“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man
in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” Or so goes the
classic line from Jane Austen’s most well-known novel, Pride and Prejudice. But maybe you're thinking: a classic novel from over two-hundred years ago? Who
cares? Bring me the Internet! Bring me technology! And for Pete’s Sake, bring
me a flushable toilet!
Well, Amanda and Jaime are here to bring you the best of
both Austen’s world and our own through The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
(source)
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is an interactive, transmedia,
modern adaptation of Austen’s novel of Pride and Prejudice. Basically, Lizzie
Bennet is a young lady in the midst of grad school, vlogging about the
adventures of her life and the craziness of her family. But it’s not just
vlogging. It’s re-telling Austen’s novel with a modern twist, which allows for
the story to be told through YouTube “vlog” videos, tweets, Facebook posts, and
the like. The story is told by bringing together the wonders of social media on
the Internet to create an experience never done before. It’s technology at its
finest while keeping intact the same message about social class, love, and
family interactions from the two-hundred year old novel. It’s the best of both
Austen’s world and our own. And it’s fabulous.
Here’s why.
1. It's one the best adaptations.
Jaime: For me, book-to-movie adaptations are super important. I
want to support them in the movie-making business, but sometimes I can be super
picky about how they turn out. (Some changes are completely unnecessary and do
ruin the concept of the book.) There are many, many film adaptations of Pride
and Prejudice by Jane Austen. When I say many, I mean many. There’s one from
the 1940s, there are several from the 80s-90s era, and there’s probably one too
many from the last decade.
I’ve seen many of them; I’ve enjoyed most of them (Some are
just terrible and Austen would hate them too). There are always changes to
different parts that I can be somewhat uptight about. But when it comes to The
Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I’m sold. The changes make sense when they’ve adapted the story to
the modern world of Youtube and web diaries, technological companies, and the
social classes we have today. For me, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is one of the
best (if not the best) adaptation I’ve ever watched. It hits every important
part of the origin tale in a creative, interactive way. It keeps the overall
message of pride and prejudice, social class, reasons for marrying, etc. but
fit it into terms we, today, understand. Would Austen have loved it? I don’t
know. But it does a dang good job of taking a two-hundred year old story and
making it fun, entertaining, and true to the story.
Amanda: “Best” is a hard term
to prove. After all, we all know that the 90’s adaptation is the best, right?
(Which I actually haven’t seen.) But I can say that The Lizzie Bennet
Diaries is definitely my favorite
adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Everything is captured so well and nothing
seems out-of-place. Everything feels like Pride and Prejudice actually would be
like in a modern setting. Lydia would throw crazy parties. Lizzie would be a
huge nerd. Their mother would be crazy and Southern. It makes sense.
I’ve always loved the concept of “throw well-loved
characters in a modern setting and see how they would act.” And The Lizzie
Bennet Diaries takes this and does it so well.
2. The concept is original.
When The Lizzie Bennet Diaries first released in the spring
of 2012, nothing like it had been done before. Sure, people have taken classic
stories and modernized them before (A few have even been done for Pride and
Prejudice). This concept wasn’t new. What was new was the format: a web-series on YouTube. Not only was it easy to access the episodes on various YouTube accounts (and it was free), but the
characters felt like real people in the world. They had Twitter accounts, Pinterest pages, Tumblrs, and Facebooks. Things were posted outside of the YouTube videos to help tell the story in a transmedia, multiplatform
experience. It wasn’t just “another” adaptation to watch. It was an adaptation
to interact with, to live in.
Lizzie felt real--like she could be a girl sitting in her
room making web diaries about her life. The camera set-up, the storyline’s
movement, and the characterization, it all felt real. This gave a whole new
twist on the Pride and Prejudice we know. I remember watching it “live” (aka as
they posted videos and tweets) and being able to visit the scandalous website
of the Incident (it’s currently unavailable if you go to the URL). It was crazy
how in-world they developed the story and characters.
I loved every moment. Every interaction, every piece of the
puzzle that came together to tell this classic tale (Also, you can follow the entire story on the Pemberley Digital website as it originally went down)
I didn’t start watching until quite a while after it was
over, and I think I watched the whole thing in...2? 3 days? It’s that good.
This was like nothing I had ever seen before, and at first it might sound kind
of crazy. A modern-day adaptation of Pride and Prejudice? In the form of a
vlog? How is that even going to work?
But it did! And it’s one of the coolest and original things
I’ve ever seen. They pull it off so well without it being over-the-top or
anybody seeming out of character and I just love it.
3. The sister's relationships are so realistic.
Since I have a strong relationship to my sister, I think
realistic sister relationships in fiction are important. In fact, they’re one
of my favorite things to discuss when it comes to fandom. It’s well-known that
Pride and Prejudice, as well as other Austen novels, perform a variety of
sister interactions, specifically between the five Bennet sisters. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
is exceptional at keeping the important sister relationships in the adaptation.
While The Lizzie Bennet Diaries adapt the five sisters into
three (with one cat named Kitty and one cousin named Mary), it still works.
Today, most families have 2-3 children. Having five children would have been a
stretch for most of society to relate to. In addition, keeping it to three kept
the number of characters and interactions in the web diaries to a minimal to
avoid confusion and chaos. Plus, in a way they combined Lydia and Kitty in the
way Lizzie treats her throughout the entire series. I think it was a smart and
effective change to the adaptation.
But the sister relationships are the center of the web
series (as they are in the novel). Their interactions, familiarity with each
other, and overall arc of their relationships are wonderful to watch unfold. It
felt real; it felt like how I interact with my sister. The dynamics worked so
well that I want to re-watch the adventures of the Bennet sisters over and over again.
Since I don’t have any sisters, I’m probably not the best
person to answer this, but I do have brothers and I think there are parts of
any sibling relationship that stay the same. They feel like real siblings. They
fight and they argue, but there are times when they have fun together. And I
think the end really shows that they care so much about each other. When the
Incident happens, Lizzie comes home with no second thought, even though her
relationship with Lydia has been very rocky. They all truly love each other,
which is what I think all siblings really do beneath the teasing and the
arguments.
4. The secondary characters are vivid and quirky.
Another aspect that is fantastic is the secondary
characters. Most times, secondary characters are pushed to the side and
forgotten easily in movies or books. But The Lizzie Bennet Diaries keeps
secondary characters at the forefront of the action. They made them distinguishable
from the other characters and they made them important. Fitz is a lovable best
friend to Darcy. He’s his own character outside of Darcy’s. Gigi (Georgina
Darcy) helps Darcy track down Wickham and Lydia, which provides more emotional
depth to her own character. She’s not just Darcy’s little sister anymore. She’s
her own character, she makes her own friendship with Lizzie, and she has her
own story. Even Charlotte Lu is more important than simply marrying (or
becoming a business partner with) Mr. Collins. She’s Lizzie’s best friend; she
interacts with everything Lizzie is doing in the story.
My other favorite secondary character is probably Bing Lee
(Mr. Bingley). They capture his fun-loving and sweet spirit so well, that it
becomes a joy to watch him whenever he comes in. Especially his interactions
with Jane.
5. The costume theatre is a unique way to develop characters.
The costume theatre is truly unique to the Austen adaptation.
It not only brought lots of laughs to the vlog and helped add more dimension,
but it built up the suspense. We get to see the Bennet sisters from the start,
we meet their close friends like Charlotte and yes, even Wickham, within the
first few episodes. We even see Mr. Collins’ face early on, for Pete’s Sake.
But it takes some-60 episodes until we meet the “robot” Darcy.
The only way they could have pulled off not revealing main
characters like Darcy or Bing Lee (or even their mother) was through the
costume theatre. It helped reveal the pride and prejudice of Lizzie with her
own faults of judging someone because we didn’t get to see Darcy outside of
Lizzie’s perspective until her perspective begins to change (Plus, the moment
he’s revealed is just so perfect, I squealed). It also shapes how the three
sisters view each other, which is not only hilarious but essential to how their
relationships grow and change over the course of the story.
The costume theatre is one of my favorite things about this
webseries, and it’s probably what really got me hooked on it. It’s so
interesting to see the characters' style when they portray other people. (I think
my favorite might be when Jane impersonates Darcy.)
Not only do I love it, but it really adds more dimensions to
this series besides just being comedic relief. It’s a way of getting around the
limitations that a vlog has in terms of storytelling, and it also really helps
us understand Lizzie, Jane and Lydia’s perspectives of the other characters that don't show up as much.
6. The acting is genuine despite the cast being new faces.
With any adaptation, a big struggle comes with finding the
right people for the well-known parts. A lot of fans will get angry if their
favorite character isn’t cast correctly. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries cast all-new
faces for the roles of the well-known characters. Some of them had minor roles
in other pieces before, but for the most part, this was the biggest role any of
them had been cast in.
This could be a great idea or a serious failure.
Fortunately, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was cast brilliantly despite the new
faces.
(source)
I felt every single actor did absolutely splendid in
creating the modern version of their character. Darcy was stiff and formal but
still able to be loved by the end of it. Lydia had the frivolous actions yet
you could see she knows what she’s doing; she’s not some empty-headed girl,
she’s intelligent. Jane is sweet and lovable. Lizzie is her opinionated,
stubborn self.
Everybody did so well. Perfect casting helped make the
adaptation work.
It’s nearly impossible to find perfect casting for an
adaptation. Even in really good ones, I see myself finding at least one actor
not being quite right. Maybe this was me just being picky, but I didn’t find
myself saying or thinking this about anyone in this adaptation. The casting was
fantastic.
And not only was the casting perfect, but the acting was
amazing as well. These actors may be newcomers, but they know their stuff. I
could really tell that they all cared about their roles and worked hard at
getting them right. I’m really looking to seeing what they all do in the
future!
Have you seen The Lizzie Bennet Diaries? If you have, what do you think?
