As Kevin Sullivan writes in Beyond Green Gables, even seeing winter depicted in pieces of art can create feelings of nostalgia. Sullivan was challenged with filming in the heart of the winter season when he made both Wind at My Back and Road to Avonlea. Storylines had to involve or revolve around the long season.
Historically, Sullivan says, everyone’s daily efforts required communicating with and assisting other townspeople or families on neighboring farms. But, in the end, these towns seem to embrace the winter.
“Small communities are undeterred by winter. They embrace it and live all aspects of it to their fullest,” he writes. “Outdoor celebrations are inventive and often completely improvised, according to weather conditions. It is this pre-occupation at trying to combat the potential for isolation that makes communities so close-knit and unique, as part of the common experience of living through many winters together.”
To read more from Beyond Green Gables, click here.
