#Lucy Maud was (imo) a little scared of men and romance

[itspileofgoodthings]

I think the fundamental part of growing up re: Anne of Green Gables is that Gilbert Blythe is such a good idea but Lucy Maude didn’t spend enough time on him to make him a fully real person.

#I love him in the first book #and I think there are real flashes! But she kind of won’t … give you any more of him #and listen. It’s complicated because I LOVED them so much growing up and I think genuinely their romance taught me a lot about life and lov #the idea of it is so right and good #but in this case the tv series is better I think because he’s more of a real person #Lucy Maud was (imo) a little scared of men and romance #and her execution of Gilbert is that she forgot to give him enough to be his own person #like she just didn’t put in the work #the readers of Anne of green gables did!! And they’re so valid for that #Like I have this whole meta I wrote about him once and it is honestly such a good meta and I think it gets to the heart of the idea #but the execution just isn’t there. Especially with time #She was deeply uninterested in doing any underground work for his character so he isn’t terribly real #you know who made me realize this? Coach Taylor lol #well. Coach Taylor and Emma #And listen it’s not like Gilbert is actually evil. He is NOT and what is there is good! But it isn’t technically artistically enough #for it to endure #idk I’m not explaining it well also I feel mean even saying it #But I feel like I’m allowed to because I DID love them so much and they were so important to me #and their love story gets something so right!!!!!! The shape is so good!!!!! I still got all of that #it’s just imo one of her limitations #like she had all the right instincts to make Anne’s partner his own person #Someone who sometimes pushes back #But #idk because like. I can still do all the work of it and fill in all those spaces and I want to #the romance in Anne of the island still has me in a chokehold!!!!!! #I LOVE pining Gilbert and the flashes there. because it almost disguises the lack of substance. But yeah it’s not what it looks like #Idk I might delete but #I just wanted to share