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The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries leading ladies

Gentle readers, I have something pretty special to share with you all today.

Four words: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

I discovered the series my freshmen year of college when one of my friends (ahem, Veronica) told me that I had to watch it if I liked Pride and Prejudice. I was mildly intrigued, and started watching the first couple of episodes on YouTube here. 

Then I was hooked. 

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a modern day multimedia storytelling of Pride and Prejudice. They posted new three to six minute episodes every Monday and Thursday for a year, so the characters and story were developed in real time. All of the characters had active twitter accounts as well, and they interacted with each other and the fans. Mondays became one of my favorite days of the week simply because I knew whenever I got back from my 11a.m. class, there would be an update from Lizzie Bennet of what had happened to her over the weekend, and the crazy shenanigans that were happening in her life. 

Lizzie and Jane impersonating Darcy and Wickham in costume theater

What made this award winning series so special was the genius modern update of the plot. They were very faithful to the events that happened in the book, but they tweaked them enough to be entirely believable in a modern context. The actors were also top notch. I was skeptical because it was a web series, but these actors embodied their characters so well that I laughed, cried and cheered with them every step of the way. I may have sobbed for a while after the series ended.

This web series is modern, fresh, and laugh out loud funny. I can't tell you the number of times when I fell out of my chair because I was laughing so hard at one of the costume theater productions (pictured above), Lydia's crazy antics, or Lizzie's hilarious descriptions of the people around her. I was also extremely impressed by the excellent storytelling methods they used to help move the plot along. 

It won an Emmy. You have to watch it now.

I highly recommend everybody watch this series! I have heard from many people that after watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, it makes reading Pride and Prejudice that much easier. So if you struggle reading Jane Austen, this may be the help you need. Even if you are just looking for a good laugh and a study break, this series can provide it. Trust me, this is one show you do not want to miss. 

*WARNING* There is a good chance that you will get sucked in and won't resurface for two weeks. Now you can't say I didn't forewarn you.

Have you all ever watched web series? What did you think? Have any of you ever seen The Lizzie Bennet Diaries before? What are your thoughts?


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Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 24, 2015 at 1:50 PM

    I have watched this web series and I absolutely loved it! I binge watched it in like 2 days because I was so addicted to it! I loved the whole series; the actors were fantastic, the story was fun and engaging, and it was just addicting to watch. I give it two thumbs up!

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  2. KatelynApril 21, 2015 at 3:25 PM

    This is definitely something I'm going to have to go watch; it sounds great! I watched a web series once, but couldn't get into it because the episodes were ridiculously long and full of character interviews that were exhausting to watch. It was also not a fiction web series, it was a type of reality drama, and it was very amateur at that.

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