Who is Lizzie Bennet?
Most of the books I take home from work have a nice bright red YA sticker on their spine. It’s rare for me to geek out over an adult fiction title, so I almost marked June 24, 2014 on the calendar. Because I saw a book come in that made me jump up and down. There may have even been dancing. And it wasn’t even by Meg Cabot.
The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Kate Rorick and Bernie Su is a print adaptation of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, an online, transmedia adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, which happens to be my favorite book of all time.
But, wait. I may have lost you at “transmedia.”
For those of you who don’t waste hours on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook, here’s how The Lizzie Bennet Diaries works. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a series of short videos featuring Ashley Clements as Lizzie Bennet, a graduate student studying communications. The videos are part of a project for one of her classes, but soon grow to include not only her classmate Charlotte (played by Julia Cho), but also her sisters, their friends, and eventually, yes, Mr. Darcy. There are 100 core videos from Lizzie Bennet, but other characters have their own videos, as well as social media accounts for viewers to follow and comment on. In this way, viewers become part of the story, and even get some of their questions answered by the characters in special FAQ videos. Unlike a TV series, where the viewers only have access to the characters in one way, the characters of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries come alive through their own social media accounts. Sometimes viewers even get to know the characters better than they know each other.
Who in the world thought of that? That would be Hank Green, brother of John Green. (You know, the author of The Fault in Our Stars.) Hank wanted to retell a novel through a video blog and chose Pride and Prejudice. And why not? It’s funny, romantic, and, very importantly, public domain. Which means anybody can retell it anyway he wants and not get sued.
I first heard about The Lizzie Bennet Diaries here at the Dover Public Library. It was during our first ever Read-In, and a young woman read from Pride and Prejudice and talked about how great an adaptation The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was. Well, that was a Saturday. By the wee hours of Sunday morning, I was hooked.
Skip ahead about a year and a half, and The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet crosses my path. There weren’t many surprises in it for me, as I’d watched and re-watched the series on YouTube, but it was one more new way to connect with the character of Lizzie Bennet. Even though the videos are her “diary,” there are things viewers don’t get to see on the Internet, or on the DVD set. For instance, the contents of Darcy’s letter. Pride and Prejudice fans, I know you know what letter I’m talking about.
I might not be the most objective reviewer in the case of Lizzie Bennet, but if you liked Pride and Prejudice, give her secret diary and her videos a shot. You might find something new to love in your favorite characters.
And, if you think this transmedia thing sounds kind of fun, check out Emma Approved, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma from the creators of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
Liz
Teen Librarian
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