Jane Austen's 'Pride and prejudice' is a timeless, essential classic with universal themes and narrative beats. Nonetheless, 200 years later, many changes in society may make some aspects of the novel difficult to parse. Enter 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries': It stands strongly of its own accord with or without knowledge of Austen's masterpiece, and is a truly outstanding web series.
It seems a little silly, at first. While I recognize the popularity of "YouTubers," vlogs still seem like a rather niche online trend. And watching someone talk directly into the camera can feel weirdly awkward when we're on the other side of the screen, looking right back. If any potential viewers have similar hang-ups about TLBD, though, I speak from experience when I say that it handily puts them to rest very quickly.
There's so much to love here. The bare simplicity of modern-day vlogs, mostly recorded by Lizzie Bennet with appearances by other characters, conveys the narrative without any need of a massive budget for lavish sets or costumes. In adapting Austen's book to a time, setting, and framework that's more relatable and accessible to contemporary audiences, the location hunt for country houses, grand manors, or period-appropriate dance halls is replaced with homes or office space borrowed. Yet being toned down in appearance does not at all dull the strength of the tale being told.
Period romances like 'Pride and prejudice' aren't entirely unlike high fantasy such as 'Lord of the rings': Stories set in a time and place so far removed from our own, with very different social standards if not societal structure, that it's almost like reading a fairy tale. The core of 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' is in distilling the essence of the drama and giving it a twist that even if still outside the regular experience of viewers, is in the very least more understandable. Modern college students on the cusp of graduating and setting out on their adult lives, and well off contemporaries who have either inherited or already created their own great success, are more familiar to today's audience than landowners, their marriage-age daughters, and privileged or even titled powerbrokers of an even more unattainably superior and archaic social class. If Austen's novel was a few steps away from being an "ordinary girl meets a prince" love story, TLBD by comparison puts its characters on relatively more equal footing. And while a few characters are omitted or altered from their counterpart in literature, their personalities remain well intact.
The modern settings and wardrobe, to say nothing of the episodic vlog format, seem less sophisticated than big period piece productions like 2005's adaptation with Keira Knightley, or the superb 1995 TV miniseries starring Colin Firth. But make no mistake, a great deal of hard work and dedication were poured into 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,' and that includes the great cast.
Ashley Clements stars as chief protagonist Lizzie Bennet - a young actress whose passion and charisma makes her perfect as the middle Bennet sister. Those qualities match her skill in front of the camera, and since TLBD she's also demonstrated her capability elsewhere as writer, producer, and director. There's also Mary Kate Wiles as the wild, rebellious youngest sister Lydia, and Laura Spencer as the impossibly sweet yet timid oldest sister, Jane.
While the trio of redheads features most prominently in the cast, there's no 'Pride and prejudice' without Mr. Darcy, and Daniel V. Gordh perfectly captures the man everyone loves to hate. Gordh expertly gives an even, stoic, stone-faced performance as Darcy that one can very easily interpret as indifference or arrogance. Then still, among so many others there's Maxwell Glick as irrepressible Mr. Collins; Craig Frank as the endlessly affable Fitz Williams; and Allison Paige as Darcy's impossible to dislike younger sister, Gigi. I could easily sit here and gush about every character and the cast member that portrays them; all perform so well in their roles with such distinct personalities.
'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' is filled with the same lightheartedness and drama that characterizes Austen's novel, albeit presenting many story beats in a fresh, modern way. Hand in hand with the overall tone of the series, there's comedy here, but it is at turns also heartwarming or heartbreaking. One thing to note, not necessarily as a criticism but more as a caveat for those who tend to react strongly: the vlog format in particular lends itself to sometimes making episodes a bit overbearing. Whether a scene is overly playful and cutesy, notably sentimental, or just altogether awkward on account of the interpersonal drama on hand, sometimes TLBD is a bit much. Yet I think that only speaks to the skill of its cast, and to the unique power of the selected framework, that it can make us feel these moments so keenly.
Everything about the series is done so very well that I can't name a specific fault, yet even if I could, the brilliant novelty of the presentation would more than make up for it. TLBD isn't just a singular sequence of videos by Lizzie: Beyond a straightforward storytelling perspective, the venture also treated us to Q&A videos of viewers interacting with Lizzie, or interstitial content from Lydia, Mr. Collins, or Gigi. Characters even had their own Twitter accounts to keep up with the progress of the narrative. This is famously the first web series to in 2013 win an Emmy for the new category of interactive media, and it 100% deserves that honor.
The online world especially moves so quickly that it's hard to believe 8 years have already passed since 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' came to a close. But its relatability and excellence have not dimmed. Whether you're an Austen fan or just a casual viewer, TLBD is an essential web production.
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