Quote: Lydia: Jane and Lizzie are too worried about "propriety" and "letting things take their own time" and "not over-using air quotes" to get anything done at all.
Question: How did the Lizzie Bennet Dairies change people's perceptions of the original Pride and Prejudice characters? Did you like certain characters more? Less? What changed?
Follow up: Personally TLBD changed how I view Lydia Bennet. In my pervious experience with P&P, I always found her beyond annoying and struggled to find redeemable qualities in her; however, TLBD changed my view. When her character was remixed, I saw how young she is and needing attention not just for the sake of attention but to feel she had value in the Bennet family. Her older sisters are in many ways "perfect" and extremely close with one another. In comparison, Lydia always seems to fall short. One element that is lost is Mrs. Bennet's adoration for her youngest daughter. While you can see hints of it in TLBD (Lydia getting away with almost anything), without Mrs. Bennet actually in the story some of that relationship is lost.
The mini series did not change my perception of the characters. They were depicted oddly similar to the book in my opinion. I do feel that Lydia was over dramatic, more than in the book. This may be because of the more modern take.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree--TLBD changed my perception of Lydia. I think, especially in classic literature when this trope hadn't yet been explored as much, it's easy for us to dismiss "foolish" female characters when we have "better" examples of strong women at the forefront. Lydia seems like a silly girl when we have Lizzy to follow who has a strong head on her shoulders and isn't afraid to say what she means, and to go against the status-quo. But that doesn't make Lydia a less fulfilling character for following the expectations for women at the time, and it doesn't make her less of a strong woman. Lydia represented more women of the time of P&P than Lizzy did--and Lydia might still in a modern setting represent more young women than Lizzy now in her values and personality. This modern version definitely gave me a new perspective of Lydia and a new appreciation for sure that I didn't have when I read P&P.
ReplyDeleteEmily, thank you for calling our attention to the idea of Lydia's archetype not yet being a recognizable trope in the Regency Era. I hadn't considered the idea that part of our issue with Lydia is that she feels out of place in the Regency Era, but when she's dropped into a modern context we relate to her character arch in a different way. I completely agree: Lydia gets shortchanged in the novel due to her comparison to Lizzy and Jane. But when she's given more screen time in the TLBD we see her in a whole new light.
DeleteTLBD definitely changed my perspective of Lydia as well - I felt like she was much more of a "main" character in the videos than the novel gave her credit for, and I liked that take on her characterization in TLBD. One of the things I thought was lacking is basically what you touched on - I wanted to get more of the parent/daughter relationships that we saw in the novel, but due to the fact that the parents were never personally shown in the vlogs, we never really got to see them. I personally wanted more of the Mr. Bennet/Mrs. Bennet relationship as well, because I found that to be the comedic relief in the text. I feel as though Mr. Bennet is a VERY underrated character, and I wanted so much more of him in the videos.
ReplyDeleteKelsey- I couldn't agree more! Mr. Bennet is lacking for sure. Your comment also gets back to Mike's question regarding lack of "male time"; a short coming of the vlogs is missing character's such has Mr. Bennet. It's interesting to consider that we get less of him but more of Mr. Collins.
DeleteI also found myself with a greater appreciation for Jane in this adaptation of P&P. In both the novel and other adaptations I've seen, Jane tends to feel more like an idea than an actual person to me. We're told "she's perfect," "she's so beautiful," and "she always thinks the best of everyone." But she doesn't really take up space as a character or leave much of an impression on the reader other than those three assigned traits. She, too, becomes more of a main character in LBD. (Much more screen time compared to the novel.) We learn about her through how she presents herself and what she says, not just what Lizzie thinks about her and what the narrator shares. Instead of being told about her affection, we get to see for ourselves her feelings grow for Bing Lee. We also get the development of New Jane. While I think they do a great job presenting her character even without giving her this arch, I loved her new backbone and independence.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you here Sanya Grace! Jane in P&P was almost boring to me--another representation of how women "should" be. Effortlessly beautiful, submissive and sweet, poised but not too head strong. She wasn't enticing or interesting to me in the novel, but the series gave me a whole new light of her. Yay for the redemption of the Bennet sisters!
DeleteI like both your takes on Jane and appreciate that you had similar experiences with her as I did to Lydia in the dairies. Two thoughts: I think Jane is so "perfect" in the novel to highlight all of Lizzy's imperfections. Jane sets the ideas for the day, Lizzy defies them. I think without Jane as a reflection of perfectionism, Lizzy would come across as too perfect and we would never develop our concept of her as a rebel. Now my second thought...I have to disagree. Jane still feels a bit too perfect in the diaries to me at times; however, I appreciate that she moves on to NYC and Bing is the one who must follow her. Bravo to the creators for giving her independence!
DeleteThe relationship among the sisters is so lovely in the web series. I go from finding Lydia "totes" obnoxious at the start to finding her possibly the best actor of them all as the series comes to a close. She has a big range and you need the craziness of the early episodes to appreciate the quiet shadow she becomes at the end. I like that the updated Lydia learns a lesson rather than just being clueless and unrepentant, because in the novel I just want to toss her off a cliff every single time I read it (but also then get annoyed with myself because I'm also like, hell YES girl, you are right, women should NOT have to live within those boundaries!)
ReplyDeleteAgreed, agreed, agreed. I even liked the Lydia sub-series and the clever nod to cousin "Mary." I was initially annoyed that they left out Kitty and Mary, but really like the way they included them in smaller ways later on. I also realize it would have been unrealistic and time consuming to have all 5 Bennet sister's as featured characters.
DeletePayton,
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, you have made me think of Lydia as not so bad when you frame her the way you did. Watching the vlogs, I pretty much dreaded every time she made an appearance. She was obnoxious, intentionally I know, but still. Still I had always thought of her as an individual rather than being a part of the Bennet family. I had not considered her relationship with her mother or her comparison to her sisters as much as I probably should have. When I consider how you frame her within the larger context on the story, it does make me feel somewhat bad for judging her. I do hope she tones it down a bit as she ages though.
Adam- I couldn't agree more, I hope older Lydia is a more grounded individual. I'm sure there is a great spin-off out there where we meet grown up Lydia.
DeleteI absolutely agree that the series can change our view on certain characters. Lydia is a great example of this. Rather than hearing from Mr. Bennet how unintelligent she is, we get to see her for ourselves, and form our own opinions. In "meeting" Lydia, we see that she may be young and boy-crazy, but she's certainly not as vapid as she's made out to be in the novel.
ReplyDeleteOur perception changes in regard to other characters as well. For me, the biggest difference was Charlotte. While reading Pride and Prejudice, I imagined a girl settling for what she could get. The Charlotte of LBD, however, was smart, career-driven, and focused.
It is refreshing how we get slightly less filtering for some characters because of the vlogs (Lizzie, Jane, Lydia, Charlotte) but we also lose getting to form our own opinion of others. As Kelsey mentioned, Mr. Bennet is noticeable absent and we don't meet Darcy until episode 60 (?).
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