English Literature & Creative Writing
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: An Austen Classic for the Internet Age
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Subject Area
English Literature & Creative Writing
Start Date
11-4-2014 9:00 AM
End Date
11-4-2014 10:30 AM
Sponsor
Paulette Sauders (Grace College)
Description
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is an Emmy Award-winning web series that tells the story of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in a modern day, first-person video blog (or "vlog") format. In order to both remain faithful to the spirit of the novel and keep the story relevant in a modern context, some changes to the plot had to be made. In this paper, I explore the similarities and differences between the novel and the adaptation as well as how the changes made reflect current American culture. I also examine the new media aspects of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. The audience had the opportunity to follow the characters outside of the video diaries through social media sites like Twitter, tumblr, and even a few other YouTube channels. Therefore, viewers could choose how "involved" they wanted to be in the story. These multiple levels of immersion could drastically how we think about storytelling in the future.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: An Austen Classic for the Internet Age
Indianapolis, IN
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is an Emmy Award-winning web series that tells the story of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in a modern day, first-person video blog (or "vlog") format. In order to both remain faithful to the spirit of the novel and keep the story relevant in a modern context, some changes to the plot had to be made. In this paper, I explore the similarities and differences between the novel and the adaptation as well as how the changes made reflect current American culture. I also examine the new media aspects of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. The audience had the opportunity to follow the characters outside of the video diaries through social media sites like Twitter, tumblr, and even a few other YouTube channels. Therefore, viewers could choose how "involved" they wanted to be in the story. These multiple levels of immersion could drastically how we think about storytelling in the future.
