261 replies to this topic

[Katia11]

YEP. AN AWESOME SAUCE BLOW YOUR MIND WEBSHOW. 

[Katia11]

 

 

 

 

[Mara=^.^=]

Darcy is so awkward

Jesus Christ I can't even

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =
 

[Mara=^.^=]

The girl who plays Mary is, to quote Lydia, SO PERF.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

Gigi just threw them in a room together

 

And she sits them down next to each other

 

WHAT NOW

 

NEW FAVORITE PERSON

 

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

Oh my Lord

 

Darcy as Fitz

 

I CAN'T BREATHE

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

Shit. Now I am caught up. Now I have to wait for new episodes. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

welcome to PAIN. 

[Mara=^.^=]

I have such an LBD hangover today...ugh. I basically didn't sleep last night. Thanks a LOT, Katie...

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

YOU ARE WELCOME. 

 

 

THE QUESTION IS:

 

 

Do you like it???  

[Mara=^.^=]

Do you like it???

 

Oh Katie, Katie, you just made a dire mistake. You asked a fandom nerd whether she like something.

 

The short answer to your question is: yes. I did, after all, lose a night's sleep watching it - if it didn't measure up to my exacting standards of youtube entertainment , I wouldn't have finished the vids. However, I can't ever just enjoy something without painfully overthinking it, so here comes the lengthy and entirely unnecessary critical analysis.

 

Obviously, modernizing a period piece that revolves around no-longer-existent social mores requires a LOT of creativity, and on the whole, they did a really good job with it. Lydia, for example - we all know that if Lydia grew up today, she'd be a YOLO-shouting, boy-crazy, beer-guzzling party girl. Wickham is magnificent as a sleazeball-y hot guy; I especially like his use of the nickname "peach", which is superficially flattering, but also kind of condescending. I adore the way they re-interpreted Fitz...he's so freaking likeable, and his interactions with Lizzie geniunely feel like two college kids hanging out in a room together. Gigi was also updated nicely, I think - although her relationship with Darcy is different than it is in the book, I still really like their sibling vibe (and the fact that Gigi basically ships Lizzie and her brother. Hell to the yes). Caroline is TOTALLY different than she is in the source material, but I feel like the LBD version of her works so well. She just oozes the falsely-nice backstabber vibe, so props to her actress. And yes, Darcy is a babe. Moving on now.

 

The costume theatre bit is a fantastic way to make the story work within the limitations of its medium - as a personal vlog, it obviously wouldn't be feasible to have all the other characters be on camera all the time. Lizzie's imitations of other people (especially her mother and Catherine de Bourgh) are freaking hilarious, and when she ropes other people into the roleplays as well, it creates moments that are just so damn enjoyable. Not to mention that it sets up the crowning moment of awesome...when Darcy walks in dressed as himself. I almost had a heart attack. Of course, whenever you make a change to a literary masterpiece, there is bound to be a downside too. In this case, I think the downside is the fact that Darcy's character development arc isn't really shown onscreen. Because Lizzie is established early on as an unreliable narrator, we as the audience don't always know whether someone's genuinely being a jerkass or whether Lizzie is just looking for an outlet for her frustration. And yes, I know that's the "Prejudice" part of the title coming through, but I feel like we don't get enough of the "Pride" part as a result. In the book, and in other adaptations of the work, it is pretty clear that Mr. Darcy DOES in fact start out as a rude, pompous ass. That, I feel, is what makes Pride and Prejudice such an enduring love story - at its core, it's about two imperfect people who meet up, force each other to confront their respective flaws, and emerge not just as romantic partners, but as better human beings. In LBD, Darcy's character is played off as more socially awkward than supercilious, so it seems a bit extreme when Lizzie tells him she hates his guts in front of the entire internet. After all, in the books Elizabeth tells him off in private after he has basically insults her in like 857294759 ways - there's a huge difference between calling someone out on their bullshit, and doing it in front of A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE. It makes Lizzie look like she's the one behaving callously, whereas in the book it's very much an equal thing. So there is that.

 

I think it was really smart the way the writers updated Pemberley to a company and made Darcy into a young CEO - the career-in-place-of-marriage thing is believable and timely, and the crippling student debt and household financial problems are the perfect reinterpretation of the whole "not having an heir" problem the historical Bennetts face. Unfortunately, I think this takes some of the punch out of Charlotte's decision to become a member of Collins and Collins. Mr. Collins is annoying, sure, but he's not as slimy and unappealing as he is in the books, and there is a HUGE difference between partnering up with someone irritating to advance your career (that's basically par for the course in today's business world), and making the decision to wed someone repulsive and live with them for the rest of your life. Charlotte's decision is practical and business-savvy either way, but marriage-without-the-prospect-of-divorce and a "sell-out" job are two COMPLETELY different things. Modern Charlotte could easily quit in a couple years if she grows tired of things. She doesn't have to sleep with Mr. Collins and raise his kids. The two situations are just not comparable. It makes modern Lizzie's immediate refusal of Mr. Collins and her subsequent anger at Charlotte seem like a bit of an overreaction. It actually kind of bothered me that LBD (or at least Jane) painted Lizzie's decision to turn down the job as an act rooted in fear/uncertainty, when in the books her refusal was an act of bravery. She turned down financial security and familial approval because she wanted to remain true to herself and her desire for actual love. I don't know how else they could've handled it in a modern setting, though, so no points subtracted from the writers for that one.

 

I'm not sure how to feel about the changes they made to Lydia's subplot. On the one hand, the trip to Vegas and the sex tape are the PERFECT modern parallels to what Lydia and Wickham pulled in the book. On the other hand, LBD's Lydia seems to have much more self-awareness, and her decisions seem more like acts of rebellion than acts of thoughtlessness. While the whole "birthday book" incident accurately portrayed the kind of fights that can break out between siblings, I feel that it unfairly painted Lizzie as the "trigger" for Lydia's subsequent disaster. In the book, it's made very clear that Lydia is selfish, silly, and completely unaware of the impact her bad decisions have on the people around her. Elizabeth shows great wisdom by appealing to her father to keep a closer watch on Lydia, and it's clear that Lydia's fall from grace is, if anything, the fault of the parents more than the sisters. Maybe the writers were trying to make Lizzie feel more involved/responsible for the catastrophe, but if so then it's odd that upon learning of the indiscretion Lizzie didn't express guilt over their argument, but rather expressed regret that she didn't tell Lydia about George. This made sense in the book, where Elizabeth had a long discussion with Jane about the whole affair and ultimately decided not to "inform the public" because doing so would mean embarrassing Darcy's sister. It also made Mr. Darcy realize the impact of his pride and reserve - if he had been willing to lay his private affairs open, other young girls wouldn't have suffered the same fate as his sister. In the show, not so much. The decision to keep it under wraps seems to have been Gigi's, so the whole who-has-responsibility-for-this conga line seems less well choreographed. On the other other hand, Lydia's self-awareness make her even MORE of a sympathetic and tragic character than she was in the books. Again, I don't know how to feel about it all. I might end up liking it, I might not. Hard to tell yet.

 

There's really only one thing about the LBD series that I found disappointing, and it's something very particular to my own biased reading of the original story. One of my absolute FAVORITE relationships in Pride and Prejudice is the one between Elizabeth and her sister Jane. Seriously, they are the standard by which I judge pretty much all other literary female friendships. They just have such a deep, enduring, trust-filled love for each other, and while it's clear that LBD Jane and Lizzie are close, it's not the same thing. In the books, Jane is Elizabeth's closest confidante, not Charlotte, and they discuss almost EVERYTHING that happens and support each other every step of the way. While I appreciate that a modern girl might be closer to her best friend than her sister, it's just hard for me to let go of the dynamic that Elizabeth and Jane had in the original. Modern Jane is a total sweetheart, but not in the same way as book Jane. Book Jane is genteel and warm, and you get the sense that although she and Elizabeth are very different, they understand each other 100% and even sort of...complete each other somehow. Where one is lacking, the other is strong. It's a very touching and beautiful relationship. LBD Lizzie and Jane are obviously close, but Jane is just so ridiculously nice (almost to the point of being a space case rather than just being doggedly optimistic) that they don't seem to understand each other as much. I'm glad they made Jane into a "strong independent woman who don't need no man and is moving on with her life" after she moved to LA, but I was also bummed that Charlotte was the one who informed Lizzie about Lydia's sex tape, instead of Jane like in the books. I miss the sisterly love and consolation, man!

 

Anyway, time for a wrap-up. Whoever handles the wardrobe is hella awesome, and god damn is that cast attractive. The show excels at humor and at capturing emotion in subtle interactions, like a lingering glance or a touch to the shoulder, and I love that. It doesn't always handle the "dramatic" moments so well (excepting Lydia's hurt feelings after her birthday - I feel like her actress handled it very convincingly), but I can overlook the occasional slip-ups. These are all minor complaints, like I said; on the whole I've really enjoyed watching the series, and I will continue to watch until the end (LIZZIE AND DARCY BETTER KISS ON SCREEN OR SO HELP ME).

 

I mean look at it. LOOK AT IT

 

 

 

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

WOAH. .... O.o....

 

I don't know how to respond to this! 

 

I did notice some similar things with the adaption. I think that a lot of the things you mentioned resonated with me as well. But I just thought that for an adaptation it works well. I miss the Jane/Lizzie thing but I really think that at some point Jane will re enter the plot more. I HOPE SO ANYWAY. 

 

And also, some people (rachel kiley) have suggested that Lydia is more aware of the sex tape scandal then we think. Maybe she had a bit MORE to do with it. A lot of people have said they are confused by her arc. I tend to sort of agree and disagree. 

 

 

IF WE DON'T GET A DIZZIE KISS I AM GOING TO KILL SOMEONE....  WE GOT A LYCKHAM KISS DANG IT. 

[Mara=^.^=]

I'll tell you what I want. MORE IMPERSONATIONS

 

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

Also I found this

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

SOCIALLY AWKWARD DARCY. I LOVE YOU.

 

There's also this.

 

[Katia11]

Also, the clothes of the LBD mostly belong to the actors themselves.  There is no official costume department. Except for Laura (Jane) she has the most outfits given to her. 

[Mara=^.^=]

Should I watch Lydia's vlog next?

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =
 

[Katia11]

UHM. YES. :-) 

[Katia11]

post is beautiful...

 

http://katia-dreamer...post-is-perfect

 

 

 

[Katia11]

can I just????