Barf

Although there were many opinions on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I wonder if we could agree on some points made in the article "Pride and Prejudice at 200: Stop Looking for Mr. Darcy". The point that stood out for me the most was the very last sentence: "The romance plot is secondary."
As I said in class, the only part of the Lizzie Bennet Dairies that did not work for me was the fact that Lizzie's character made too much of a dramatic switch to a swooning romantic, when every video prior to the 95th she was the cool hard to please girl... what some of you perceive as bitchy. Given, this I am only talking about the last five videos...but isn't that the part WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! This just did not work for me. The adaptations up until this point did not lead me to believe the ending would be based on romance, but rather I would have focused on Lizzie's development of her relationship with Lydia, focusing on her approval of her best friend's success, maybe something in her career, or even keep the ending as her approval of Darcy, but tone it down please. 
I know this is fiction, and it does not have to be realistic. Because the sourced text is set in a very unrelatable time to us I found this adaptation much more relatable, and it ended with a cheesy unrelateable swoon of puppy love. Barf.

Cool Lizzie

ew Lizzie

As for the other fanfics I looked into....
These stories did not grab me at all. All of the ones I looked into under the modern era had nothing to do with the original story other than the character names and personalities. At least with the Regency era the situations were "more appropriate" to me....I mean common prom story? I know this makes me sound like a hypocrite after saying I like an adaptation such as the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, but modern written stories did not do it for me. I feel it is some what juvenile, but I could not explain why I feel that way, because I know many of these are well written. 
I also find it very strange that people buy clothes and accessories of that time. I understand if you want to dress up for a convention or event, but these costumes are not cheap! The etsy link has dresses as expensive as $350! How many times will you wear that dress? If any! I guess some people just like collecting. 

This is the $350 dress custom dress.... NOT IMPRESSED....tbh looks like shit

Folks sure do love this novel!!

Lots of Personalities

I get it, Jane Austen thought I was "smart" and "capable" enough to keep all these characters straight. WRONG! There are too many sisters and too many potential suitors for these sisters. The exercise we did in class as a group helped me tremendously, but I still get confused in group conversation (this also might be because some people know the full story and I do not). 

For this reason, I have come to really enjoy the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Following three sisters is much easier. I feel that this is much more manageable for the viewer, and allows a deeper incite into the characters, because there are only three sisters to develop ideas about. My favorite character is Lydia. She is so annoying and a bit of a slut, but I just love it. She plays the younger sister just right, and allows for a lot of contrast between the three sisters they chose to keep.

I think the youtube series kept the essential characters, and did not loose much of the plot line. Lizzie, the main vloger, even dresses up as her mother to retell stories, and often includes her friend Charlotte to play her sarcastic father. 

There are also guests on her Diary such as Mr. Collins, and eventually a very good looking Mr. Bingley.

Bingley and Jane

I have only watched the first 40 episodes, so I look forward to finishing it! Has anyone else started watching it? When you do, I suggest not reading the comments section. Those people get all wound up about a little fanfic. IT’S A FANFIC!! LET IT GO; IT WON’T BE JUST LIKE THE BOOK! What do you guys think of it, and do you like that there are only three sisters?  

            As for the other characters besides the sisters… I find myself loving to hate Mr. Darcy. I know from my classmates that he is just misunderstood, so maybe that influences my opinion, but as of now, I find him interesting. He seems to be an asshole for no reason, and because of that I love it. Most people give you some insight into why they act the way they act, but not Mr. Darcy. On top of that, he is best friends with the nicest guy in the world, Mr. Bingley. I wonder why such a nice guy would be friends with such an ass hole, so I figure there has to be some silver lining about Mr. Darcy.  

RIP Holmes....jk

Similar to many of my classmates, I have not read any Sherlock Homes stories until now. I really enjoyed the first two stories we read, which I was pleasantly surprised about. Then, I read “The Speckled Band”, and loved it, even though the ending was somewhat anticlimactic for me; anyone agree?

Next, I read “The Final Problem”… and he DIED? What? I was definitely not expecting that to happen. I never expected that, and assumed if I had a problem accepting this after only reading four stories, other people must have been pissed when the story came out. I did some researching to see… turns out they were in fact pissed. Apparently a lot of people even canceled their subscriptions to The Strand, the magazine that published the stories. So I bet The Strand was also pretty pissed at Conan Doyle.

Furthermore, he did not really die. In the afterword we read that he “foiled Moriarty” by faking his death. Spoiler if you want to read the story “The Empty House”, sorry. I suppose if anyone could successfully pull of faking their own death, it would be Sherlock Holmes. I would be interested in reading “The Empty House” if it explains how Holmes pulled that off. I have to wonder if Conan Doyle always planned on bringing Holmes back. I think he did, because he added the detail that “recovering the bodies was absolutely hopeless”. If he did not plan on continuing the story of Homes why include the detail of never recovering his body.

            Next I read “The Dancing Men”, which I found just as interesting. I enjoyed the plot line of this one. The reader really got to see all the skills Homes has, other than observing. He deciphers what seems like an impossible code.

really who makes a code made out of stick figures, that’s just plain dumb

He also catches where a third bullet was shot, a fact that the authorities missed. Who needs the cops when Holmes is around?

            Lastly, I attempted to read “Charles Augustus Milverton”. This story I found confusing, so I am hoping someone can comment and explain it to me. I understand that there was a man threatening Lady Eva with letters, but why was he bothering her? Did they have history or is he just a jackass? Also Homes kinda gets engaged? What? Then, Watson and him witness a murder… later recognize who the shooter was… and did NOTHING? Help please!!

I have no real opinions

This is a fine adaptation. I won’t bore you telling you how much I hate musicals or how the dancing drove me crazy. This was the first time I watched this movie, and I watched it with an open mind. Before I saw this movie, we had a discussion in class about what parts of Romeo and Juliet were essential to keep in an adaptation. I thought all adaptations had to include all characters, and the large majority of the plot line AND I definitely thought both the Romeo and Juliet had to die at the end.

 Their death seemed to be the only resolution possible for the feuding families, or in this case feuding gangs. When eliminating Maria’s death, the ending was much more open ended. Whether you like this or not, it deviated a good bit from the overall take away. This was one of my two issues with West Side Story.

My second issue was there was a clear “side” to be on. As we discussed in class, the feud between the families was essentially over nothing (or Shakespeare decided to leave the reason out on purpose), and because of this, the focus was on the love story. When you make the adaptation a conflict of race, there has to be a right side… aka the ones who are not racist, but I hope I did not have to spell that out. Shakespeare did not include this for a reason, not that I know this reason, but it seems pretty significant. If anyone would like to comment and maybe give me a suggestion as to why he did 

not and why West Side Story did, I would be very interested in reading someone else’s point of view.

As I just typed my two “issues” with West Side Story I realized I don’t have a real issue with these. Romeo and Juliet can be changed in so many ways that’s the whole point of adapting it; I am not nearly well read and pretentious enough to suggest West Side Story is anything but a great rendition. 

By not killing the Juliet the audience has more room for discussion, and by including the racial component the original love story turns into something far more relevant and profound. So, what I am trying to say, is take my opinions with the smallest grain of salt you can find.

Thanks for reading guys!