Romancing the Weekends: I am addicted to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
PJV Quickie: Pride and Prejudice is one of my all-time favorite books, and the Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a clever and entertaining take on what Pride and Prejudice might have been if the Bennets had lived in the 21st century.
(That’s Lizzie and her sister Lydia. OMG Lydia – she’s just as wild in these video diaries as she is in the original story.)
The series starts off with that famous line:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune…must be in want of a wife.”
- on a T-shirt!!
Developed by Hank Green and Bernie Su, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries follows Elizabeth Bennet through the day-to-day adventures of her marriage-minded mother, older sister Jane and younger sister Lydia (only 3 daughters in this adaptation). Lizzie is a graduate student and this video diary is part of her study. Jane is starting a career in fashion. Lydia is…Lydia – ’nuff said.
At first I was kind of intimidated by how many episodes there are (it’s not finished as of this post), but they flow easily (they usually hover around 4 min/episode, although they can run a bit longer or shorter). It took me a few days to get through them, and I’m only part way through Lydia’s vlogs. I love the new ‘feel’ of the characters: Wickham is a swim coach, Bing Lee (Bingley) is a medical student. It’s different enough to hold my attention but stays close enough to the story line that they feel like old friends. I also love that the cast is multicultural and more representative of modern society.
I’m up to episode 87, where Wickham and Lydia – well, I’m not going to spoil it but it sufficeth to say, it’s good. I mean, it’s bad, very bad, and I’m dying to know what happens next!!
*cough-look away Rachel-cough* This is why I missed my weekend post last weekend – I had been so busy watching this series that I hadn’t been reading!
Recommendations
Fans of Jane Austen adaptations are in for a treat – you don’t want to miss this!
Other adaptations you might like, similar to ‘The Lizzie Bennet Diaries’
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YES! They are amazing! I live for the less than 10 minutes of videos every week. I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself after they end.
This was such a great idea – I hope they do another!
They are going to do another one, but they are still deciding on which book it will be. Bernie Su’s tumblr pages is a great info source for LBD. He answers a lot of behind the scenes questions.
I’m off to check it out – thanks for the tip!
Oh you are soooo busted!! And I know this one is coming to a close – did you see the last one? I know it’s the end probably only a few more episodes…and I don’t know what I’m going to do after it is over. A Sense & Sensibility recreation?? Hmmm…
Busted? Who me? *whistles*
I stopped at 87 and am forcing myself to wait until a few are up so I can gorge all at once :0 I may not be able to wait much longer…
I would watch S&S; absolutely!
I love this series, I started watching when they were on episode 10ish and after my vacation I almost forgot all about it. But I get doing nothing but watching episodes, I have done that a couple of times just because they are so great.
Yes, it’s okay if I walk away but once I’m back in front of the videos I can’t stop!!
It’s ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, isn’t it!?
I don’t want them to end!! I hope they do another when this one is done.
I started watching it two days ago, got to episode 45. They are totally addictive. I’m actually not a fan of Pride & Prejudice (the original) but I do like adaptations and this really captures my interest. Soooo good!
Addictive is so right! I agree with Rachel (below) and hope they do a P&P; that would be awesome.
I LOVE this webseries. I started when there were 80 episodes and managed to watch them all in under 24 hours. That’s with sleep and horse riding and everything, but only Lizzie’s videos. I’ve since watched all the others. I have no idea what I’m going to do with my life when it ends.
You watched 80 in under 24 hours? That’s impressive! I also just discovered their twitter feeds so I need to catch up on that too.
LOVE this web series..and Lydia is really fun/funny..love her character!
I didn’t like her at first but she’s grown on me
I heart these videos too. While watching the new video yesterday, I realized how many episodes I’d actually watched! Between the regular videos, the Q&A ones and Lydia’s videos it adds up! Very addicting.