As I watched through the series, the thought that kept running through my head was "who on Earth is interested enough to watch this?" I don't mean the series itself, because we have context of course. What I mean is that were this a real vlog, I can't imagine people being interested in it. I find Lizzie to be incredibly annoying, but that's just my personal opinion. It kind of reminds me of iCarly, where it's really funny from the other side of the fourth wall, but I can't imagine they would actually have been popular in real life.
But I guess that speaks to the question of why do we still invest time in this story. It's a story about family drama, and it has a happily ever after. What more could a reader want? People would rather read about family drama than deal with their own, they want to see a character getting a happy ending when they themselves don't always get one. Translating the story into vlog form adds a heightened sense of "what comes next?" This feeling obviously exists in the book version, but you can just continue reading. With the vlog, you have to wait for updates. Perhaps, if you can push how irritating Lizzie is in the series, then I guess you can appreciate her story for what it is.
tl;dr, the story of Pride and Prejudice and, obviously, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, ticks off two rather large boxes in our literature interests: family drama, and a happy ending. Maybe, because the story includes both of these things, we continue to reread and remake it.
I agree wholeheartedly with your take on this series, especially the need to "invest time in this story." I wonder how this vlog will age as the years move on. Will future viewers see the series as antiquated and uninteresting, or will they see it as an interesting time capsule of a time in American society? Time is always the biggest friend or enemy to an artist.
ReplyDeleteAbby, I like that you call attention to the idea that the series is staged as if the characters are "real" people living their day-to-day life. It adds a different element to our review to pose your question: "who exactly would want to watch this?" And I think the answer is fairly simple: anyone? Vloggers have become the new "it girls" and they simply document their life. Actually, Lizzie does more in her vlogs than most vloggers do in 2019/2020. Look at Emma Chamberlain, for example, she gets millions of views for locking herself on a roof for 24 hours or ordering coffee. The Lizzie Bennet Dairies also plays into our love of reality television and I particularly appreciate your point that we watch these are a distraction from our own lives and problems.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Payton that the show really taps into the feeling of reality TV culture and the whole vlogging phenomenon. I have always wondered about the people who started watching this without realizing it was a novel remix. I don't think I would have watched two episodes if I hadn't known what it was.
ReplyDelete@Mike, I do think it will stand as a time capsule of 2013 for exactly these reasons - that it provided a new kind of remix of a beloved novel and also that it captures a moment of reality TV and a certain kind of investment in "personalities" (I hesitate to call them celebrities). I'm not a big YouTube watcher, but even I know some of the people from different YouTube shows. Who's the lady who made a dog bed out of Irish Spring? Why did millions of people watch that? I think that explains a lot about the LBD.
I like your point about the "what comes next?" feeling. The cliffhangers in the Youtube series do a great job at keeping viewers interested. I think that regardless of how well you know Pride and Prejudice, you're interested in where the series is heading, although maybe for different readers. The uninitiated watch the series and see a fun story full of accidental run-in's and characters holding grudges for too long. Meanwhile, those familiar with Pride and Prejudice, and know the general direction the story will take, watch the series not to see WHAT will happen, but rather HOW it will happen. I knew that Lydia was going to make a mistake involving Wickham, but what kept me interested was how the producers were going to portray it. In this way, the series does a great job not only at keeping viewers interested, but also at keeping them guessing.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I found myself thinking while watching this series in the beginning was, "did people really wait for new episodes of this every week?" because I have to say, regardless of whether or not I had read the novel beforehand, I probably wouldn't have watched more than one episode. I agree with both you and Caleb in that the vlog definitely added a heightened sense of "what comes next," but I once again can't help but think that I still wouldn't have wanted to wait an entire week after each 5-minute episode to see what transpired after the last one. I think that's one of the downfalls of this platform - I feel like you need to binge all of the episodes, otherwise you'll lose interest (especially in the beginning). In terms of the characters, Lizzie in particular, I think the irritability that comes off in the series is definitely beneficial; it's something we didn't see exaggerated so much in the novel and really gets the point across that this is her story and we have to watch her grow as the series progresses.
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