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Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

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Faith86
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Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

I resently watched the first season of RTA and fell in love with it (yeah I have mentioned it before emoticon

), and this week I also reread The Story Girl. I hadn't read the book since I was 14/15 years old, and had forgotten most of it. I only remembered the names of the characters and the atmosphere.

It was probably a good thing that I started watching RTA before I reread TSG, since that was I could see RTA as what it is and not as what it should have been.

Because even thou RTA is based on TSG etc. it's not the same thing. So much has been changed. Sullivan has taken bits from here and there and put it together in a different way to LMM's. The most noticable is that the characters aren't exactly the same. Take The Story Girl. She is very different to Sara in RTA. Not just in age. In TSG she is 15 and the oldest, while in RTA she is 10 and one of the yougest. RTA Sara isnt really a story girl. The Story Girl is such a beautiful character. What she and RTA Sara have in common is that neither cares very much about what others think and both dare to be different. But that's about it. They are two differnet characters.

Well, I could write forever about all the things that have been changed...

But it's not nesessarily negative that Sullivan has changed things. He has created a different story, his own story. A story that probably works better on the screen, and yes, appeals to the public more. But the most importnat thing is still there: the atmosphere of the LMM books. When I was bashing Anne3 what made me most angry was that the AOGG atmosphere was gone, just not there. But in RTA it is very much there.

I think it can even be seen as a good thing that Sullivan has made so many changes, because this enables me to see The Story Girl/The Golden Road and Road to Avonlea as two different stories.

What's your opinion about the way Sullivan changed things when adapting the books to what now is RTA? What changes do you like? What do you wish he hadn't changed? How do you see the relationship between the TSG books and RTA? Which do you prefer? If you read the books before you watched the tv series, how did you feel about the changes?

Let's discuss! emoticon

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1/20/2007, 3:45 am

HistoryMiner
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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

quote:
Faith86 wrote:When I was bashing Anne3 what made me most angry was that the AOGG atmosphere was gone, just not there. But in RTA it is very much there.

That is how I feel as well. RtA kept the spirit of the source material. Anne 3 was ridiculously out-there.

I didn't mind the changes that much, though I think he did neglect the characters of Cecily, Andrew and Peter, and they were interesting in the books (Andrew being Beverly).

I've also read that the story was made more Anne-ish, with a female protagonists and with Aunt Hetty being created as a Marilla-esque character.

1/20/2007, 12:14 pm

Annelover
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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

I'm just starting to read "The Story Girl". It's true that Sara in the books and Sara in the series are two very different characters. But I'm glad the way Sara Stanley is in RtA. In the book she is very interesting too, but I think the way KS portrayed her character in the RtA movies goes more with the stories. I can't wait to really get into the books after Rilla of Ingleside. I've had them for two years but I never bothered reading past Rilla of Inlgeside since it had nothing to do with Anne. But after watching a bit of RtA, I see that most of the episodes come from the books.

I started watching RtA after I watched the Anne movies about 100 times and red the book series three times. I guess I just wanted something new that was related to Anne and Avonlea. So as soon as I saw the RtA movies, I was so excited to watch them.

Last edited by Annelover, 1/20/2007, 2:13 pm

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1/20/2007, 2:11 pm

RillaBlythe
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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

I read the books first and was somewhat confused by the changes in RTA at first. I kept telling my mother, "but Sara isn't supposed to look like that..." and so on. I like the books and tv series equally though... well, maybe the tv series a tiny bit more. The changes bothered me a little at first, but not too much. I fell in love with the series pretty much right away and was just really happy to be seeing something else based on LMM's books that followed the spirit of the books. The main things that bothered me, are what others often mentioned - neglecting Cecily and Peter.

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1/20/2007, 2:49 pm

AvFan4vr
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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

Normally I like books better, but RtA was so much different (in many ways) than the The Story Girl (and Golden Road) that it doesn't really, in a way, seem like it was taken from the books.
I do mind the facts that they ditched Peter and left Cecily speechless. emoticon

I think it's really neat how Sullivan would take a chapter out of Chronicles of Avonlea (and Further CoA) and make it into an episode.

If anyone is interested you can check out the list of stories from Chronicles of Avonlea here.

It's been a while since I read The Story Girl. I should reread it. Maybe my opinion would change. :b

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1/20/2007, 6:36 pm

Faith86
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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

I agree about that the characters of Cecily and Peter were neglected. I wonder why Sullivan made Cecily such a minor character. The only reason I can think of is that he would have thought there was too many major characters already. In the book Cecily serves as a contrast to Felicity, and contrasitive characters are always good for a story.

As for Peter. Well I really wanna know who Gus is to get an idea why Peter was ditched for him.

That Aunt Hetty wasn't in the book really surprised me. Aunt Hetty is such a Montgomerian character.

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1/21/2007, 5:41 am

EmilyofDreams
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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

She *is* such a Montgomerian character isn't she? There are some things that Sullivan messed up, but others that he did so well, we must forgive him for those other things! Aunt Hetty is one of them. She effuses LMMishness.
Kudos to Sullivan! You really did get the heart of Avonlea, and we love you for it.

Also, you will see Gus soon enough. He *isn't* completely Peter - he is rather a mix of a few different ones. Perry from the Emily books is definitely another one with whom several qualities of his character has drawn upon.
He is another one that very much fits a character that is very Montgomerian. I know you will adore Gus from his first appearance. I can't wait for you to see him!

1/22/2007, 1:12 pm

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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

I like them both for different reasons-and I'm fine with the changes Sullivan made. The books are full of pages about the King trees, for example, and while interesting and poetic in a book-would be incredibly boring on film. There's no conflict. They're a bunch of family trees. So I like them both emoticon

1/22/2007, 9:36 pm

Faith86
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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

I received season 2 this week, and finally today I had time to watch the first two episodes.

Well, allthou it's too early to say really, I definitely like Guss. He seems funny. The episode How Kissing Was Discovered is just brilliant. Many people's favorite I've understood. I expected to be a bit younger, and not so much older than the rest. He is definitely quite different from Peter, sertainly a bit like Perry. But the difference in age makes the relationships a bit different, since Guss appears protective and somebody to look up to. Hmm, I need to see more to really know about Guss.

And Peter was actually still there too. Atleast in episode 1. Which by the way was quite awful. Why did Sullivan need to kill off Blair Stanley all of sudden? That was totally unnechessary. That episode was by far the worst I have seen so far. Totally silly. LMM would never have had a death and a kidnapping in the same chapter, not even in the same book probably. In fact the whole kidnapping thing seems out of place. It's a bit Anne3ish. To combine all this with a death even feels unfeeling, and the death and its inpact isn't developed at all. And in the next episode Sara seems to be well over it.

But I expect ep 1 was an expectation.

Last edited by Faith86, 1/25/2007, 8:24 am

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1/25/2007, 7:35 am

CoreyAnn
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Re: Road to Avonlea vs The Story Girl

I just started reading The Story Girl myself (that I bought where she wrote it in PEI, ### they even stamped it for me which to me is like having it signed by LMM herself, am I a dork or what?). I'm not very far into it but I love it so far.

There are a lot of differences but there always is with Sully's stuff. It's odd how he switched all of the cousins around and eliminated Dan but then again, I think Felicity definitely has more of a Type A older child thing going so it makes sense - and he made her smart where in the book she is not bright.

I just love the descriptions though in TSG. I've had The Golden Road and the other Avonlea stories forever but I've held off reading them until I read this one. I can't wait to finish my LMM reading!

1/25/2007, 11:55 am

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