Pride and Prejudice

[author_by_night]

So not for the first time, but especially as I'd finally watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries I tried reading Pride and Prejudice, but something about JA's style is... hard for me to get into. I decided to try watching the BBC series, and figured I'd share my thoughts.

- I definitely see how LBD!Lydia and P&P!Lydia are different. There *is* a bit of values dissonance - while yes, I understood why what happened to Lydia in P&P was a crisis, a lot of it was about her possibly NOT getting married and that being bad and so on. I can see why LBD made her a little more of a wild child - because how Lydia behaved in the novel was seen, at the time, the same way LBD!Lydia's character was seen by 2013 audiences. Although there's still a lot more sympathy towards her. The movie goes as far as to imply she skipped her sister's joint weddings - see below for my thoughts on that - in favor of being with Wichkam. Not sure whether or not the novel implies that. In any case, the web series made her very much a victim. And actually, even before everything with Wichkam in LBD, Lydia's shown as much more sympathetic and even misunderstood. We're supposed to like LBD!Lydia. We're not supposed to like her in P&P.

- Speaking of Jane and Elizabeth's wedding... were joint weddings popular in 1813, or was that the series (and possibly the novel)? It struck me as sweet, but just bordering on cheesy.

- It was fun watching young!Colin Firth. Poor guy totally got typecast, though. Although not in The King's Speech.

All I really have to say.

ETA: Oh, and for anyone curious, the reason I never got into LBD initially was because I'd started so many web series that ended up not finishing because of lack of funding, and/or they were college kids who ran out of time, so I decided to wait until there were more episodes... then I never went to see if it had been finished. Anyone have any other completed web series recommendations? (Or at least ones with promise to be completed.)

Comments

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Anyone have any other completed web series recommendations? (Or at least ones with promise to be completed.)

I don't know if you've heard of these, but I certainly recommend:

Carmilla is one that I am really loving, they're in their second season right now and it's been absolutely fantastic. It's very LGBTQ friendly, and has a very intriguing premise and fascinating world-building, and the style is similar to LBD. It has quite a large active fanbase so I have a feeling that it'll continue on for at least another season or two.

The Guild was one of the first webseries I watched, and it still holds up as being amazing after many rewatches. Created by and starring Felicia Day, it is a finished webseries with six seasons, with spawned music videos and bonus content from it, and is overall very hilarious.

Felicia Day also starred in the short webseries, Dragon Age: Redemption, which you can easily follow the storyline even if you don't play Dragon Age/video games.

Side Effects is a musical dramedy webseries, which has finished after three seasons. It's very interesting, as the premise is about a teenage girl who suffers musical side effects from taking her anti-depressant medication, creating some strange and fascinating scenarios as she attempts to cope with her family's unfortunate situation. It's a mixture of musical numbers and dramatic scenes, which you will no doubt get the feels from.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I've only heard of The Guild, which I liked at first but lost interest in. (Maybe you have to be into gaming culture to get it.) Will try out the rest!

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It might be a personal preference thing, since I wasn't that much into gaming culture when I first watched it either and I still quite enjoyed it very much. I mean, I mostly watched it because of Felicia, but I then fell in love with the rest of the characters too, Tink being my top favorite character. In general I think it's something that can transcend through different fandoms though, because while yes the webseries is specifically about a gaming guild it can also apply to different fandom communities and meeting up with fannish people you have met online and whatnot, from the different personalities and social awkwardness that happens and friendships that can occur. The season with the convention really resonated with me since I've been to conventions, and that atmosphere was spot-on. So, yeah.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

In general I think it's something that can transcend through different fandoms though, because while yes the webseries is specifically about a gaming guild it can also apply to different fandom communities and meeting up with fannish people you have met online and whatnot, from the different personalities and social awkwardness that happens and friendships that can occur.

Oh, that I actually wholeheartedly agree with! And I really liked that aspect, because even without them meeting IRL it made sense to me. I just had trouble getting into the characters, even though I did know some people online like that.

[linda-lupos.livejournal.com]

The joint wedding was in the book; makes sense since Elizabeth and Jane were so close and Darcy and Bingley probably wouldn't mind (they were practically siblings anyway). Lydia is very empathically NOT invited. In fact, I don't even want to know how Darcy would react had she shown up. In a way, the miniseries and movie actually gloss over a little how strongly Darcy dislikes Wickham - due to time restraints no doubt.
The book actually goes a little into Lydia's behavior after the happy ever after - Wickham soon falls out of love (well, 'love'), Lydia lasts a little longer but soon cools on him, too. They have money problems and Lydia keeps applying to Lizzy for help, adding that Lizzy should not tell Darcy about it if she had rather not (Lizzy would MUCH rather not). While the Wickhams are never invited to Pemberley, Lizzy does occassionally send them money out of her own account. They do occassionally stay at the Bingleys, but eventually manage to wear out even Bingley's patience so far that he begons to talk of giving them a hint to be gone. :p

What's sweet is that Georgiana moves back to Pemberley for good and she opens up a little due to Lizzy being there. :)


... I just remembered another miniseries you should see: Death Comes To Pemberley. It's a murder mystery set about ten years after P&P, and it stars Jenna "Clara Oswald" Coleman as arguably one of the best Lydia's I've ever seen (although I think LBD Lydia is my favourite, she's adorbz :p). Also they do some pretty amazing stuff with the characterisation of Darcy.


Might I perhaps suggest Northanger Abbey to give JA a last try? It might be more accessible as it's a more humourous book and very much a novel about novels - might be more appealing to an English major?

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Wow, to be able to make Jane and Bingley impatient and unwilling to help, when they're basically Nice People (TM). :P Yeah, Lydia's clearly the equivalent of someone who wastes her life away, and loved ones can't just watch it, so they pull away.

I thought the series showed that Darcy hated Wickham - or at least gave him reason to. I mean, the guy did basically take advantage of his sister, and honestly, Georgiana seems a lot more... innocent than Lydia, so it's ickier. Like, I can see her not even considering what he's talked her into. O_o I think it's sweet that she stays at Pemberley. I did love how quickly Elizabeth grew onto her. :) (Although it's hard not to, she's "the adorbs." Heh.)

Speaking of "the adorbs", LBD Lydia is definitely my favorite of the... 2 1/2 I've seen, but in retrospect I think LBD is almost closer to Kitty - more misled into following the wrong stuff than outright "corrupt." (I swear I read that somewhere as well. Maybe TV Tropes?) Because in the miniseries at least, I did think we were supposed to feel a little bit badly for Kitty. In some weird way Lydia was kind of her Wickham - not in a sleazy way, but she doesn't really have her sister's best interests at heart, whereas I think Kitty truly did have Lydia's, and she does have a small meltdown when she takes in everything that's happened. :(

I've heard of Death Comes to Pemberly, but I wasn't sure if it was any good! I trust your judgment, though...

I need to re-read NA. I did read it, but while I was in London for school, so I was somewhat distracted. :P

[linda-lupos.livejournal.com]

Right, good point about Lydia! She *is* that self-destructive flake who drives away people who could help by being... herself, basically.

Hehe Georgiana *is* the adorbz. But there is a certain amount of values dissonance involved. Although it ís pointed out that Georgiana was only 15, which even today isn't accepted (or even less, really; Lydia running off with Wickham is unacceptable because they eloped, but the fact that she's sixteen isn't considered as shocking as the fact that she eloped. These days it'd be the other way around), let alone that Wickham is ten years older!

... huh, LBD did add a sympathetic note to Lydia. Good thing too, really, otherwise the whole Wickham plot would kind of flop. NOT saying that nasty, brainless people deserve what Wickham did to Lydia, but it would add a kind of "well what did you expect? Ugh Lydia" to it.
And poor Kitty. She's kind of like Mary in that she always plays second fiddle to her sisters. At least according to the book she got out and improved once her older sisters were married and she had their good examples! (She married a clerk in her uncle's law office, according to what Jane told one of her nieces/nephews, because Word of God existed even in the early 1800s.)

Death Comes To Pemberley is pretty good. It's fluff - basically published P&P fanfic - but it's a nice way to spend a few hours with some familiar characters.

[ramasi.livejournal.com]

I was going to rec Carmilla, but someone else already did. I'm assuming you're aware of the other series by the LBD people? Also, if you're willing to watch something with subtitles, I like "Le Visiteur du futur", a French series with time-travelling. It starts out just being about this asshole guy from the future coming to the present, but later it develops a plot.

I liked that Lydia was more sympathetic in the series (I love her! She's probably my favourite!), but some things I wasn't too happy with. Like the way she's (or sees herself as) isolated from her family I thought was a very stark and unnecessary change from the book (where she has Kitty following her everywhere, and might be her mother's favourite).
I also disliked that as far as I remember no-one ever brings up the fact that it's fucked up that having that sex video of her posted would open her to such censure and potentially ruin her career or smth. I mean, in the book no-one really discusses whether it's fucked up that her running off with Wickam will ruin her whole family either, but considering the series' tendency to change and smooth over aspects they seem to disagree with (like the end to the Jane/Bing romance), I don't think the parallel is intentional.

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy P&P - the book and the mini series. I never thought of Lydia as bad, not even Wickham-bad, but more thoughtless and heedless, and completely unconcerned with how her actions affected her family. Not because she didn't care at all, but because it simply wouldn't occur to her that they might be badly affected. In her wedding scene, she looks around, "Where is everyone?" The idea that she might have caused a scandal and this is a shotgun wedding to save her reputation doesn't even enter her head.

In a way, I see her as having inherited the bad traits of both her parents. Her mother is silly and vain and shallow, while her father has a talent for burying himself in his books and ignoring reality. Replace books with parties and shopping, and that's Lydia too, but without the self-awareness that her father has.

Talking of P&P, one character who I think gets undeserved criticism is Charlotte Lucas. While she's not in love with Mr. Collins, it is actually a good match for her - she goes from being on the shelf with no prospects to being mistress of her own house and married to a vicar who'll inherit Longbourne some day. Given the extreme lack of opportunity for an unmarried, poor relation, I can see why she married him.

[lynn82md.livejournal.com]

I had trouble reading JA's style too. I seem to have trouble reading authors from that time as I struggled reading Gaston Leroux's "Phantom of the Opera" and Bram Stoker's "Dracula" too, although I managed to finish both books. I just had too much trouble reading JA though, so I'm glad there is movies and TV shows I can watch. Even then, I have to watch it multiple times to get what was going on.

I've seen the BBC version as well as the 2005 version with Kiera Knightly. I haven't seen LBD, so I can't comment on that. Even with the BBC and 2005 versions, there were differences. I think BBCLydia was more of a brat imo than the 2005Lydia was. I found the BBCMother more annoying than the 2005mother, though she still annoyed me. I like both versions equally, but I think the acting was slightly better in the BBC version while the other had more well-knowns in it.