This post is labeled "television," but this is not a tv show.
Hi, I'm OBSESSED with The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and am currently annoying everyone I know on Facebook by posting GIFs and links to LBD fangirly stuff that I've been finding on the internet. Like this adorable clip of the actor and actress who play Darcy and Lizzie on some random internet -a-thon thingy. Um, getting ahead of myself here.
LBD is a modernized version of Pride and Prejudice, told vlog-style through videos on Youtube, as well as through other social media outlets like Twitter and Tumblr. The story has been updated and Americanized, and the characters feel very real and authentic - SO real and authentic, that each one has his/her own Twitter account, and the show is done in real time, so it's no surprise that there are people out there who were shocked when they found out that this is a scripted show with actors and stuff, and not a real vlog that features a girl named Lizzie Bennet whose life happens to resemble one of the greatest novels of English literature.
I'm sure you're well acquainted with my wide and far-reaching love of Jane Austen and particularly Pride and Prejudice. That book is gold to me. And I'm very critical when I feel like an adaptation doesn't get it right. (Ahem.)
So when I first heard about LBD from one of my friends on Facebook, I was like... WHAT IS THIS? And when I looked at the website, I was super confused. Vlogs? Twitter? Lookbook? WHAT? I just want to start... reading or watching or however this thing works.
Sometime last month over a weekend I marathoned through all the episodes that were currently available at the time and just totally fell in love. LBD is smart and fresh. The writer did an amazing job of adapting it, and the actors do an amazing job of making the characters seem like real people while still maintaining the crucial aspects of their characters. In particular, I'd actually like to shine a light on Lydia's character - in the book, she's one-dimensional and easily hateable. The LBD version of Lydia is so much more complex and layered, to the point that I really don't want her to have a bad ending. Like, I really want her to come to her senses and realize the weight of her decisions.
And then I remember she's a fictional character, and her story doesn't really get to change, ultimately. It's CRAZY how real these characters feel - probably because these characters currently exist in my time, in my language, in all the universes I inhabit. They even interact with fans! The characters respond to fans! And actually, so do the actors. But seriously, the characters have more followers than maybe even the actors themselves do. I love, love, love, love this experience of rediscovering my love for P&P through LBD (not like it was ever missing), and RIGHT NOW IT'S CONSUMING MY LIIIIIIFE.
And I'm not the only person who feels this way - I came to LBD kind of late in the game, and I'm just now discovering the hugeness of the LBD fanbase. It still feels pretty obscure to me because so few of my friends have even heard of it (and mostly it was through me anyway), so I am just dying to reach out to other people who are fans. PLEASE, I need someone to SQUEE with me over the video I linked to above, because in my brain, I'm imagining that it's not Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent Gordh (the actors) being silly and dancing, but Lizzie and Darcy in some weird alternate universe where they've already both acknowledged their undying love for each other and Darcy is having a rare moment of letting loose. (Also, dude, DVG is kind of hot. Seriously. This entire cast is the most attractive cast overall of any P&P adaptation I have ever seen.) When I see this photo from their cast party, I'm like, OMG IT'S LIKE WE'RE LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE!!!!!
Yes, I am a fangirl. I am fangirling in a way that I haven't done for a really long time because there isn't much in this world that I feel is worth being fangirly about. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, however, TOTALLY is. I will be so sad when they finally end (because the book doesn't go on forever, right?)
Go on. Watch it. Catch up. Then squee with me.
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| Source: http://sociallyawkwarddarcy.tumblr.com |
LBD is a modernized version of Pride and Prejudice, told vlog-style through videos on Youtube, as well as through other social media outlets like Twitter and Tumblr. The story has been updated and Americanized, and the characters feel very real and authentic - SO real and authentic, that each one has his/her own Twitter account, and the show is done in real time, so it's no surprise that there are people out there who were shocked when they found out that this is a scripted show with actors and stuff, and not a real vlog that features a girl named Lizzie Bennet whose life happens to resemble one of the greatest novels of English literature.
I'm sure you're well acquainted with my wide and far-reaching love of Jane Austen and particularly Pride and Prejudice. That book is gold to me. And I'm very critical when I feel like an adaptation doesn't get it right. (Ahem.)
So when I first heard about LBD from one of my friends on Facebook, I was like... WHAT IS THIS? And when I looked at the website, I was super confused. Vlogs? Twitter? Lookbook? WHAT? I just want to start... reading or watching or however this thing works.
Sometime last month over a weekend I marathoned through all the episodes that were currently available at the time and just totally fell in love. LBD is smart and fresh. The writer did an amazing job of adapting it, and the actors do an amazing job of making the characters seem like real people while still maintaining the crucial aspects of their characters. In particular, I'd actually like to shine a light on Lydia's character - in the book, she's one-dimensional and easily hateable. The LBD version of Lydia is so much more complex and layered, to the point that I really don't want her to have a bad ending. Like, I really want her to come to her senses and realize the weight of her decisions.
And then I remember she's a fictional character, and her story doesn't really get to change, ultimately. It's CRAZY how real these characters feel - probably because these characters currently exist in my time, in my language, in all the universes I inhabit. They even interact with fans! The characters respond to fans! And actually, so do the actors. But seriously, the characters have more followers than maybe even the actors themselves do. I love, love, love, love this experience of rediscovering my love for P&P through LBD (not like it was ever missing), and RIGHT NOW IT'S CONSUMING MY LIIIIIIFE.
And I'm not the only person who feels this way - I came to LBD kind of late in the game, and I'm just now discovering the hugeness of the LBD fanbase. It still feels pretty obscure to me because so few of my friends have even heard of it (and mostly it was through me anyway), so I am just dying to reach out to other people who are fans. PLEASE, I need someone to SQUEE with me over the video I linked to above, because in my brain, I'm imagining that it's not Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent Gordh (the actors) being silly and dancing, but Lizzie and Darcy in some weird alternate universe where they've already both acknowledged their undying love for each other and Darcy is having a rare moment of letting loose. (Also, dude, DVG is kind of hot. Seriously. This entire cast is the most attractive cast overall of any P&P adaptation I have ever seen.) When I see this photo from their cast party, I'm like, OMG IT'S LIKE WE'RE LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE!!!!!
Yes, I am a fangirl. I am fangirling in a way that I haven't done for a really long time because there isn't much in this world that I feel is worth being fangirly about. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, however, TOTALLY is. I will be so sad when they finally end (because the book doesn't go on forever, right?)
Go on. Watch it. Catch up. Then squee with me.