Seeing as this web show wouldn't be possible without the book it was based on, I thought I should spend at least one post on some facts about the novel.
Pride and Prejudice:
Type - Novel, satire, comedy, classic
Author - Jane Austen
Published - Jan 28, 1813
Publisher -T. Egerton, Whitehall Volumes - Three, but now sold as one
Origin - United Kingdon Setting - Early 19th-century England Class system - Landed gentry Protagonist - Elizabeth Bennet Narrated - Third-person omniscient Chronology - Published after Sense and Sensibility but before Mansfield Park. However, it was thought to be written before S&S. Original Title -"First Impressions"
Popularity - Well received by critics when first published. Popularity grew with time. It has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide to this day. Probably mostly to high school students, English teachers, and bibliophiles. Did you read it when you were in school? I did. Once in high school and twice in college. And many more times just for fun. Yes, I'm that person.
Characters - Elizabeth (Lizzy/Eliza) Bennet [20], Fitzwilliam Darcy [28], Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, Jane Bennet [22], Mary Bennet [~18], Catherine (Kitty) Bennet [17], Lydia Bennet [15], Charles Bingley [23], Caroline Bingley [~20], George Wickham [mid/late 20s], William Collins [25], Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Anne de Bourgh [close to Darcy], Mr. Edward Gardiner, Mrs. Gardiner, Georgiana Darcy [16], Charlotte Lucas (and her family), Louisa Hurst (née Bingley), Mr. Hurst, Colonel Fitzwilliam [~30], etc. [The brackets contain their approximate age at the beginning of the book. Beginning because it takes place in more than a years time so they likely celebrated some birthdays in between those stolen glances.]
Famous first line -“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
(Less important) Last line - “With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.” Themes and motifs - Marriage, manners, morality, class, education, love, courtship, self-knowledge, etc. Oh yea, and those two other ones. What were they called? I want to say pride and prejudice, but I'm just not sure... List of adaptations - Too many to list on my own so here are some helpful links:
Majority of information from the novel itself (included in the bibliography) and some extra info from public resources such as wikipedia, sparknotes, and pemberley.com. Oh, and also some if it is just knowledge I retained from studying it in various classes. -Danny
On April 12, 2012, Hank Green created a video for his brother and fellow Nerdfighters. This was not an unusual event, as Hank is one half of the acclaimed duo known as the Vlogbrothers. Hank and his brother John Green have been video bloggers since 2007. John is a well known author, and his novel The Fault in Our Stars has been adapted into a film, which will be released on June 6, 2014.
Together the brothers decided that they wanted to try something new, so they decided to forgo any text based communication for one year. Each brother was required to create a video every other day on weekdays, in response to the other brother's previous video. This project was called Brotherhood 2.0 and it was meant to last for one year. Rules were created to keep order, such as the length must not exceed four minutes, and if a brother missed a video or used text based communication then he had to be punished on camera. That was probably on of the best decisions they ever made, because the punishments were both popular and hilarious. See them here.
As the year went on, the brothers discovered that they were gaining viewers and followers. Perhaps this is due to John's preexisting fans from his novels. Or maybe it was due to Hank's song "Accio Deathly Hallows," which became a featured video on YouTube. But then again, it could simply have been due to the fact that both men are excellent video bloggers as well as verbal communicators. Nevertheless a fan group was created, which they dubbed the Nerdfighters. There is even a theme song. Yes, it's as nerdy as it sounds. By the time the year was over, a whole community was born, so they decided to just keep going. Why not? No need to fix what isn't broken. But, while they don't post as consistently as they did before, both brothers still have a prominent presence online, various companies, and a continuously growing fandom.
The April 12th video is an important one. This particular video was Hank's way of introducing his newest project to the world. Video blogging was clearly a success for him, so why not utilize it in a new and unique way? In this video, Hank discusses his idea to create a scripted web show. And not just any scripted web show, but an adaption of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
This video actually came after the release of the first episode, which was posted on April 9, 2012. The second episode was released on the same day as Hank's introduction video.
It is hard to create an adaption. Any book that has ever been turned into a movie has run the risk of "not being as good as the book." Take these for example. See any that you would dub, "not as awesome as the novel I cherish so deeply"?
Yep. It happens. And yet adaptations are completely unavoidable. Why is that? Because they sell tickets. People want to see their favorite characters come to life on the big screen. Sometimes it works. Most of the time it doesn't, and then you just love to hate it which somehow manages to reinforce your original dedication to the book/series. You aren't a true Harry Potter fan if you haven't seen all eight movies and have strong opinions on things like the decision to remove S.P.E.W. or the lack of quidditch matches.
I mean come on Water for Elephants, I'm looking at you here. Why the hell did you choose Reese Witherspoon as the love interest when she could basically be Robert Pattinson's mom? She was not that old in the book. Not even close. I call bullshit.
I believe that when an adaptation is done right and done well, fans won't need to draw so many comparisons to the book. Instead, the media should stand on it's own and be judged thusly. No need to point out all the moments that were done wrong, but instead look at all the parts that were done right or maybe even done differently.
This is why I love The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I don't need to jump back and forth from novel to web show and say "ugh, I hated that they did this" or "why did they take that out when it could so easily have been incorporated?" While I have read (and love) the novel and enjoy the sly references they make to Austen's other works, I don't think about it in terms of the book whenever I watch it. Instead I see the characters as they are and appreciate the show for what it is. Yes it has it's faults. Especially in the beginning there were quite a few problems. But, I'm not going to fight about the decision to make Kitty a literal cat. I actually thought that was an awesome and creative way to incorporate the character without needed to hire/introduce a new actress. All she does in the novel is follow Lydia around anyway, and so that's what she does in the show, just in cat form. It's modern, it's funny, it worked.
