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

[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.