The new Netflix adaptation of the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables has been revised to include multiple homosexual characters, according to the series creator, Moira Walley-Beckett.
In the Northwood Entertainment-produced series, “Anne With an E,” the beloved character Great Aunt Josephine Barry is the first of many LGBT characters in the series.
“Upon reading (the novel) again as an adult, I was wondering about Aunt Jo,” Walley-Beckett told IndieWire. “In the book, she’s a spinster, and she’s just a bit of a curmudgeon, and that’s kind of it.”
“So I’m like, ‘Well, she’s coming to the Barrys for a month and she’s grieving;’ that’s why I decided to justify why she’s there: Who is she grieving?” Walley-Beckett continued.
Aunt Jo revealed in Season 1 that she was grieving over the loss of a character known as Aunt Gertrude, Josephine’s partner.
IndieWire reports their relationship is what’s called a “Boston marriage,” when two women live together without being supported financially by a man. The term didn’t exist during the time period of the show.
“And so we touch on that in Season 1, and in Season 2 we get to expand upon it in a way that allows her to provide a forum of acceptance,” she continued.
That “forum of acceptance” is known as a “queer soirée.” In Season 2, Aunt Jo holds her first queer soirée since the passing of her partner.
“It was very exciting for me and the writers to create that,” Walley-Beckett continued. “We’ve been talking about the queer soirée, which is how we refer to it, since we all first sat down together.” {eoa}
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