If you remember last year, I was completely obsessed with The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I still maintain that it is one of the best things to happen on the internet and will continue to encourage people to watch it. Immediately.
For those of you completely unaware, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a modern adaptation of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. It is presented as vlogs on Youtube hosted by Lizzie Bennet. She is joined by her sisters, friends, and other characters from the original novel that have been updated to be part of today's world.
In it's entirety, there's about 9 and a half hours of content to watch. And every bit of it is worth it.
But I'm not here to hash out the plot or explain what happens. You can go watch it and see for yourself. Anyone who's read the book has a general idea of what happens...but it's still great to see the modern twists on certain plot elements.
I instead want to focus on a few points.
The first, Lydia. In the novel and any other adaptation up to this point, I could not stand Lydia Bennet. Lydia, as portrayed in those, is flighty and boy-crazy and lacks much more character development than that. She instead serves as more of a plot point to give Darcy a way to make amends for some of his prior actions. Lydia (or as she calls her self "the Ly-di-yaaaaa") in this adaptation is fleshed out. We get to see her struggling with school and struggling to fit in with her sisters. We see her pain as she realizes that Lizzie doesn't really understand her. We see her struggle because she doesn't have the close relationship that Lizzie and Jane have. And ultimately, we see how vulnerable she is. She posts a vlog where she talks about how she finally feels "good enough." The way they treat the George Wickham storyline is completely different and we see him as a manipulative jerk who uses Lydia and her feelings to his advantage. And most importantly...when Lydia breaks down, we as the audience felt for her. Lydia became so much more in this adaptation. I remember watching the video where she finally breaks down the first time and having to pause it because I was crying too hard. As Lydia Bennet sobs and asks the question that many people have asked themselves when a relationship has ended...we feel for her.
My second point I want to focus on is the relationships the show built amongst the female characters. We see Lizzie and Jane have such a close relationship, but we also see how Jane challenges Lizzie to think about things in a more positive way, just as we see Lizzie remind Jane to think realistically. We see how Jane cares for Lydia, and we see Lizzie and Lydia go through so much. Lizzie and Charlotte have a fleshed out relationship as we watch their drama play out on camera for us. While Pride and Prejudice has always been a novel about love and overcoming pride, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries became a story of these women and how they are going to change the world....the love stories almost become the "B-plot." Almost.
I also enjoy that at the end, the girls do not drop everything they are passionate for to be with the men they love. I really love the fact that this show does this. Jane goes to New York to work on fashion, and tells Bing that she will not drop that and that he can't ask it of her because it's unfair to ask her to drop her entire life for him. And even when he asks to go with her, she does it on her terms. They get their happy ending, but it is very much how SHE wants it to be. The same goes for Lizzie. Instead of going to work for Darcy and his company, she decides to start her OWN company, conveniently located in the same city he works in. But she's doing it on her own...making her own mark in the digital media world. I think it is SO important that this show has these strong female characters who show that you CAN have it all. You CAN have the career, the ambition, the dreams AND still have a loving caring relationship with friends, family, and the person you love. I feel like a lot of media today doesn't portray that. As someone who is in a career I truly enjoy and could never imagine giving up, this gives me so much hope.
In rewatching this series I found so many things that I missed the first time around...but also had so many things that I still love just as much as I did the first time. And then when the Lizzie Bennet channel on Youtube released a NEW VIDEO LAST WEEK....well, the fandom...broke. While it's a marketing thing for the new DVDs and book...still. It was great to see that they really did get their happy ending.
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