Shrub Monkeys #76, Used with the artist/author's permission.Okay, kids, time to get academic! Have a No. 2 pencil and paper ready... Ah, who am I kidding? I'm not going to quiz on this! But, I do think it's time to get into another post series I have planned for you all--Lolita Literature 101 (Sans Nabokov Edition)! Every month, I plan to go over some book that I feel every lifestyle lolita should at least try. Not love, I won't put that pressure on people, but at least attempt to read for some sort of cultural or, indeed, subcultural merit.
This month being Country-Loli Month here at SFL, I'd like to discuss one of the classics, popular here in North America and over in the birthplace of Lolita, Japan: Anne of Green Gables. Written by Lucy Maud Montgomery and published in June of 1908, this novel introduced us to the daydreaming, orphaned, Canadian redhead, Anne Shirley, and kicked off an eight book series (which is better than the Potter kid can boast! Just kidding! I'm a Hufflepuff at heart). Montgomery said she was inspired by a scrap of writing she found from her school days, in which she described a couple that had sent away for an orphan boy and had accidentally gotten a girl, instead.
The tale begins at Green Gables, a farm in the little village of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island. The owners are brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who decide to adopt an orphan boy from an orphanage in Nova Scotia to help around the farm. However, there's a mix-up, and the orphan delivered is the eponymous, 11-year-old girl. She's clever, freckled, and detests her name, wishing she'd been a Cordelia. If you must call her "Anne", she insists it must be with an "E", because it's more distinguished. She proves herself to be a chatterbox and extremely imaginative, much to Marilla's constant aggravation and Matthew's constant delight.
She soon meets and makes friends with Diana Barry, Jane Andrews, and Ruby Gillis, and becomes a rival of Gilbert Blythe (see the first two frames of the above comic, and you'll see why). Throughout the book, she manages to get into numerous scrapes, including dying her hair green in her quest to be a brunette, getting Diana drunk by accident, and nearly drowning in an attempt to reenact the funeral of Elaine, the wife of Lancelot. Her intelligence and courage more than make up for her foibles, though, and she endears herself to many along the way. Despite her awkward beginning, Anne comes to consider the pastoral Avonlea and its environs as home, no matter where she goes on her path to adulthood.
As a child, I was a precocious reader. Anne of Green Gables was one of the few books my mother didn't feel the need to put on a higher shelf. It was also around this time that I wound up watching the 1985 miniseries on PBS, and it seems she's had an impact on my life. I've tried to change my name often in my life. Teachers could never say it or spell it right on the first try and I rued the fact that my father had been so adamant about my name (Mom's first choice was Brianne). I gave up in the 8th grade, resigning myself to the fact that it was my name and there was no changing it. Just as Anne wished for dark hair, I've wished to be a blond, then a redhead, after it was gently pointed out that blond hair would look ghastly on me. I've dried my hair to a crisp in search of glorious, "Anne-ish" auburn hair. So far, no luck, but I'm a bit more determined in that respect, I think. And, even before I discovered lolita, I wished for a more elegant and romantic life, often daydreaming, just like she did:
"...Now I'm going to imagine things into this room so that they'll always stay imagined. The floor is covered with a white velvet carpet with pink roses all over it and there are pink silk curtains at the windows. The walls are hung with gold and silver brocade tapestry. The furniture is mahogany. I never saw any mahogany, but it does sound SO luxurious. This is a couch all heaped with gorgeous silken cushions, pink and blue and crimson and gold, and I am reclining gracefully on it. I can see my reflection in that splendid big mirror hanging on the wall. I am tall and regal, clad in a gown of trailing white lace, with a pearl cross on my breast and pearls in my hair. My hair is of midnight darkness and my skin is a clear ivory pallor. My name is the Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald. No, it isn't—I can't make THAT seem real."
She danced up to the little looking-glass and peered into it. Her pointed freckled face and solemn gray eyes peered back at her.
"You're only Anne of Green Gables," she said earnestly, "and I see you, just as you are looking now, whenever I try to imagine I'm the Lady Cordelia. But it's a million times nicer to be Anne of Green Gables than Anne of nowhere in particular, isn't it?"
It seems that Japan is quite taken with her, having two animated series based on the books made. Some of the earliest Lolita designs from the 70's (when the first Anne anime debuted) even resemble her long calico frocks and pinafores, though those silhouettes seem to have fallen out of favor.
Culturally, Anne might very well be one of the earliest fictional foremothers of Lolita style. She struggled to make her life a little more beautiful and cheerful, no matter how dark and dreary things got, and her charm and wit made her friends no matter where she went. I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever dreamed high and still managed to keep their feet on the ground.
That's all for today, folks! Until another day, this is Brenna, wishing you lots of luck, love and living space! Remember, I'm no expert, I'm learning as I go!
No comments:
Post a Comment