Reading Wednesday

[hesychasm]

Meme from my flist:

What are you reading now?

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Generally I am an Austen watcher rather than an Austen reader (defriend me now, I know). This might be the only one I've actually read by her, and that was years ago. It's wonderful on re-read -- I mean, what can I say that hasn't already been said? But I've been

Comments

[vonniek]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Lizzie Bennet Diaries (especially in the light of the shit that went down today on the videos). I'm actually kinda thrilled at how unlikable Lizzie comes across in this one in addition to how sympathetic Lydia is. I mean, Elizabeth Bennet is judgey -- it's her defining characteristic, which it says right there on the tin -- but most adaptations downplay that except for her snap judgment of Darcy. But the series goes to pains to show that this flaw of hers colours her every interactions with Lydia (and Charlotte sometimes) and boy, she does not come across well. This makes her first reaction upon hearing about Lydia and Wickham -- "this is my fault" -- much more meaningful, I think. Especially since Elizabeth's reaction to the news in the book is "Lydia is ruined and we are all ruined with her." I mean, different time period, etc., but it's still refreshing.

Sometimes, I think Ashley Clements (the Lizzie actress) is adorable and sometimes her mugging drives me nuts. She's good in painful moments, like in that awesome episode when she and Charlotte have a blazing row about Mr. Collins. Or it's possible I've lost all perspectives because I am ridic fannish about the series like, I don't even know. *hands*

I haven't read "Winter's Bone" but saw the move and was BLOWN AWAY. That scene where Ree and those women go to the swamp to find her father's body is just amazingly powerful -- both raw and immediate, but also mythic and timeless like the grandest of Greek tragedies. The passage you quoted is brilliant. Will have to check out the book!

[hesychasm]

I'll copy what I said to littlerhymes in the DW version of this post, and then add a bit more in response to you:

I actually am not sure why I sat through so much LBD, other than that I've been procrastinating on some other stuff. I think the Youtube confessional format doesn't work for me as fictional entertainment on a fundamental level -- I wish they'd had the budget or the inclination to mix things up and have the cameras follow the characters and film candid style. I also think sometimes the actors aren't that good in this format -- the Lizzie actress especially just overdoes it and I wasn't surprised to learn she has a theater background; it's like she's still playing to the back of the house. Also, the story moves really slowly and there are way too many videos/episodes.

That said, I like the transmedia stuff, how you can follow the characters through Twitter and Tumblr and Facebook. And as I said, I really like what they've been doing with Lydia.

Re: Lizzie's unlikableness -- I actually have never had trouble finding her unlikable because of her judgmental stance re: her family, heh. As I said to Robbie above, I loved that in this version they had Lydia specifically call her out on taking sides against her family with Darcy and Caroline, because I've always found that to be one of the saddest things about the original. Obvs it's understandable that original!Elizabeth would do so b/c original!Lydia's behavior did eventually lead to a situation that could have ruined her sisters, but I just can't help bringing my own modern prejudices and personal family stuff to the story. And I'm glad that the modern version has acknowledge how icky that kind of judging is in this day and age (I esp love the behind-the-scenes blog entry in which Bernie Su acknowledged that they were sloppy about Lizzie's early slut-shaming).

And I do kind of love that the story has been focused so much more on Lizzie's relationships with her sisters and Charlotte, and that Darcy didn't show up until so late (although I also half-hated that, heh). It just struck me as so...fannish. This source material is so beloved and has been re-told so many times, they could let Darcy wait because viewers would do most of the work of believing in that love story all by themselves. Which freed them up to instead focus on the female-female interactions.

I'm really looking forward to how the sex tape story plays out (and I love that this was broken on Facebook and spread on Tumblr before actually being confirmed by the official show Twitter -- the transmedia aspect really is cool). One of the other things I'm curious about is how they'll manage Darcy saving the day and the transition into Lizzie falling in love with him. There's a way to skeezily interpret that sequence of events in the original as Elizabeth being beholden to him because of what he did for her family, and I'd like it if the LBD version could avoid that.

Re: Winter's Bone movie, ayuh. It is just so painfully good. And the book more so, because you get all this history and inner thoughts which JLaw's performance -- as good as it was -- could only hint at.

[vonniek]

As a storytelling device, the vblog format leaves something to be desired, yes. For me, long-standing familiarity of the source does so much fill-in-the-blanks that the limitation of the format doesn't hinder my enjoyment overmuch. Plus as you said, the increased focus on the relationship between Lizzie and her sisters and Charlotte is such a joy that it went a long way to mitigate some of the issues I had. Also awesome: diversity!

It's been interesting reading the youtube comments and some of the Tumblr stuff -- people both familiar and unfamiliar with P&P reacting to the videos in real time. The transmedia stuff is fantastic. I almost makes me want to get a twitter. :) And modern take on the Lydia drama is right on the money, I think, since Darcy's influence in the field of digital media probably puts him in a position where he can potentially intercede and help take down the video. Can't wait to see where it goes from here.

I read that entry by Bernie Su. V. interesting to think how the audience reaction that early on might have helped shape the narrative and characterizations in different directions than the ones originally planned!