The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Mentioning Jane Austen in a crowd and the reactions you’ll find are surprisingly diverse:

• “How the heck did that get into this conversation?”
• *groan*
• “Oooh!!” *ramble about Jane Austen’s books*
• “....... Jane who?”

One doesn’t want to generalize on the percentage of awareness amongst the population, so I’ll just say that in my little world, the last response is utterly shocking whereas in someone else's world it might be the most frequent and leave it at that. But even among those who do know of Jane Austen, there is definitely a sense of it being in another era - one somewhat detached from our own. Sure, the themes can be traced through to the here and now, but some of the immediate issues highlighted in the book just can’t. And so how do you make the stories relevant and accessible or at least refreshing in the world we live in?

Enter The Lizzie Bennet Diaries – a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice which is probably one of the best known of Austen’s works. Lizzie Bennet is a grad student studying for her Masters in Mass Communication. Living with her parents and her two sisters (Jane and Lydia), Lizzie finds escape from her overbearing, marriage-crazed mother and life in general by recording a video journal from her bedroom which she regularly posts on Youtube (with the help of her best friend Charlotte Lu who helps edit it). The vlog is mainly from Lizzie’s perspective; thereby giving a distinctly one-sided view of what is going on in her live and the lives of those around her.

The cast is small, first consisting of Lizzie, her two sisters and Charlotte before slowly adding a new member here and there. This doesn’t mean that other characters aren’t seen by the audience as the four frequently pretend to be other people - wearing rather ridiculous props and costumes and re-enacting events that take place outside of Lizzie’s bedroom.

The characters are each charming in their own way, the dialogue well thought out and the story brilliantly presented. It is fresh, thoughtful and entertaining. Modernized, these characters are not exactly those whom they represent from Pride and Prejudice. Their exposure to the world they live in, the education they’ve received, the accessibility of social media all play an intricate role in shaping the personalities of these characters. As such, Lizzie is not quite the old Elizabeth Bennet, though she still retains many aspects of the latter’s personality. Not every situation is necessarily the same – there is no regiment of soldiers that can introduce Wickham into the Bennet sisters’ social circle – and so some very interesting changes are brought in to take on these plot challenges.

Episodes of the show are relatively short (rarely longer than five minutes in length) and finely crafted to ensure that the viewer doesn’t miss any important information. Where characters are separated, some other methods are brought in to keep everyone up to speed. An example of this is Lydia’s brief posts from her own youtube channel filmed with a cell phone camera – which introduced two other characters to the show who will hopefully make another appearance soon.

The show also manages to consistently break the fourth wall by bringing in viewer interaction. The characters each have twitter accounts through which the story sometimes is broadened by characters interacting with each other on it (even those not in the actual cast such as the ever elusive Darcy). Some characters also have tumbler accounts, there is a Facebook page for the show and all of these present the viewers with the opportunity to ask questions and make comments. Some of these are then addressed in Lizzie’s vlog through Q&A videos which are posted after every ten episodes. The gang also went to Vidcon this year – with Lizzie doing a few posts from the convention centre – under the pretense of networking given their interest in mass communication and social marketing.

As someone who is familiar with Pride and Prejudice, I find this show incredibly delightful. It also puts me in the fortunate position of being able to appreciate the creative thinking of the writers in how they approach key plot points and how they deal with the layers of complexity within the story. The cast is brilliant, each crafting their character into someone unique and believable. If someone is bland, it’s because they’re supposed to be – although even the very overbearing Mr Collins manages to catch your attention in a way that can hardly be described as boring.

I can’t say every episode leaves me awestruck, but I can say that I’m always excited to see a new video posted and can hardly wait for the next one.

Whether you are a Jane Austen fan or not, I heartily recommend giving at least the first episode a look.

 

And let me know what you think!

Say WHHHAAAATTTTT!! :)