It is a truth universally acknowledged that the first sentence of any discussion of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice must be in want of those first words. As I have said many times before, I am nothing if not cliché.
Today is the 200th anniversary of its publication. I could go into some kind of analysis about why this is one of my favourite books and how I have a giant poster of half the book on my wall and why I'm kind of meh about Colin Firth as Darcy because David Rintoul* had captured my 8-year-old heart and I wouldn't forsake him or how awful the Grier Garson/Laurence Olivier version is, despite the charismatic leads. But I won't.
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Instead, I would like to encourage you, again, to watch The Lizzie Bennet diaries on YouTube. Since last April, I have been extremely happy at noon Mondays and Thursdays, because that means another 5-8 minutes of happiness coming my way. And I can include Tuesdays and Fridays now, as well, because Lydia has been posting vlogs of her part of the story on those days.
There have been 83 episodes plus 8 Q&A's and Lydia's 30 or so videos... oh! And the 6 videos from Maria Lu (Charlotte's sister) PLUS the Collins & Collins and Pemberley Digital stuff. There are Twitter accounts and tumblrs and just about everything a person who likes to get
When it started, I said that I kind of wished I had discovered this after it had been all done, so I wouldn't have to wait for the next video. But I'm so. very. glad. that I am experiencing this in real time. Even though the anticipation sometimes kills me. Darcy Day, for example. Oh lord.
I'm about to get all spoilery and a tad long-winded, so if you don't know the story at all or want to experience it on your own or want to skip my blithering, you might want to jump to the part of the post where I put the various links to Watch. All. the Things.
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All clear?
Anyway. The transmedia component adds so much. I really enjoy delving deeper into the story and see things from other characters' points of view. And they're little Easter eggs, quietly waiting to be discovered. Interactive Easter eggs. For instance, when we finally got to meet Darcy and he found out about the videos, he started following Lizzie on Twitter. And people were quick to tweet Lizzie about it. And she responded to them. He then tweeted his comments while watching the videos over the weekend, and we saw his resolve to write the letter.
Aside: I predicted last May that we would meet Darcy when he bursts in to declare himself while Lizzie was live vlogging and his letter would be in the form of a video reply. I was partially right (and I can't begin to tell you how brilliant the producers are at building anticipation: all we saw of Darcy at the end of the Monday video was his torso and we had to wait three. whole. days for the reveal! I had been worried that we (the audience) wouldn't have been as invested in the proposal scene as in, say, Charlotte and Lizzie's fight and reconciliation, because we hadn't seen Darcy yet, but all I have to say is "Well-played, Bernie, well-played"*** -- don't even get me started on the genius that was the week's break before the Pemberley arc began); however the DC and I (who discuss at length the ways they are going to adapt certain aspects of the story) both agreed early on that a video from Darcy would a) really go against his character and b) make it really difficult to hide Wickham's being a jerk to Gigi from Lydia, which is really important to the plot. (In fact, I couldn't figure out how they were going to hide that from Lydia but tell the audience. Answer? They hid it from the audience, too. And now, even though we have just been told what happened, Lydia still doesn't know, because of reasons. These people who are writing this story are very clever.) So a video reply would have been neat, but not true to the story.
Aside the second: the DC and I even speculated that we would not see Darcy until the very end. Fortunately, that is not the case. Because the fandom would be losing their minds. Of course, now we're losing our minds for other reasons. Darcy as Fitz, for example. /asides
Some more ways the Twitter feed enhances the story: We hadn't met Gigi, Darcy's sister, yet on the videos, but she had been tweeting her brother and posting links to broken-heart songs for a few months. Then the day after Christmas, she started watching the videos and tweeting her comments. And the fandom went nuts. The day Lizzie started following Darcy on Twitter, the fandom went nuts again. I may have squeed. This past Saturday, Gigi and Darcy took Lizzie on a tour of San Francisco and Gigi took pictures and posted them on Twitter in real-time (which must have been hella complicated for the techies because I don't think you can schedule tweets). Gigi and Fitz (Colonel Fitzwilliam) have been plotting to bring Lizzie and Darcy together and it's adorable -- they even assigned them code names. Although, we're at the point in the story when all hell is about to break loose so I don't think that Superbowl party will include a certain redhead.
Aside the third: I really hope Fitz makes another appearance in the videos because he is hilarious. /aside
Anyway, if you're only watching the main videos, you get a bit of a sense of this; Gigi is clearly working to get Lizzie and Darcy together (in TVtroping terms, she totally ships them), but you wouldn't know that Fitz is also behind some of it if you didn't follow the Twitter. And rub your hands in squeeful anticipation.
The videos are here in the book:
Such a change in a man of so much pride excited not only astonishment but gratitude -- for to love, ardent love, it must be attributed; and as such, its impression on her was of a sort to be encouraged, as by no means unpleasing, though it could not be exactly defined. She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him; she felt a real interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself, and how far it would be for the happiness of both that she should employ the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed, of bringing on the renewal of his addresses.It's been really lovely in these past few videos to see Darcy trying to be more light-hearted (and taking part in costume theatre!) and Lizzie being more comfortable with him and also less judgemental. She's even started flirting with him! I have a feeling that the next video will be interrupted by Lydia drama, but then again, I've been saying that for the past few videos.
The DC and I have been discussing Lydia's downfall and have discounted several ideas due to learning new things and the fact that Wickham is turning our bright, energetic girl into a clingy and subdued version of herself -- we have no clue what his twisted game is. In short, I have no real suggestions except to say that I think what happened in Vegas will not stay in Vegas.
[Tuesday update: Having seen Lydia's most recent video, I'm now thinking he'll take off and she'll follow him, but that by itself won't be enough to require Darcy's intervention, so there's still going to be something about what happened in Vegas over New Year's. Wickham has obviously been watching Lizzie's videos all this time, and he's clearly manipulating Lydia. To what end, I'm not sure, but he's definitely out for revenge. Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't end up with Lydia being with Wickham, even though she loves him, because he's a dick and in this version she deserves so much more than that.]
I also don't know how they're going to resolve the Jane and Bing storyline. Caroline has obviously been manipulating things, but Jane is rightfully upset that Bing doesn't seem to think for himself: "Darcy may have told him [I was a gold-digger], but Bing didn't have to believe him." I want them to end up together, because they are adorable, but he's going to have to do some major hoop-jumping to get past this.
Gah! And now you see why I may be a wee bit obsessed. Even though I know how the original story goes, I don't know the plot twists this version will take. It's only the best thing ever.
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Phew! End spoilers and speculation!
So happy birthday, P&P, and thank you, Hank Green and Bernie Su, for the awesomeness that is the Lizzie Bennet Diaries!
Watch Lizzie's Diaries from the beginning on YouTube:
If you want to have the entire immersive experience, then start at the beginning on the main site, which includes all the twitter conversations and tumblr posts in order, as well as Lydia's and Maria's vlogs. You don't have to, but it really adds to the experience for me.
The best place to catch up on the Twitter is on the LBD site because it'll be in order, but they don't update daily, so if you're watching in realtime you can go to my list (it includes a few fan accounts which are hilarious). Don't do this yet if you haven't seen the videos and don't want to be spoiled, because they only put the actor's photos on the Twitter profile once they've been revealed in the videos, and we've met everyone now.
Watch Lydia's vlogs and Maria's vlogs, which are pretty hilarious and also plot-worthy.
They haven't been using the characters' Tumblr accounts as much as they could be (mostly just reposting videos), but the official Tumblr reposts a lot of good stuff, from creator posts to what's on Lizzie's bookshelf to fan art. Which is good, often hilarious, and reassures me that I'm not as obsessed as I could be.
Last thing: anyone else feel this animated gif thing is getting into Hogwarts territory? Just me? Okay.
*Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul from the 1980 BBC version are my favourite TV Elizabeth and Darcy. The production suffers from old-style adaptation woes -- the letter scene in particular is fairly deadly. But the leads are perfect, and this is by far the best version of Mr. Collins, who is neither oily, nor unctuous, nor... creepy.
**From Postertext.com. My poster cuts off in the friggin' middle of Darcy's letter, just when he starts dishing the dirt about Wickham! I was searching for the website of the company that made my poster (also so I could suggest a second poster with the rest of the text but this time with Lizzie & Darcy facing each other) and came across this one that has all the text. I'm not thrilled about the design, though, so maybe I should go with Pride & Prejudice and Zombies instead. Although I'm not sure how they're getting away with posters of stuff that's still under copyright!
***Overuse commas much? Oy.
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