area. And then there is an Anna Greengables museum that's located in Park Corner, Prince Edward Island, in the home that inspired her. Cute. Yeah. So there are real places kind of based on it. Cute. Uh, and then there's actually, so this is this is so fun. There's a replica of the Greengables house in Cavendish. So the replica's not in Cavendish. A replica of that house is located in the theme park, Canadian World in Japan.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

What? Yeah. Theme park in Japan called Canada World isn't the same.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Yeah, I know. I just think that's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

All right, so we're in Canadian World.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Canadian world.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

In Japan. This is great. It is a less expensive alternative, obviously, for Japanese tourists who are Anne of Green Gables fans. I love that. It's a huge thing over there. Well, because it's like Americana, so I get it. It's like, yeah, and it hosts performances featuring actresses playing Anne and Diana. It is open during the summer season. Um, it's with free admission. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, on the Anne of Green Gables official site, they have a whole merch section. So I was just like looking at it. Oh my god, hilarious. And you know what they have are coffee mugs and journals with cloak. Did you buy one? I didn't, but I might buy this one. So one of them that's on one of the popular coffee mugs says tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it yet. Cute. I thought that was really cute. So I wrote that down. Okay, time for some fun facts. I'm ready. Anna Green Gables was almost never published. I know you would have been heartbroken. I already told you this part. She stored it in a hat box after multiple publishers rejected it. And then she dusted it off and tried again. So good for you. On the original manuscript, they still have. Um,

Japan’s Redhaired Anne Obsession

SPEAKER_01 36:05

I already told you that too. It's popular in Japan. Okay, but this is what it's called in Japan. Oh, okay. Obviously translated into the language there. Redhaired Anne. Love that. That's what it's called. Love that. And it's been included in the national school curriculum since 1952. Anne is revered as an icon in Japan, especially since 1979 when the story was broadcast as an anime. Ooh. Interesting. And Japanese couples will travel to Prince Edward Island to have civil wedding ceremonies on the grounds of the Green Gables Farm. And Japanese girls arrive as tourists and boys with red-dyed hairstyled and pigtails to look like Anne. Oh, that's funny. I just think that's so cute. Well, because red hair is such like a uh a rarity, probably. You know. Yeah. Yep. And if you you figure if you learn about it in school, then everyone learns about it. It's kind of in your like educational makeup. Uh so there is, like we said, lots of adaptations, but Anne of Green Gables, the musical. The musical. The musical, which Sarah told me about a while ago, because we actually looked to see if it was like something we could get ready to. Don't ask me to go. I'll be Marilla.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

There you go. No, I'm just kidding. I don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Yeah. I bet she's an alto.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

I hope every alto out there saw that shade she just threw to us in that moment. Wow. But I said I like Marilla. Right. But we were talking about how she's grumpy and all this stuff. She's I bet she's an alto. Mm-hmm. Well, I don't know. I guess. Now we know what first sopranos really think about us every time. She's probably a first soprano.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

You're gonna be like, see? See? No, because we know it's fine. It's fine. Don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

She's all right, because altos bring the depth.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

They do. They really do. And the nuance.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

I'll add the making up for it now.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Don't tell my friends. Okay. So it ran every summer from 1965 to 2019 at the Confederation Center of the Arts, which is in Canada. Of course, in 2020, it stopped running, but it is back. It is, this is crazy. It's running this summer, and it's run the past couple summers. It opened yesterday. Are you going? No. Well, maybe. No. You know why? It runs every weekend through September 5th. Ah, you're right. Which is it's running this.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

That's why you're not going. You know why? Because it's in Canada. That's why. That's why I'm not going. It's the exact same run dates of our show. Yeah, because if it wasn't, you'd be there.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Otherwise, I'd be in Canada, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

To see Ann of Green Caples, the musical. I did look up if you can license it. That particular version I couldn't find that it's licensable, but Musical Theater International does have a version. Ooh. It's a one act. Have you listened to? Oh, it's not a musical. Oh, it is a musical, but it's only a musical one act, one act. It wasn't labeled as a junior, but I think it's for young performers. Okay. Like I think it's for like teenagers or whatever. Um, that's Evelyn Nesbitt. We're gonna put that on this little tiny rabbit hole quickly. Uh oh, was this from Reddit? Yes. And I found it on the Anna Green Gable site, too. She almost didn't want to tell me. I'm like, ah, I can't look at Reddit. I'm too tired to lie. Okay. So Evelyn Nesbitt, Montgomery. So, you know how we were saying maybe she had some feelings she didn't understand about her sexuality. Okay. Well, here's a little more proof of that. She clipped out this picture of Evelyn Nesbitt and she hung it on her bedroom wall. She was the model for the face of Ann Shirley and a reminder of her youthful idealism and spirituality.

SPEAKER_03 39:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

So Evelyn Nesbitt is considered an icon in the Gilded Age of American theater, and she's kind of scandalous because she became involved with a famous married Manhattan architect, Stanford White, when she was still a teenager. So then later, she married a millionaire, Harry Kendall, a man known for his extreme instability and jealousy. So in 1906, her husband Harry shot and killed Stanford White during a rooftop performance at Madison Square Garden, claiming he did so to defend Nesbitt's honor. Damn. Yeah. She is cute. She's already. So the subsequent trial from that was like a massive media sensation, dubbed the trial of the century. And the public was like just wanting to hear all the lurid details of wealth, exploitation, and obsession. And other things like Chicago. The musical was based on a lot of things, including this case.

SPEAKER_02 40:47

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, they both, oh yes, they both, oh yes, they both. It was in 1906.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

1906, so it was earlier than Chicago set, but like the idea of like wealth and love and jealousy and murder and all those drama.

Subtext, Neurodivergence And Labels

SPEAKER_01 41:00

And beautiful women. Beautiful women. Beautiful women like Nesbitt, Evelyn. I couldn't remember her first name. Okay, some social discussions surrounding the book. We already talked about the queer subtext. Yes. Um modern readers and literary critics noticed intense, passional, passionate emotional bonds between Anne and her female friends, particularly Diana.

SPEAKER_02 41:20

I mean, on the uh on the flip side of things, that is let's let's be real. Women do form deep friendships and relationships not of a sexual nature as well, especially when you're that young. Agree. And especially because Anne hasn't had strong relationships at all with anyone. Yes. And she's like so thirsty for just a good quality relationship. To be fair, like I can remember having friendships as a child that felt so important. Totally. You know, and like that that were not of a crushed nature or of a sexual nature, but they were just like so important, and like I had to hang out with them all the time and I loved them so much. And I saw my kids have friendships like that too.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Um, so I will say on the flip side of things, that is a possi that that is right, I totally think, especially because the author, Montgomery, did experience that herself. Right. She also went through that. Right. And probably whoever her first real friend was, she remembers feeling that, you know, just that we're human nature. We want people to love us and accept us and want to be with us, and that can be really intense, you know, when you're young.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Well, and we're you're we are made for connection, like we are made for community, like we just are like from the dawn of time, like we need each other. And when you don't have each other, you do feel like something's off. So then when you have it, it's like, oh yay! Like totally. It's like a puzzle piece clicks into place that hasn't been there yet.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

So anyway, I agree with that. And then obviously, I told you in later novels, she goes on to marry Gilbert. Uh, but then also there's some talk about great Aunt Josephine Barry, who is um grieving the loss of her lifelong female partner, Gertrude. When was this? This is in later books. Oh, okay. And they describe it as a Boston marriage. What is that? I looked it up. It's not um queer specific. It's just like women two widows live together.

SPEAKER_02 43:30

It's like older girls.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

Yeah, yeah. Basically.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

I'm here for that when I'm older. If that happens to me.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

Me too. If that happens to me, give me a Boston marriage. And as I mentioned, that Netflix adaptation Anne with an E does have more specific LGBTQ storylines. Um also, when you look at Anne's personality, again, all the things you just described could be that, and we didn't have words for this back then, but some critics and modern readers view her as either being on the Autism spectrum or having ADHD. Oh, ADHD for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Because, you know, of all the things that she could she would like daydream and they'd be like, Ann, I told you to. And she's like, Yeah, but then I did this and that and this and that. I'm like, girl, I feel that.

SPEAKER_01 44:12

Yeah. The like lack of focus and the easily distracted. She misses unspoken social rules. She misinterprets conventions. But she also wasn't part of that society till she was 11. Right. So she's that. So there's that. Um, and she's she has a lot of hyperfixation for different things, which again, we all get excited about different things. And also there's nothing wrong with having a DHD or being on the autism spectrum. But these could be interpreted whatever way you really want them to be. And then she's also extremely sensitive to her surroundings, and she becomes completely absorbed in her thoughts, which is a neurodivergent experience.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

Oh, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

Yeah. So anyway, and obviously, like Lucy Montgomery wouldn't have had any way to label any of that other than just this is just the personality of the character I'm describing. Well, and I mean, do we need the label?

SPEAKER_02 45:05

Nope. I mean, it doesn't. I think we always have to wonder, like, what will a label be beneficial for a certain reason? Like if you're trying to have access to resources or you need, you know, assistance medically or something like that, a label is helpful in those kind of diagnoses. Sure. But for Anne's story, it's not doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

It doesn't matter. If you are neurodivergent or identify with any of those things, you can still see yourself in her character without a label. Oh, of course. You can feel seen and you can feel like, oh, that's something I would have done, or I wish I could have said that, or I've felt that way before, right? And the best, the best books have characters who do that, and not always. And we know now too, modern stories, right? It is important maybe to have a label on something for um representation. Well, right, yeah. Right. But to to have to go back to something from that far ago, it's I think it's okay just to be like, I don't know, like if you see it that way, that's probably fine. And I see it this way and you know, feel seen or heard or whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:13

And it doesn't I feel like people were trying to say like Anne was quote unquote wrong in how she thought, but then eventually they would come around to be okay with it.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Right. So she definitely pushed pushed the boundaries of like the people around her and stuff. And I think that's part of the reason the character of her has endured. Oh yeah. Even though, like you said, maybe some of the writing's a little boring or outdated, not bad, just maybe not what we would want to read today.

SPEAKER_02 46:39

And some of it focused so much on like appearance, which I yeah, I have that in mind. Like it's like, God, this has been since the dawn of time. Women feel inadequate. We were just talking before we hit record about feeling inadequate. Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

But I I will say we both said, but we know like that's just our heads and we're no, we we recognize it, but it still is a thing. It still exists, yeah.

Pros, Cons And What’s Next

SPEAKER_01 47:00

I mean, that's what I have now, are just generally thoughts on the book. I didn't go like thing by thing, but I had like pros and cons. Let's hear them. So the pros I said that she is her own person. She does have to conform in some ways, but she's she kind of stands out. And as a reader, you appreciate that for all the times you felt like that, like an outsider or someone trying to be included, and but you don't know the rules of where you are. And so I think like I s as a kid for sure, and even now, I see myself in those things, and I appreciate that. And also just as an idyllic world where she lives, like even as a kid, I always wanted to go there. Still never been there. I would go on your list. I would go see the musical next week. No, just kidding. Well, um you make choices. I just think there's something to even though it's a real life place, it feels inaccessible for most readers. So it's kind of fun to like read about it and the the descriptions of where she was and all that were I just thought were really, really lovely.

SPEAKER_03 48:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:02

What did you like about the book? Well, it was well written and it was good. I mean, she's a good writer, you know, and Anne was cute. She was funny, like she had moments where and I thought Marilla was funny with her dry humor. I mean, it was in it was an endearing book. It just was too long. I feel like if it wasn't as long as it was, I may have liked it a little more. So that well, I threw in a con there, but and also I didn't like I didn't like um the constant talk about appearance, yeah. And like how people just kind of reinforce to her, like it's fine to be plain.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Right.

SPEAKER_02 48:39

I heard that. I mean, she was likable. I didn't I mean I didn't dislike Anne. Right. I mean, she was cute, and I liked I like I said, I liked Rachel McAdams narrating. I think if I would have tried to read this in print, I don't know if I would have made it.

SPEAKER_01 48:53

Yeah. No, it's good. It's good that we had that up. I know, honestly. So the cons, I did say like all the time they spend on how she talks about how she doesn't like she looks, but she does like her nose. Okay. Don't forget. There's one good thing about her. What is that sex in the city scene where they're all looking in the mirror? And Sarah Jessica Parker or Carrie mentions her nose, and then um Charlotte's like, Oh, I'll see your nose and raise my chin, and they're all like pointing things out at the and she's like, What? And they all and they all stop and stare at her, and she's like, What? I I love myself. Yeah. Well they do that in mean girls too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway. Um, so she does like her nose, but anyway, um, I didn't like the idea that you could just like return a whole child if it wasn't what you expected. That not to get too in the weeds. I'm pretty sure you can still do that, not necessarily gender-based. What? But I think there's like a trial period for adoptions, which I do understand. It's a huge life decision, but well, I know with fostering too, like that's a whole, yeah. I yeah, I'm sure there's a whole again, I am not a professional there, so I don't want to delve into it, but I think that's still a thing. Um, Gilbert's mean to her, but then like we know later she ends up loving him and marrying him. It's that whole boys will be boys narrative that is gross.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

And if they like you, they're gonna be mean to you and they're gonna tease you and make you feel bad about yourself. Yeah. Yes, no, that's that face. And we just say, Okay, ha ha. Must have a crush on you. But I mean, I did like the moment where she was like, she's like, you cannot say that me, crack on the head. I was like, Yeah, okay, violence isn't the answer, Anne, my dear, but also he's judged.

SPEAKER_01 50:36

Yeah. I mean, it's a definitely memorable moment, that's for sure. And then I just said, uh, I know just because I read about the later books, but we already talked about this, where she's a housewife and the books are just about her kind of domestic life, which again, there is nothing wrong if most of even in modern times, most of your life resolves revolves around your home and what you do domestically. I just think that people people wanted more for her. They wanted more for her. But things happen to your life. Yeah. And maybe she changed her mind. Yeah. I mean, maybe. And you know, she was portrayed as as happy in those books.

SPEAKER_02 51:13

Society be telling you things that you're supposed to be doing, especially back then.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

So uh and it sounds like even she, the author, Montgomery, got her degree and she eventually it's interesting because in this book, uh, Matthew, you know, spoilers, yeah, um, dies. Yeah. And so that means that she has to come back and comes back, and she's supposed to teach at the school that's kind of far. So that's sort of like Gilbert's redemption arc because he has the job at the local school. Right. And he lets her have it so she can be closer to home, which is kind of nice. But it's interesting because then when I read about Montgomery's real life, that kind of happened to her. She was away and then her grandfather died, she came back, okay, and she remained there. But she obviously made the most of it and still got to do what she wanted to do. And she seemed like a pretty nice person. What other thoughts on this book? Or are you just glad to um have it done? Are we?

SPEAKER_02 52:16

Did you watch the mini series, the the newest one?

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Mm-mm. No, I didn't have time. I'd like to, though. Especially now that I've freshly read this and done some research. I think it would be interesting to watch. No, I have nothing.

SPEAKER_02 52:28

Speaking of watching things, this is the last version of Xennial Girl Summer, and then we're starting my so-called life rewatch. We're gonna watch the pilot episode, and I'm gonna do research for next week. Cool. And then we're gonna watch three episodes every week, and that's what we're gonna talk about. Because that'll take six-ish weeks. Six weeks because there's 19 episodes. Right. So that's what we're doing next. We are no longer doing two episodes a week, guys. It's too much. We cannot keep we cannot keep this uh train going.

SPEAKER_01 53:00

No, and it was it was great for Dawson's Creek, but yeah, it's okay. We and we have such a library, you know, too. I think when we first started, I I wanted to have like a good archive of stuff for people to listen to when they found us, but we have you know 225 episodes now, so we don't necessarily have to double and triple in all the things. And uh so if you were a My So-Called Life fan or you've been wanting to watch it like me for the last 30 years, I cannot wait to rewatch it. I've never obviously I know the premise, I know who's in it because I was alive when it came out and it was everywhere, but I'm actually excited to get to actually watch it.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

I know. So sneak peek, I started research this morning just for like 15 minutes, and I realized I was like, God, what was it going on in my life at the time when this show came out? It came out when I started my freshman year of high school, and that's exactly the plot line of Claire Dane's character. Really? Yes. Okay, and I was remember my friend Katie and I oh and I have to message her once we start doing this. We were obsessed with this show, and it makes so much sense now why it kind of and I think that was the narrative for a lot of people. It just and you'll see when you start watching it. Um so that's what it was. It was like perfect timing for what was about to happen or what was happening in my life. In your life, yeah. It's awesome. I'm looking at what's next, guys.

SPEAKER_01 54:28

So if you want to join us, yeah, they're on Apple TV, I think. Apple TV? Okay, great. That was gonna be my next question. Yep. So join us for my so-called life. And if you missed any of our Zennial Girl Summer episodes, they are all live for you now. This will go in live. And um, I'm sure we'll do it again next summer. Yeah, we will. And um I enjoy it. I've I enjoyed the things that you had me watch and read this summer. Well, except for some of it. You didn't like Days Computing. We were not, we were not Yes, but that was my pick. I'm thanking you because you had good picks. Well, you have good picks, too. You had Harry and the Hendersons in Space Camp.

SPEAKER_02 55:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:04

And then you had the mixed up files and Ramona.

SPEAKER_02 55:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:07

And those I loved them all.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Well, no, we all we both have good picks. Even when I don't like love it, I'm glad I reread it. That's true. Do you know?

SPEAKER_00 55:14

Yeah, I wasn't like Sweet Valley. Sweet Valley was was a ride.

SPEAKER_02 55:19

So at the very least, it was interesting. That was a good discussion. Well, and it was interesting to revisit because I don't remember it being like that. I don't remember it being that bad.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

I knew it would be a little bit like soap opera-esque. I know, but it was like page one. I know. All right, y'all. All right. See you next week. We will see you next week here on Generation in Between. Bye, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 55:39

You gotta get your movie.