The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

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Fandom
Name: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Abbreviation(s): LBD
Creator: Hank Green and Bernie Su
Date(s): April 2012 - March 2013
Medium: Youtube videos, Twitter RP, Tumblr, Facebook, other social media platforms
Country of Origin: USA
External Links: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries homepage
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The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a modernized web series adaption of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. The story is told primarily through Lizzie Bennet's YouTube videos and supplemented by other characters' videos, the characters' twitter accounts, and their other social media presences.

This series is generally credited with creating the vlog adaption format that has adapted other literary classics, such as Jane Eyre (The Autobiography of Jane Eyre), Carmilla (Carmilla (web series)), Much Ado About Nothing (Nothing Much To Do), and more. It also has several spin offs (Welcome To Sandition, Maria of the Lu, Collins and Collins, and the Domino videos), and a sequel with the book The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet. It crosses over with Emma Approved, the adaption of Austen’s Emma that is also done by Bernie Su. There is also a tie-in novel in the format of Lizzie’s personal diary during the course of the videos called The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet.

The series had a Kickstarter to fundraise for a DVD release of the series and its spin offs that reached over 700% of its goal. It also won the 2013 Emmy for “Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media – Original Interactive Program.”

Differences from Pride and Prejudice

The characters in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries have gone through changes in order to help modernize and adapt Jane Austen's work to better fit the vlog format and make them a more relatable to a 21st-century audience. Some characters are only mildly changed, while others have significant changes made, and some characters are removed or changed almost entirely. Some noticeable differences are the increased roles of Charlotte and Lydia in comparison to the original novel, the removal of the characters Katherine Bennet and Anne de Bourgh (both replaced by animals of the same name), the relationship between Mr. Collins and Charlotte is now a business partnership, and that some characters have different races than their novel counterparts.

The change in setting also has an impact on the characters, though it is less direct. Technology plays a big role in the story as it is told through social media. The technological advances since the setting of the novel change how events in the story play out and the characters' reactions to them. For example, in the setting of the novel any sort of long-distance communication could run into problems that would result in loss of contact. When Bingley leaves Netherfield without any warning or further contact, though Jane is upset by this, there are many reasons that could excuse this. With the technological advances of today such a drop in communication would have to be intentional and would therefore be a much deeper betrayal. As a result, Jane is much more effected by Bing’s departure from Netherfield.

Fandom

Fans are most active on YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter. Popular fanworks are screencap or gif sets, but also traditional fanart, fanfic, fanvids, and the occasional carved pumpkin. Some fans RP additional characters on Twitter.[1] Anticipated events like the appearance of new characters led to much speculation and popular hashtags on Twitter (e.g. DarcyDay, PemberleyDay, and DizzieDay.) Some fans call themselves "Seahorses".[2] While canon ships dominate (Darcy/Lizzie = Dizzie, Lydia/Wickham = Lyckham), smaller ships do exist.

Playing with the Fourth Wall is an essential part of the series' format: The characters directly address their viewers and sometimes interact with them via Twitter or Q&A videos. Some of the writers and actors watch the fandom closely, reblogging fanart or commenting on fan discussions. Some fans welcome this more than others, and some comments by a writer and actors that were seen as intimidating by some fans led to an extended discussion about the Fourth Wall and the creators' involvement in the fandom.[3]

The fandom was a popular request for Yuletide 2012. Some stories are archived at the "A Novel Idea" section of the Derbyshire Writers' Guild, an "old school" Austen archive; the earliest was posted to the DWG message boards in January 2013.

Common Tropes

  • Fanfiction plots where something romantic happening between Lizzie and Darcy during Lizzie's time at Pemberley Digital are popular
  • Futurefics
  • Alternate universes that deviate from canon early in the story

Fanworks

Fanvids

Fanfics

Resources

Official:

Fannish:

References

  1. ^ A partial list can be found here (Accessed November 26, 2012)
  2. ^ See The LBD Seahorses: An explanation by mamaleh6994, January 6, 2013
  3. ^ For a collection of relevant posts, see lbd drama rundown by liraelgoldhand, January 13, 2013
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