[INTERVIEW] Green Gables Fables

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Since Jan. 2014, Youtuber AnneWithAnE has been uploading weekly vlogs documenting her life in Avonlea with her foster caregivers Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. She and her friends interact on a variety of social media sites, including Twitter and Instagram. On the surface, Anne and her friends seem completely normal, but this is not the case. Anne and her friends are fictional.

There are few children’s stories as timeless as Anne of Green Gables. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s stories have been adapted in dozens of different ways, the most recent being Green Gables Fables, a transmedia webseries created by Mandy Harmon, Alicia Whitson, and Marie Trotter. Whiston and Harmon came up with the initial idea together. According to Harmon, who plays the title role, “we both just kind of collaborated on what skills we had and built on what skills we didn’t have and we made it happen.”

While admirable on its own that these three young women have developed such a multi-faceted approach to a hundred-year-old story, the challenges they have had to overcome are even more remarkable. The creators are spread across different parts of the continent, with Trotter studying in Toronto, Whiston in Kansas, and Harmon in Utah.

“It’s a lot of planning and coordinating. We have schedules and charts and various documents of things just to stay organized and on schedule,” Trotter admitted. Whitson agreed, adding the differences in time zone create additional difficulties.

The innovation of Green Gables Fables is commendable and it captures the same spirit and energy of the original story. Trotter, the Transmedia Director, is in charge of running the social media profiles of all the major characters in the story.

“Everyone uses social media differently, so figuring that out was a process for me, like how do these people interact, what do they share, and what do they not tell people on the internet? It’s an interesting world,” she explained.

Trotter is not the only one who finds she can get lost in the characters. Harmon, who is graduating from high school this spring, described the uncanny feeling of being in the same position as her role.

“It’s been an interesting experience to play someone who is going through the same things I’ve been going through […] It makes it easier to play, but also harder because [there’s] a lot more emotion involved.”

Green Gables Fables has had an effect on thousands of viewers, as seen by the multiple comments each video garners.

“It’s really refreshing to have a story that’s just about this girl who’s optimistic. And bad things do happen, but she always comes back and has this happiness and hope and I think it’s really cool,” Whitson said.

Trotter finds it exciting that their interpretation has been used to teach Anne of Green Gables in schools.

“It makes it relevant for people and it refreshes the source material,” she said.

With Green Gables Fables, Harmon, Whitson, and Trotter have proven the timelessness of Montgomery’s characters, and Harmon believes, “Anne Shirley’s story is like a coming of age story for people of all ages. Adapting it to the modern world brings it to life for everyone […] I hope we’re doing the original story justice.”

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