Consumable Avonlea: The Commodification of the Green Gables Mythology

Abstract

Résumé: L'oeuvre de L.M. Montgomery est à l'origine de formes d'expression artistique ressortissant à la culture populaire, particulièrement dans les domaines du tourisme, du spectacle et de la production de souvenirs destinés au commerce. Ces objets entretiennent des rapports intertextuels complexes et contradictoires. L'article de Jeanette Lynes analyse trois constantes de ces "produits dérivés": la nostalgie et l'idéalisation de la société campagnarde; la compétitivité dans la recherche de l"authenticité"; et, enfin, les choix iconographiques et leur orientation idéologique. Summary: The popular culture industry predicated on L.M. Montgomery's literary legacy encompasses tourism, entertainment and a wide range of artifacts for consumer purchase. These areas comprise the essence of popular culture delineated by Dominic Strinati as "a range of artifacts and social processes." Popular culture, according to John Fiske, is intertextual and shot through with contradictions. This paper examines how the marketers of the Green Gables mythology create intertextuality by contextualizing Anne products within the broader phenomenon of "countrification" — a consumer movement marketing what Raymond Williams calls a "residual culture" from an earlier era. The paper examines as well the territorial competition/or "authenticity" with respect to Anne products. Finally, the paper explores the selective iconography articulated in Green Gables marketing: in other words, which images are privileged and possible reasons why.