Our Pride, Prejudice, and Relationships.

Looking back on what I saw during the Lizzie Bennett Diaries, there were some things that I found interesting, as well as, no so interested. It was an interesting to me that the fan made story based on the book Pride and Prejudice, since it had modern ways of communication through email, text, and phone calls. All of which may be a great deal faster than writing and sending paper messages, it is still a way for people to express their thoughts and feelings to each other in many ways. For example, the letter that Lizzie received from Darcy just like in the book, greatly affected the way Lizzie view both Darcy and George. Then there was the holiday video card Lizzie and her closest friends Charlotte and Jane did together to wish her views happy holidays and encourage others to express themselves likewise. Though I do prefer and like the book version of Pride and Prejudice, I do like the way Lizzie used her diary videos what she wanted to express about herself and her view on different things. Communication has and always will be a very important part in how humans interact with each other, whether it is face to face or by other means of communication.

As for the way, the characters were portrait in this version, Lidia did come across at first to be an immature young teen. But as she did turn about to be o.k. after her sister Lizzie helped her through her embarrassing mistake. We all make mistakes, we all have in one way, shape, or form of pride about yourselves and prejudice to others we may not like. But if we look passed your first impressions whether it is good or bad, relationships both big and small can build up. And I guess that is still one of the things that makes any Pride and Prejudice related story appealing to readers and in this case viewers. We all have good and bad experiences when it comes to relationships, but I do think both are important in learning who your true friends and family are. That is what I think is the main point that the Lizzie Bennett dairies and Pride and Prejudice novel that I took from both. Life is full of uncertainties and new experiences both good and bad, but it helps to have someone to be there for you no matter what may happen. After all, if is sharing those experiences that I think truly make life worth living. And that is what life being for every person who has, is, and will live, is a journey. Our own life story. 

Lizzie Bennet Diaries

What I enjoy most about this series is how the character were portrayed. I think that's what made liking Pride and Prejudice so much easier for me, is to put a face to a name. My favorite character in this series is Jane because after reading the book, she is portrayed exactly how I pictured Jane to be. For me the sisters and Charlotte were all brought to life in a very cool way and I think that's what made watching this series so entertaining.
However, I watch YouTube videos literally all the time so watching a lot of episodes in one sitting didn't bother me, but what was lacking with the series is the anticipation to watch the next video that I guess it had when it first came out. Since all of the videos are there already it can be overwhelming. I'm a visual learner so being able to see how the characters react and interact is a big reason why the LBD is so helpful.
Yes, I do think that it had its dry spells in some episodes but that happens to every show. I was going to say I didn't like how it had the same scenery in majority of the episodes but it's a diary so i'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to record these videos outside of my room. Overall, I really found this web series helpful because it had more modern language so it was easily relatable. I still relate to Lizzie no matter what time period the story is told. I don't love the series as much as I hoped, but I did get what I wanted from it which was to understand. If someone asked me if I would watch it again, it would be a no but not in a bad way lol.

     The Lizzy Bennet Diaries have been so far, my favorite assignment. I absolutely loved the grad student who was making the video blog for a class assignment. Also, the jokes about mass communication majors suffering from unemployment I thought were hilarious as that is my major as well. She did a great job taking a very old classic and translating it into our modern times. She defiantly has some great friends that were willing to help here with this project which I’m sure was very time consuming. Her friends also helped make the video and the girl who played Lidia way great and acted somewhat how I pictured Lidia to be.

                I am sure guys enjoyed some of the jokes and modern twist on this classic: however, as a female so many of the jokes was wildly relatable. Before being assigned to watch these videos, I have heared of them vaguely before but I had no idea they were based on Pride and Prejudice. After watching the videos, I spoke with one of my friends about them and apparently, she watched every video because she absolutely loved them. It was fun to be able to chat with her about this college students video blog that went viral.            

                I have been forced to post a good amount of content for various classes and I cannot imagine one of them going viral as the Lizzy Bennet Diaries did. It is clear that a lot of effort and time was put into these videos as the script and editing was so well done for a school assignment. The videos almost inspired me to go the extra mile on my next YouTube assignment because who knows could go viral. However, I am not holding my breath.

                Honestly, watching these videos helped me to dissect the characters better. As Lizzy was narrating each event and character her modern twist and assumptions helped me dive into the story and characters to attempted to examine the novel from a different angel. Also, one of my favorite part of the videos was clips she tells her friend to filter out but she never does. I think it just added to the comedy that made these videos so enjoyable to watch. I would defiantly recommend these videos to anyone reading Pride and Prejudice or someone simply looking for a good laugh. I am excited to finish watching all of the videos.  

Vlogging Lizzy

             The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is so far an interesting series. I am thoroughly enjoying this adaptation of Pride and Prejudice as well as the subtle fourth-wall breaking and clever ideas that’s been included—popular quotes from the book, Kitty the kitten, zombies, VidCon, referencing England in the Q&A, and etc. These are all helpful to include mainly because it’s a vlog-based adaptation having everything mostly from Lizzie’s perspective… It sorta provides a break from all the prejudice going on.

            Speaking of, was it my misinterpretation of the book, or was there a lot more prejudicing going on in this vlog series than in the book? I’m assuming it’s because, like I said earlier, we’re viewing a vlog series from mostly Lizzie’s perspective and her thoughts, while Pride and Prejudice in book form gave a more somewhat balanced approach to what some of the other characters thought of (obviously because it’s a novel).

For example, I felt Lizzie constantly saying something negative about Lydia whenever she appeared—as opposed to Jane who’s more protective of Lydia—and Lizzy constantly saying something negative about Darcy. Well, Darcy’s comments are understandable due to his socially-awkward mannerisms. Even so, it could be that Jane Austen portrayed Lizzy walking three miles to Netherfield to see Jane (as well as Darcy…?), while The Lizzie Bennet Diaries portrayed Lizzy getting forced to live at Netherfield due to house remodeling.

           

            For the vlog style itself, it becomes very recapping (is that a word?) half the time, since the vlogs I perceive has someone holding a camera, carrying it around everywhere, and showing more than just one’s room(s). This was why I mentioned the clever fourth-wall breaking ideas as well as the awesome reenactments definitely giving it a boost in creativity and excitement. And the time frame where Lizzy and Jane stayed at Netherfield was well-timed to introduce new characters with which we could see interact with the Bennets instead of just mere descriptions.

Speaking of, I thought Caroline was perfectly fitted into the whole vlogging adaptation. Through Jane Austen’s novel, the readers can see her point of views either whenever Jane left the room or via some other method of communication. Within the atmosphere of a vlog, Caroline couldn’t be scripted to say her true feelings like the freedom she has within a novel, especially when Charlotte is editing these videos. Instead, it was presented through her charm to Lizzie (and the internet) by encouraging her to continue ranting on about her impressions on Darcy.

Pride over YouTube

            This series was actually something that I thought was very clever and well done. They take a classic and well known story, and give it a modern touch and update the language and technology. However, I’m not the biggest fan of how it is performed and executed, it makes sense that there are no other sets and scenes, but it makes it boring and bland (until we get much later, but that’s only for a few episodes).

            The characters are very well portrayed and match the book characters very very well. The way they portray Mr. and Mrs. Bennet is spot on to what we know from the book, Mr. Bennet is always looking for ways that he can annoy and tease his wife (Lizzie has the chart saying that all he likes is to annoy her). Mrs. Bennet is also showed as the woman who is trying to find her daughters a husband, and making sure to get their name out there no matter what, finding every opportunity to “help them”. They also got how Lizzie first feels about Darcy, calling him Mr. Douchey and making him seem like a total jerk off and ass, much like how the book portrays him.

            There are however a lot of characters that are completely over the top and sometimes extremely annoying. Gosh, Lydia is someone that I cannot deal with at all, she almost makes the series completely unwatchable at times. Every time she enters a scene I want to fast forward or turn it off. After about episode nine the series, to me, was getting very repetitive, the same set, same stories, and the same overused jokes. Even at times Lizzie can just be way too over the top, forcing me to want to look away and focus on something else, but alas I must type up this blog.

            Really this isn’t a bad show at all, there are some things that it does extremely well. It portrays quite a few of the characters almost perfectly taking exact themes from the book and hits their quirks right on the head. Then there are quite a few times that makes me want to turn this off as quick as possible (anytime with Lydia) and it takes time to actually go through and try and watch all these episodes.

The Diaries of Lizzie

I've never understood really how hard core people go for the things they love.  For pride and prejudice, fans seemed to have gone to whatever lengths they can to support their favorite book. I'm not a big pride and prejudice fan, but I would assume that fans of the novel didn't exactly favor these videos.

In the Lizzie Bennett diaries I felt that it was more of a parody. To me it made the characters seem more outlandish than in the book. I think some characteristics of specific people were emphasized then more in the book.

In the video blog Lizzie's sister Lydia seemed to be very annoying and came off as a hoe. I thought that it was rude how Lizzie took as many chances as she could to point out her infidelity. Whenever the topic of Lizzie's mom is brought up, something is always said about her being crazy. Mrs. Bennet is always seen as the mom who goes to extreme lengths to hook her daughters up with eligible bachelors. In the book, to me it come off as more of a caring aspect instead of crazy antics.

One thing I wasn't prepared for with the Vlog was how bearable Mr. Bingley looked. He looked better than expected because I thought he would have been older. I didn't think that viewers would actually get to see characters other than Jane, Lizzie and Lydia.. Jane was of course portrayed as the nicest person in the world which does align with the book. However, the one person she couldn't say anything nice about was Mr. Darcy.

Overall, this web-series was annoying. The whole series seems like a joke because it didn't seem like any of the characters were played seriously. For me, the problem was how Lizzie Bennet delivered the message. Instead of acting out a story with just her and her sisters they should have found a way to actually incorporate the characters they were talking about. Also, Charlotte is supposed to be in charge of their vlog, but she practically disappears.

Let me just run into that brick wall of prejudice

So... let's get this out of the way. Mr. Douchey was rather clever.

Now, while I appreciated the cleverness of that name, that's about all that really hit me. While its definitely an interesting Youtube series, I'm certainly hoping its a parody.

I took the time to read a few other blog posts before writing mine. I agree with Amber, Charlotte was not depicted well at all, and the racial stereotype was just glaringly awful considering they're the same age in this telling.

I agree with Sean, that Lydia is a glaringly obnoxious, and I shall add, twit. She's awful. Truly awful.

I started wishing that the series was over about 15 episodes in as well, mainly because it started driving me crazy just how bad the stereotypes were. Like seriously? Is there nothing better to do than make Pride and Prejudice so overly stereotypical that we jump from "What if he's gay?" to "What if he's a serial killer?" to ever better "What if he's a gay serial killer?".

After about half an hour of banging my head on my keyboard in frustration over how obnoxious the characters were, I found I needed a break. I spent a half an hour watching Red vx. Blue to try and get their voices out of my head, as well as the migraine which had slowly formed. I then got a glass of wine, and started back up again.

(Side-note! This is skip-able!) I, however, must go back. In episode seven I believe, Lizzie vents about the dance between those who catch the bouquet and those who catch the garter. I must say, I'm so very glad I've never seen that dance at a wedding before. I started thinking about it because my mother called to tell me about my cousin's wedding that is coming up. (End side note)

Also, drunk Lydia. I really expected that honestly, and then Charlotte starts becoming a munching Debbie-Downer. Gosh does she get hangry.

Then later, the "no he doesn't like me" argument in episode 33. It happens to irritate me most of all. Also, I kept appreciating Jane's character. I think she was the only one I really started enjoying at all, even if it wasn't much with this series.

Also... living with a bunch of swimmers, not all of them are chiseled and beautiful creatures, but the weak beer is pretty close (Also, most of the ones I know like the many flavors of Smirnoff's vodka).

"My mother has taken nuts to a new level."

I identify so much with that one statement.

Then, I started noticing how accurate the imitations of Mrs. Bennet are in the modern sense of Pride and Prejudice.

Anyways. I need to stop Internet venting before I become another of these Lizzie Bennets who rant on the internet.

I love Charlotte and forgive her for being in this terrible series

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries has the potential to be a charming adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, but it stumbles into so many obnoxious tropes and offensive throw-away lines that I can’t find it anything but aggravating. The characterization was fair, even if people came off as obnoxious and offensive. I liked all the puns, like “Mr. Douchey,” and the little references to Pride & Prejudice’s fandom, like Lizzie’s love of Colin Firth movies. They were cute and clever. I also liked when people knocked Lizzie off of her own pedestal, like when Charlotte asked Lizzie what was wrong with Bing Lee besides the fact that her mother liked him and then adds a bit to the video to specifically say that “Lizzie hates changing her mind.” Or the time Charlotte points out that Mrs. Bennet dressed Lizzie as a witch (NOT a spinster) for Halloween. OR the time she made her own video to show Lizzie’s bias against Darcy. I liked Charlotte, if that isn’t clear already.

Me, adoring this adaptation of Charlotte beyond all reason.

As I have already established, I loved Charlotte, but I was concerned about casting her as a Chinese woman because one of her key features as a character is that she is undesirable. She’s not supposed to be as pretty as the Bennet girls. She doesn’t have as much money as the Bennet girls. She’s older than the Bennet girls. Her only real redeeming marriageable quality is the fact that her father is a knight, but that may not be a factor to many suitors, especially the nouveau riche. By making Lizzie and her family white and making the comparatively plain and undesirable Charlotte Asian, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries seemed to imply that Asian women (specifically Chinese women) are less attractive and generally less appealing than white women. I doubt that this was purposeful, but that doesn’t make it okay.

The way Lydia said “they’re too hot and single to be gay” was probably meant to make her and her homophobic comment look as ridiculous as it is. On a slightly different note, as a lesbian, the fact that Lizzie immediately jumps from “What if he’s gay?” to “What if he’s a serial killer?” is.... Disquieting. It shows me that people think a person being gay is just as shocking and upsetting as a person being a murderer. That really hurts. I had been prepared to like the series, but that really put me off, and I had trouble warming back up to the series after that. Again, I doubt that this was purposeful, but that doesn’t make it okay.