Comments | osprey_archer: The things I do to avoid grading.

osprey_archer

The things I do to avoid grading.

Mar 23, 2013 10:22

As the Lizzie Bennet Diaries draw near the end, my friend Micky and I have been discussing what else could be adapted (aside from Jane Austen’s unfinished Sanditon, which is apparently the basis for their next project and will star Gigi, Kickstarter here. I have not read Sanditon. Probably I should correct this ( Read more... )

classics, pemberley digital, jane austen

Comments 10

goldenusagi March 23 2013, 19:47:24 UTC

Hmm, I think a vlog version of Emma could easily have the secret of Jane and Frank's engagement, if we're mostly getting our info from Emma and she's oblivious. Though WHY an engagement would need to be secret nowadays is more the question.

What about a vlog Sense and Sensibility? Since it was probably originally written as epistolary, it would be perfect. With Marianne and Elinor keeping in touch with their mom through vlogs!

I read Sandition once a long time ago, but don't remember much. I'll probably check out the webseries, but I'm not really excited about it? Webseries aren't my thing in general, and only because this one was P&P did I even check it out. Like, I'll care about Elizabeth Bennet in any form.

osprey_archer March 23 2013, 20:04:43 UTC

Yes, I think the main question would be "Why is the engagement secret?" Because unless they have a pretty good reason to keep it secret, then the way Frank Churchill flirts with Emma makes him look like a jerk.

Actually, it already makes him look kind of jerktastic, but you know, more so in a modern adaptation.

MAYBE! Frank is a girl, and she is keeping her liaison with Jane Fairfax a secret because her aunt (Frank's, not Jane Fairfax's, because they clearly adore Jane to pieces) is homophobic and would never approve.

And Emma is bisexual (I think this is a totally valid reading of Emma anyway...) and...but it's not like a homophobic aunt would approve of Frank flirting with Emma rather than Jane Fairfax, presumably? Hmmm.

Given that reserve is such a cornerstone of Elinor's character, I'm not sure she would have her own vlog. But Marianne would LOVE a vlog, and maybe Elinor would guest star a lot?

goldenusagi March 23 2013, 20:17:52 UTC

Maybe Elinor's could be in the form of private videos to her mother? That we just happen to get to see? What about Margaret? Everyone forgets about Margaret. She could be informing us of the happenings of her family.

Maybe you could genderbend Jane Fairfax? And then Frank is flirting with Emma because of his homophobic aunt, but is secretly with John Fairfax. And Emma resents John because everyone always threw them together growing up, like they were going to get married or something, instead of the book where everyone wanted them to be friends.

osprey_archer March 23 2013, 20:37:07 UTC

I think if the story has too many different video streams going at the same time, it will just get confusing. Or are you suggested Margaret keeping a vlog instead of Elinor & Marianne?

Maybe you could genderbend Jane Fairfax?

That makes so much more sense! I knew there was a way to make this work, but I just couldn't get the gender configuration right...

Thread 6

bunn March 23 2013, 20:11:11 UTC

*The book would be so improved if she ran away with him one hundred pages in, and they spent the next thousand or so pages freeing Poland or something*

This is SO TRUE. Gah, endless, endless bloody Middlemarch.

Emma would work, I would have thought. I can see Jane Fairfax keeping an LJ under a strict pseudonym, referring to everyone only by initial or something, although I'm not sure how that would fit the format!

osprey_archer March 23 2013, 20:38:27 UTC

I KNOW RIGHT. It's like, Dorothea, I'm glad you're trying to be all moral and everything but REALLY just go be happy already. Even Hamlet only waffled around being indecisive for a couple of acts before he acted against Claudius.

ladyherenya March 24 2013, 03:03:20 UTC

Ooh, thoughts about future vlog adaptations! I have those!

I haven't read Middlemarch, so I cannot comment there.

But I am definitely in favour of an Emma vlog. Emma would love telling the internet about her theories and her matchmaking attempts. She'd happily make her vlogs from a more public space than her bedroom. And Knightley would be in the background, saying, "No, Emma, you can't say that on the internet ( ... )

osprey_archer March 24 2013, 04:18:53 UTC

And Knightley would be in the background, saying, "No, Emma, you can't say that on the internet..."

Yes! I was wondering how to get Knightley in there, because his constant presence in Emma's life is such an important part of the story that costume theater didn't seem like quite enough.

And I think Marianne vlogging would totally work for S&S. Maybe the family has been forced into an apartment, so all three girls share a room, leaving room for Margaret hijinks? Either studying or looking for work would be good. Maybe Marianne is studying something fanciful, and Elinor has a job...

I still like the idea of an Emma vlog better, though, because it just fits so well with her character. Also, there would not be long sections of misery and woe in the middle.

Oh, Anne of Green Gables intertwining childhood flashbacks with realtime vlogging would work! I heard they were thinking about Anne, and I couldn't envision how they'd make that work, given that she's eleven.

I must admit that the idea of any kind of adaptation of The Blue Castle ( ... )