Presenting: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune… must be want of a wife,” states Lizzie Bennet as she holds up her mother’s ‘gift’ to her. And with this, the famous quote once again welcomes us into another take of the Austen classic.

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of the most loved stories of all time. It has been retold countless times by different production teams, different writers and with different actors and actresses, each bringing something different to the novel, whilst also receiving different reactions in their audiences.

It’s hard to believe that before April there was still an avenue that the Austen classic had not yet explored, but the creators Hank Green and Bernie Su knew that the medium they loved best was yet to be explored. And therefore, in March 2012, YouTube was introduced to Lizzie Bennet, the vlogger.

Lizzie Bennet is a young American woman who has decided to partake in the ever-growing trend of documenting personal thoughts and sharing life activities via camera and internet. She has two sisters – Jane and Lydia – and has to put up with her mother continually trying to set her up with any boy in the town.

These small videos, roughly lasting between three to five minutes, have become a hit sensation on YouTube. The book has been thoroughly brought into the twenty-first century as Lizzie is currently studying in grad school and her best friend, Charlotte Lu, is the one who persuades her to make such videos for a class project.

What is really innovative about this series is that it is completely told through Lizzie’s eyes. If you hadn’t read the books or seen any other adaptations, you would completely believe her side of the story; for example, concerning Darcy’s appalling behaviour, or her opinion concerning the relationship developing between Jane and Bing-Lee – she is adamant that Jane is behaving perfectly fine whereas Charlotte is convinced she is being far too subtle.

But Lizzie Bennet cannot only be found on YouTube. She is continually active and present in day-to-day social media. All of the characters within the web series have their own Twitters, Tumblrs, Pinterests etc. and consequently, fans of the show can be continually updated with their lives as if the Bennets were a real twenty-first century family. This means the fictional world is continually ticking over whilst fans wait for the next video update (videos are uploaded every Monday and Thursday). An all-tweeting, all-reblogging, and an all-uploading Lizzie Bennet. How much more modern can you get?

The cast are fantastic. All of the girls genuinely act like sisters and truly give the impression that they are living through the classic story line in 2012 America. At the moment it is an all-female cast, with the girls retelling events of the previous day by dressing up as different characters, but the creators have not ruled out that more actors and actresses will soon appear.

Lizzie is opinionated but kind, Jane is overly nice about everybody, Charlotte is stubborn yet clearly a good friend, and Lydia is… Lydia; she is hilarious, boy-crazy, vain and selfish. However, you can’t help but adore her.

It is no real surprise that the series is such a success when one of the founders and creators is Hank Green, one half of the popular YouTube channel, VlogBrothers. The two brothers started using videos as a way of communicating to each other and their popularity soared – their channel now has over half a million subscribers.

Since then Hank Green has become the CEO and Founder of VidCon, a world gathering of famous YouTubers which takes place in Los Angeles; has produced the popular learning programmes SciShow and Crash Course; and is the owner of DFTBA records and a top ten musician. With such a popular following already, it is no wonder that The Lizzie Bennet Diaries immediately received such a loyal fan base. However, that’s not to say it didn’t completely deserve it. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is fun and creative. It introduces people into the world of Elizabeth Bennet and her family in a new way that no one had ever really thought of before.

The intimate format of the vlogs means that the audience are truly connected with the characters and become completely absorbed in the story. Furthermore, the quality of the web series never slackens.

Despite the fact that all of the action only takes place in one simple room, this consequently means one becomes more focused upon the story and the characters’ confessions.

All expensive sets would have been unrealistic and drawn away from the story line, whereas this vlog causes its viewers to have to continually remind themselves that the story isn’t real. It has proven that vlogs are clearly a brilliant new way to tell stories and I certainly can’t wait for the next episode.