Lizzie & Lydia
Dec. 26th, 2012 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerYou know, I was worried that the Lizzie Bennet Diaries might get stale after a while. Sure, a modern vlog of Pride and Prejudice is a fun idea, but could they keep the gimmick fresh?
But the videos just keep getting better and better! And the vlog format doesn’t feel like a gimmick anymore: it’s a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, sure, but it’s also become its own thing, and nowhere is that more obvious than the increased attention the Dairies give to Lydia.
In Pride and Prejudice, Lizzie’s dislike of her youngest sister is presented as, if not admirable, certainly not problematic. But the Lizzie Bennet Diaries really delve into that - their fight in the most recent episodes didn’t hurt quite as sharply as Lydia’s fight with Mary, but it still ached, and I think the pain is going to hang around a lot longer this time. Recovering their relationship from this fight will be much harder than mending Lydia’s fight with Mary, or Lizzie’s rift with Charlotte - not least because neither Lizzie nor Lydia will want to meet the other halfway.
Lydia had let Lizzie’s criticisms just roll of her back, and all of a sudden she realized that Lizzie really meant them - and there’s no way Lizzie can really apologize for that, because she’s not going to (and should not) believe that Lydia’s reckless class-skipping, hard-partying ways are A-okay just because Lydia wants her to.
What I love about the Lizzie Bennet Diaries is that the fights are about real things: issues that cut to the heart of the girls’ relationships with each other. And the narrative gives them the weight they deserve: they feel hard and painful and real. It’s not only rare for a story to focus this intensely on female friendship and/or sisters - it’s rarer still for those relationships to be allowed to be this loving but at the same time so difficult and complicated.
Finally, another Yuletide rec, because it has just perfect Lydia voice, and is simultaneously an excellent character study of Lizzie. Reasons Why Lizzie Bennet is Perpetually Single: A Helpful List Compiled by her Awesomer, Sexier, Totes Adorbs and Amazing Younger Sister. An awesome, adorable, and insightful fic.
But the videos just keep getting better and better! And the vlog format doesn’t feel like a gimmick anymore: it’s a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, sure, but it’s also become its own thing, and nowhere is that more obvious than the increased attention the Dairies give to Lydia.
In Pride and Prejudice, Lizzie’s dislike of her youngest sister is presented as, if not admirable, certainly not problematic. But the Lizzie Bennet Diaries really delve into that - their fight in the most recent episodes didn’t hurt quite as sharply as Lydia’s fight with Mary, but it still ached, and I think the pain is going to hang around a lot longer this time. Recovering their relationship from this fight will be much harder than mending Lydia’s fight with Mary, or Lizzie’s rift with Charlotte - not least because neither Lizzie nor Lydia will want to meet the other halfway.
Lydia had let Lizzie’s criticisms just roll of her back, and all of a sudden she realized that Lizzie really meant them - and there’s no way Lizzie can really apologize for that, because she’s not going to (and should not) believe that Lydia’s reckless class-skipping, hard-partying ways are A-okay just because Lydia wants her to.
What I love about the Lizzie Bennet Diaries is that the fights are about real things: issues that cut to the heart of the girls’ relationships with each other. And the narrative gives them the weight they deserve: they feel hard and painful and real. It’s not only rare for a story to focus this intensely on female friendship and/or sisters - it’s rarer still for those relationships to be allowed to be this loving but at the same time so difficult and complicated.
Finally, another Yuletide rec, because it has just perfect Lydia voice, and is simultaneously an excellent character study of Lizzie. Reasons Why Lizzie Bennet is Perpetually Single: A Helpful List Compiled by her Awesomer, Sexier, Totes Adorbs and Amazing Younger Sister. An awesome, adorable, and insightful fic.
