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Thursday, April 2, 2020
Questioning 100 vlogs? Yikes.
Full disclosure, I have not finished all of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries yet. I will say I enjoy the 3-4 minute segments and surprisingly enjoy the project as a whole much more than I thought I would. Finding a specific quote from 100 vlogs is pretty intimidating so I was wondering more so about format and topic? Did this make the topic more relate able to you or not? Often throwing a modern context into a classic tends to screw with the functionality and power of the piece. Did that happen for you? Also did you find the brief segments helpful or cumbersome? On our last blog many people wrote about leisure time in reading and being able to "dive" into a book, does this format make it more difficult for you?
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I think that if they had NOT made several changes to go along with the new vlog format, it would not have worked as well. Also, in my opinion, the 4 minute segments were kind fo tough to get through at times. even though they were so short, clicking on the new video felt like signing up for another movie at certain points; i wish i could've juts gotten "lost" in a long video, much like getting "lost" in a novel . Also, i think if the videos were longer and more story development was happening in each video, there would be less time wasted on opening/ ending jokes.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you, there were definitely many times when I looked at the time left in the episode and thought "man, this is a long 4 minutes." Or even worse, when I would see one that was almost six minutes long. It seems strange to act like six minutes was long,
DeleteI also agree with you point about less time for wasted opening/ ending jokes. It would have shortened the overall series, but that was something i enjoyed about the vlogs, I think?
There's no way I would have continued watching this when it was airing weekly - waiting a whole week for a 3 minute episode?? No thanks! But it is worth considering whether this format helps to build engagement or functions in some kind of important narrative way - perhaps sort of emulating a friendship, when you catch up every so often on what's been happening, but you're obviously not there for everything.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree, I don't think I would have eagerly waited for a 3-4 minute episode. Still I do think the narrative that they created was important. If for no other reason than the beginning recaps help to keep you engaged with the plot. In dense novels it is easy to miss something, where as here I think it would be pretty difficult to miss vital information.
DeleteI agree with Kate that your question regarding the format of the vlogs is an important angle to consider when analyzing The Lizzie Bennet Dairies. At times the format felt almost forced, like the creators were trying too hard to modernize the overall story. One point I did like, though, is that they didn't force characters into scenes where it wouldn't have made sense to have them. To clarify, having every character of Pride and Prejudice in the vlogs would have come off as awkward and made the overall project even more unrealistic. The choice to have Lizzie/Jane/Charlotte/Lydia act as other characters is clever and lightened the overall story. The shorter fragments also added to the comedic element of the project. I personally feel the creators were not only trying to modernize Pride and Prejudice, but also highlight the more entertaining parts of Austen's story. Finally, the shorter format kept it from being overly dramatic for me since there was a cut off point before things could go off the deep end.
ReplyDeleteI did like the limited characters! I found it much easier to follow along with. Perhaps the creators in an attempt to modernize Pride and Prejudice were really looked to show how applicable the story is still to this day. After all this project did come out near the 200 year anniversary of the text.
Delete@Kate, I did eagerly wait for them every week! But I came into it a ways in - I think about halfway through? Maybe a third? So I had a big chunk to build up my enthusiasm.
ReplyDelete@Abbey, I also like the feeling of getting "lost," which is why when I went back and rewatched this (not this year, but the last time I taught it, to be 100% honest) I just put on the playlist and let it roll rather than clicking each episode!
@Adam. not sure if the format is what really makes it work for me, but I do like the way they made the format work, if that makes sense?
I think that makes sense. Somewhat of a clear at mud kind of statement. The format is not what made this appealing to you but you could adjust to its function.
DeleteI too just let it roll rather than click, but with the pauses in the middle as well as the opening jokes, it is just not the same as spending hours reading a book. I would be curious how this conversation would go 20 years from now as we are getting more and more accustomed to just letting screens endlessly roll. Or perhaps even the next time you teach this course/ content.
I did find the show to be more relatable than the novel. In adapting the story from its originally form, it is easier to see how it can fit into a modern context. The student loans and overbearing mother are key examples. To me it would have been easier if the segments were lumped together into 30min episodes, the short segments were more annoying to watch.
ReplyDelete30 minute segments would have been nice! Although if I really think about it, I don't know that I would have focused through them as much. With these short vlogs I was able to watch them as well as do another task at the same time during the "intermissions"
DeleteI do think that the vlog style made this story more relateable. Especially for people in their 20's most of the interpersonal issues are relatively common. Having said that, there are certainly aspects of both the novel and the series that the average reader/viewer simply has no perspective on. Most of us have never been given job offers at huge media companies while still finishing school, just like we probably aren't being proposed to by someone who owns a vast estate. So while the vlog-style adds to the modernization of the story, there is still the matter of class, and how certain experiences just aren't universal.
ReplyDeleteBig job offers and proposals?! Speak for yourself! Ha kidding. But really I liked how they found parallels between what happened in the novel to realistic comparisons today. As I started watching the series I wondered how they would make those connections and what they would do for the proposal specifically.
DeleteI found the mini series topics relatable. The series picked parts of the plot from the novel and elaborated on them in ways that are easier for everyone to comprehend. The mini series was quite functional. I cannot lie to you, watching all of the episodes were tedious.
ReplyDeleteTedious is a nice way to put it. But as far as painstaking things I have done for my education I can't even claim it to be in the top ten. I think it all comes back to the fact that we want to get much of it over with as we are doing it for school rather than for pleasure. I imagine those people that eagerly awaited each episode did not find it to be so tedious. But then again I was not one of them so I can't speak for certain.
DeleteI agree with basically everyone else here - I found the task of watching 100 episodes to be quite daunting, even if they were only 3-5 minutes long. As Dr. MB cautioned us, it took about 5-6 hours to get through all of them, and it was DEFINITELY a struggle. However, I agree with Kate in that if I were watching these episodes while they were still being filmed and published, I don't think I'd wait to watch a new episode each week. The "cliffhangers" just weren't enough for me to want to wait and see another clip; but they were great in maintaining my attention from episode to episode. Because they were all already published (for some time now) and readily available, it was pretty easy for me to binge them. I also agree with Payton in that I think it was beneficial to have the main characters act out the actions of other supporting characters, but I'll repeat what I said on Payton's post as well: I just really missed Mr. Bennet! Totally underrated character and provided comedic relief in the novel - but I do think there was enough quirky humor in the series to kind of nullify the need for him to physically be in the vlogs.
ReplyDelete