» May 29, 2014

Austen goes digital: Two Web series worth watching

by Charissa Jelliff

"The writing is smart and witty; they stay true to the spirit of the original work while adding their own touch and updating the characters to appeal to a broader modern audience."

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When YouTube first launched in 2005, it was a place for people to upload videos of their cats and other incidents you would typically find on America’s Funniest Home Videos. It quickly evolved into an outlet where fangirls could splice together heartbreaking clips of Sam and Dean from Supernatural set to Rascal Flatts‘ “What Hurts the Most.”

Most recently, YouTube has become an outlet for creative and original content, and much of it is quite good. Through YouTube, I was introduced to media and talent I otherwise never would have experienced. For example, a group of friends from the University of Michigan founded their own theatre troupe known as Starkid. The group is known for its musical parodies, most famously A Very Potter Musical, a Harry Potter parody. Glee‘s Darren Criss was one of the founding members of the group. (If you like musicals, comedy, and superheroes then you really need to check out Holy Musical B@Man!)

However, two of my favorite Web series are based on works by one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen. In April 2012, the world was introduced to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a Web series that modernized Pride and Prejudice for a new generation of fans. In the Web series Lizzie Bennet — played brilliantly by Ashley Clements — is a grad student who starts a video blog about her life. The format for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is simple: Lizzie sits in front of the camera on her computer, telling stories about her life to the viewing audience. She is occasionally interrupted by other characters who share in moving the story forward.

An interesting aspect of this format is the use of “costume theater.” Instead of introducing a large cast of characters all at once, Lizzie frequently reenacts certain events, such as her first meeting with Darcy, for the viewers. Within the world of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Lizzie’s vlogs are posted in real time — according to the storyline, they are filmed the day before Lizzie uploads them to her YouTube channel. This also allows Lizzie to “interact” with her viewers by answering questions in special Q&A videos.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries wrapped up its run a year ago, and the production company, named Pemberley Digital for Darcy’s home in Pride and Prejudice, announced a new series based on another Austen novel, Emma. In Emma Approved, Emma Woodhouse is a professional lifestyle consultant and matchmaker. Mr. Knightley is her business partner, handling the finances, and Harriet Smith is her assistant.

Emma Approved is formatted slightly differently from its predecessor. Instead of taking place in real time, the premise of Emma Approved is that the footage is being filmed to be included in a future documentary. Also unlike The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, where the audience could feel like they were participating in the action as it was happening and the characters inside the world were also able to view the videos, the Emma Approved videos are completely outside the world in which the series takes place.

Emma Approved is currently on episode 48 and nearing the end of a month-long hiatus — a hiatus which was also written in as part of the storyline, with the explanation that Emma’s company was undergoing a restructuring of goals and focus. The series will return with new episodes next week. If you haven’t started already, it’s not hard to catch up. Each episode averages only about four to six minutes, and the show becomes rather addicting. The cast is charming and clever, bringing Emma to life in a new and colorful way.

Each of these series does a great job of adapting and modernizing the beloved classic novels. The writing is smart and witty; they stay true to the spirit of the original work while adding their own touch and updating the characters to appeal to a broader modern audience. However, one of the greatest aspects of these series is how fans are able to participate. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved aren’t just shows you watch, they are experiences.

Each character from these series has a Twitter account that complements the events of the series and interacts with other characters and fans online. There are also accompanying Tumblr pages, blogs, and various other forms of social media to help flesh out the world in which the series take place. When events occur off-screen or between video postings, these social media accounts post pictures of the events to further the storyline even outside what you see in the videos.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries also had several shorter, accompanying video blogs built around the characters of Lydia Bennet and Georgiana (GiGi) Darcy, plus Ricky Collins still has videos posted occasionally. Last week, LBD fans were also surprised with the first of several “bonus” episodes.

In the months between the end of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and the start of Emma Approved, Pemberley Digital produced 27 episodes of Welcome to Sanditon, a series based on Austen’s unfinished final novel. The series focused on GiGi Darcy from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries running a beta test of a communications programs in the small town of Sanditon. This series relied more heavily on fan interplay, as fans were invited to create their own characters within the series and participate in the story by interacting with each other and cast members online as well as uploading videos of themselves speaking in character. Some of these videos were then incorporated into actual episodes of the series. The concept was interesting and the cast was fun, but I had trouble getting into this series as much as the other two.

If you’re an Austen fan but haven’t had the opportunity to view these series, I highly recommend taking the time to watch. Obviously, they update the stories and don’t strictly follow the original books. (For example, Kitty Bennet is a cat, and Mary is a cousin instead of another sister.) But I think they stay faithful to the spirit and heart of Austen’s writing. Plus, the cast is wonderful and does a great job of bringing these characters to life in a modern setting.

And if you’re a fan of these works, keep an eye out for Pemberley Digital’s next project, Frankenstein, M.D. — an adaptation of Frankenstein featuring a female Dr. Frankenstein.

Charissa Jelliff is a self-proclaimed "fangirl" who loves nothing more than discussing her favorite books, movies and TV shows with fellow fans. She's currently finishing up a Master's in literature and dreams of becoming a writer some day.