As I was sitting in my written composition class today, I was a little disheartened as we discussed the essential elements that compose a good fiction story and more specifically, a good love story.
It seems that the basic necessity needed to captivate an audience is some sort of sin that consequently results in a conflict between the characters. And in the need to be unconventional, it becomes the same: there has to be a heroine (a woman who is undoubtedly attractive but not too attractive in attire), a hero (a man who is masculine but has some preconceived notion about him), clearly some chemistry despite tendencies to butt heads more than they get along, a mister or mistress standing in the way, a physical component, an emotional component and an undying need for one another. Give or take a few of these points, each story repeats a similar plot line, and unfortunately in the era we live in, sin repeats the same cycle until it is a “cultural norm.”
It is shocking how many movies and shows we subject ourselves to that give off these flashing lies and suggest it does not matter what you do if it will satisfy what you desire now, and it therefore, indirectly refuses to acknowledge the potential harm done to others in the process.
I think that is why I became so enthralled by the show “Anne with an E” on Netflix. For the most part, it was just the opposite. It felt wholesome in a way.
Disclaimer: the series, although dating back to the late 1800s, alludes to many 21st century issues and agendas that sadly have become cultural norms. However, where most television shows try to shove it down your throat, “Anne with an E” gracefully brushes by it.
If you are unfamiliar with this Netflix original, it is a show based on the 1908 novel “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Montgomery, where a young orphan girl seeks love, acceptance and a place to belong after enduring a troubled childhood.
The main character Anne is a wildly imaginative girl, and despite the hardships and complexities of love she faces, she dwells in the stronghold of her child-like innocence.
I was drawn to the shows depiction of a “child-like faith.” Nowadays, the knowledge of how to be imaginative in a physical world is lost as children are forced to grow up more quickly than anticipated.
I myself grew up pretty quickly. I have the personality type that tends to think too far ahead into the future (enneagram type six) and as a result, I tend to miss the present blessings that the Lord has so graciously bestowed upon me. The last time I remember freely playing any game, boldly making friends or effortlessly creating mythical stories was back in elementary school, and even those moments were few and far between.
I remember one moment in particular where my brother and I were at my grandma’s house. My grandmother lives on a road where her house backs up along a winding creek bed. When we would walk past the gate on her back patio, these massive oak trees would encircle us, creating a canopy above the running water just ahead. It was a new world once our feet left the patio. Instead of being regular kids, we were now explorers and adventurers looking for hidden gems and sturdy vines to cross to the other side of the water. Do not be alarmed, the creek is only about an inch deep, but we were free to imagine it differently. Both of us had starkly different imaginations, and we loved each other for it.
However, that is only one moment in my childhood that should have been filled with a multitude of moments.
What I specifically loved about “Anne with an E” was that even as Anne matured to the point of falling in love, she possessed a child-like love in which she adored a person for their inner beauty- not their physical.
Our world has been tainted with a false interpretation of love. Purity can so easily be lost. Even as wholesome as “Anne with an E” can be, the writers still do not fully get it right, and some scenes were still painful to watch.
I believe our heavenly father presents a pure love. He opens our eyes to the truths of love that are sometimes difficult to grasp.
Throughout the show, the Lord softened my heart to the true beauty of the verse, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We cannot look to the world for love; we look to Him.
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
