‘Lizzie Bennet Diaries’ brings a new twist to the classic novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’
The characters of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries smile for the camera.
September 26, 2013
Trying to reach out to a younger audience Hank Green and Bernie Su created a modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice told in the style of a video diary, narrated by a young girl in her early twenties named Lizzie Bennet. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries follows the life of Lizzie Bennet as she searches through life trying to find the answers.
The characters in the show are made much more relatable and likable to a younger audience. Just like the novel Lizzie’s mother is portrayed as a pushy woman who is desperate to get her daughters married off to rich young men.
However, the show takes a modern day twist by making Lizzie a young girl in her early twenties struggling with college and identifying herself, which is something many younger people go through. Lizzie’s older sister Jane is a young working woman who is struggling between her career and keeping her family happy. Lizzie’s younger sister Lydia is portrayed as a party girl who still doesn’t understand the importance of school and responsibility.
The creators gave each sister a unique personality and dilemma allowing audiences to connect to their characters more. In the novel there are five Bennet sisters, but in the show there’s only three. The creators decided to make the fourth sister, Mary, a cousin and the fifth sister, Kitty, a cat. This makes it much more realistic since in present times family sizes tend to be smaller.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries also took some of the conflicts from the novel and made them much more relatable, such as the conflict between Lizzie and her best friend Charlotte. In the novel Charlotte and Lizzie get into an argument because Lizzie rejects a marriage proposal which Charlotte later agrees to. However, in the show their argument occurs over a job offer Lizzie rejected, not a marriage proposal making it more relatable to audiences of this time.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a classic novel with a beautiful story, but audiences often have a hard time connecting to it due to its outdated problems and characters. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is portrayed as more realistic and relatable because of its modern twists.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries can be seen on the official website http://www.lizziebennet.com/ or for an easier access it can be found on YouTube where there is an entire channel dedicated to it.
