'There is So Much More Scope for the Imagination': Reading Anne as 1980s Children in Canada and Australia

Whenever I think of her, Anne is always a bit blurry. She’s pale-skinned, her face grainy more than freckled. A blizzard of flecks storms across her cheeks and forehead, faint grey spots that also spatter her pinafore, her ribboned hat, Avonlea’s bright blue sky. Her famous red hair is garish on our small screen, Megan Follows’ auburn braids now skewing orange, now almost yellow, the hues fickle, hard to pin down. After she foolishly dyes it, the ends of Anne’s wavy hair seem more purple or navy than green. Our VHS tape is warped from too much rewinding, so her voice is sometimes shrill, sometimes drowning in deep waters. For several unsteady seconds, Anne of Green Gables becomes a silent image. A hazy, Technicolour wobble.