pRiD3 & Pr3jUDicE

Ahh, the end of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and Pride and Prejudice along with it. I can see why a lot of people liked the diaries. I mean the jokes and dialogue were pretty corny for my tastes, but nonetheless still entertaining. It also serves as a pretty true Pride and Prejudice adaptation. With the characters names and attitudes still present and the storyline progressing in the same way the book does (with some changes here and there), it does pretty well to adapt the novel.

The few changes to the story are also nice. With the story taking place in our generation, having the story unfold via YouTube vlog is entirely appropriate. However, that limits how many characters can be in the story at one, which leads to characters being mentioned rather than seen in some parts of the vlog. Also, without actually seeing what’s going on in the lives of the characters, we only have Lizzie’s point of view which kinda makes the audience’s judgement of other characters a little biased.

The way they also try to modernize the story leads was bound to lead to some changes in the way the story progressed, but I don’t think any of them were undesired or really out there, and I think that’s what makes the diaries so popular. Also, I wonder how many people actually thought this story was real. Like…the acting wasn’t terrible, but I found it really hard to believe that this was someone’s actual life and that all this stuff was really happening to “Lizzie”. Idk…It could just be because I knew that this wasn’t supposed to be real, but I really can’t imagine anyone else thinking otherwise.

Overall, I can’t say that I’m more enamored with Pride and Prejudice or The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, but I’m glad I read it. At the very least, if a random person asks me if I have read the novel or if I know anything about the story, I could say “Why do you care? I don’t even know you…?”

Judging a book by it's cover

Pride and Prejudice…I can’t really say I see what has people so hyped about this book, but this wouldn’t be the first book in that category. I guess I’ll just chalk that up to the fact that I am not a humanities major. I swear the hardest thing to keep track of is who is talking and when since the women are referred to as Miss. or Mrs., and if you don’t pay attention, well…shit, you either reread the entire page, or you just hope you’re thinking of the right person.

The characters are aight, but other than Jane Bennet, Wickham, and Mr. Darcy, the other characters are uninteresting. Jane Bennet is an interesting character because she is like this optimistic, ever-so-pleasant girl in the series. Remember Lila from Hey Arnold?

Yeah, she’s basically what I would imagine Jane Bennet to be like (same voice too). Being raised in the same society as all the other women, she’s different. She chooses to see the bright side in everyone (which obviously is a double-edged sword), but she’s also not phony, which can be appreciated.

Wickam is just interesting because of his motives. Like most of the things he does seem to be driven by wealth. He attempts to elope with Mr. Darcy’s sister in order to become wealthy, and I understand why that’s wrong, but what about Mrs.Bennet? I’m sure she wants her daughters to be happy, but she wants to pimp her daughters out the richest man in the town. In that sense is she much different from him?

Now Darcy…lmao, he seems to cause pretty much all the problems in the story. His past strife with Wickham brings him to Hertfordshire, he suggests that Mr. Bingley break up with Jane, and his prejudice towards Elizabeth (and really everyone else) makes her (and everyone else) resent him, driving her towards Wickham and then later Lydia. Like imagine, if he was as nice as Mr.Bingley…story coulda been a lot shorter.

[Clichè Sherlock Reference]

Like I said in a previous post, I have seen many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, either through a theater film or a cartoon, but I’m kind of glad I didn’t because the original source material is boring in comparison. It’s possible that I could just be whining because I’m forced to read this for class, idk…My favorite adaptation is “Case Closed”, and ever since, I’ve never come across an adaption that really matches how well the series embodies Sherlock Holmesiness. So, when we were told to watch the “Elementary”, I went into it with an average expectation (maybe a little less than that).

Honestly, the show was pretty dope. The one thing that really makes this adaptation stand out is the new way they decided to portray the traditional characters that we’ve all come to know. First of all, “Holy fuck, Watson is a woman? Lmao, that’s new.”

Were pretty much my first thoughts once the character was introduced. It was definitely a nice little change to the story, and bound to happen eventually. Though I would have been more appealing to me if Sherlock was gender swapped rather than Watson, but cool nonetheless. Her reason for being with Sherlock is also interesting. The stories have Sherlock as a roommate to Watson, and in the series, Watson is a companion both professionally (drug rehab buddy) and socially (roommate and possible love interest??). Which may not seem interesting by itself, but with the fact that she’s his rehab companion, it brings to light problems that Sherlock has. The adaptations that I have seen of Sherlock (excluding the movie with Robert Downey Jr. and the Netflix series) have mainly targeted children or younger viewers, so I don’t imagine a Sherlock with health issues, just a really smart dude that solves mysteries. I do applaud the show for that though. All in all, the show captures what Sherlock would be in our society pretty well. He’s hella observant, but that comes with several issues.

mr dracula

In middle school I participated in the play Dracula and thought it was a pretty cool story. Now reading it again, I think it is awesome. All the girls I went to middle school with pretty much ruined vampires and stuff for me when Twilight was the big thing. I just always had to think of vampires as sissies that sparkle in the sunlight or whatever they do lol. But after reading most of Bram Stoker's Dracula, vampires are pretty badass. Dracula brings so much fear and curiosity to everyone in the story.

I did become pretty surprised in class and reading fellow classmates' blogs on how Dracula is a representation of immigrants raping english women (if I have that right) back in the day. It all made sense and made me sad because now I can't look at vampires the same :/

mess with pupper you will be supper

So So

I loved the beginning of Dracula. Stoker did a fantastic job describing the trip to the castle, Dracula and his scary and gloomy castle. I felt as if I was with John Haker on his journey throughout this novel. I also loved the format Stoker used. Going from Pride and Prejudice too Dracula was a real change. Being able to hear different stories form each character was great. Listening to each characters journey and opinions give me insight into each of there life's. the descriptive writing used completes Dracula's image. It allows the reader to visualize everything happening in the novel.
My only issue with the novel is the ongoing couple of chapters where there is no action. I was reading and reading and wasn't at all intrigued in the story line. 

*sigh* Let's Talk about Rape

I wanna start by saying that I enjoyed this book. It was really interesting, it was thrilling, and creepy as all get out. But going from Pride and Prejudice to Dracula really made the disappointing quality of the female characters in this novel glaringly obvious. So, who are the female characters in this novel? Lucy, Lucy's mother, Mina, and the three vampire brides. First, Lucy's mother is just a bafoon, and largely one of reasons that Lucy ends up dead. Then, let's look at the remaining five characters. The main purpose they serve in this universe was to be figuratively raped by the Count. Yes, I said rape. What the Count does to them is an unwanted, penetrative act that leaves these woman forever changed. There has always been a sexual tone to vampire stories, so the scenes between Mina and Count Dracula have a very "rape-y" feeling to them. Additionally, after the scene with Mina, Dracula, and Jonathan, when Mina is burned by the Communion wafer,  she claims that she is "unclean." This idea is one that is often shared by many initial sexual assault victims because of the trauma that has been forced upon them.

Then, lets think about the differences between the male vampires (the only one we have in the novel is Dracula) and the female vampires (Lucy, the brides, and sort of Mina). Dracula is sentient. He is aware of his surroundings and he is smart. He plans things out meticulously enough to transport 50 boxes of dirt to 4 different locations for safe keeping. Meanwhile, the female vampires are animalistic. They don't seem to be able to control themselves.  Lucy especially does not attempt to hide herself when she is hunting and is see by so many that she earns a nickname for herself. I've always been a big fan of the movie Van Helsing and I really love the Vampire Brides in that movie, but now because of this book, I worry that I'm never going to look at them the same way again because they are just not strong characters.

Om Nom

Alright so I have really mixed emotions about vampires. Part of me think that they're super cool and Halloween is lit and stuff, and another part of me thinks their super cheesy and glitter and all that disaster. However, I absolutely love Dracula. He's so scary and creepy and I love it! I love Halloween and creepy stuff so I'm not gonna lie, I nerded out a little bit when I found out that we were reading a book about creepy stuff.
In regards to the actual writing style of Dracula, Bram Stoker outdid  himself. In my opinion, I think his descriptive writing is the best we've read thus far. It is so easy for the reader to visualize exactly what is happening, which is part of the reason why I think that this book goes down in history. One of my favorite lines is "The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the setting sun" It's so descriptive and beautiful. I think that this book is a work of art, which also makes sense as to why this book has resonated for so long,