they had white soup
May. 12th, 2013 08:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessPride and Prejudice: Having a Ball
This 90-minute programme was centred around recreating the Netherfield ball from Pride and Prejudice, by having young dancers dance the dances to the music that it is likely that Jane Austen was familiar with, wearing clothes and just a little make-up as the hosts and invited guests would have done to a private ball of this nature, to the light of beeswax candles, and refreshed by the dishes of the day. Presented by a female and a male social historian, assisted by all manner of professors, it was fascinating.
I did think that there was a bit of padding, and while it was definitely learned, there did seem to be an assumption that ‘we’ the modern readers had never read any other historical fiction (except perhaps ‘Emma’) at all, or that any viewers would remember oh, a life without electricity, cars or when letters mattered. Or that dancing has lost all its social connotations or that clothes aren’t deciphered by modern eyes as saying something about the wearer’s class and habits.
We also had one of the female dancers committing the solecism of asking a man to dance. Granted, it was in the context that he was the presenter who’d rehearsed the dance and happened to have had a costume made, even though he was meant to be just observing from a modern day perspective. This emphasised that for all the talk of authenticity, they were ‘recreating’ a fictional event, and that surely some of the shots of featured dancers who’d already been brought to our attention when they were dressing up for points to be made about costume, had been set up.
However, seeing all the details (which I presume Georgette Heyer knew all about!) did bring into focus things I’d grasped to some degree. They’d obviously done their research diligently. Recommended for fans of the book (and all Regency romance writers/historical novelists), although proper Janeites will probably know most of this stuff.
Predictably, I later rewatched ep 78 of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Rewatching ep 78 and the one with Gigi’s maneuverings and then the awkward first Lizzie and Darcy at Pemberley. I still felt sad for Darcy at his ‘understood’, when I don’t think he understood the whole (ie that it was dinner with Professor Gardener.)
And then from Lydia’s ep 23 to ep 82
Strangers
Ooh, I had almost forgotten the Jacksons beyond the LOTR referencing. So Wickham watches the vids, or Lydia’s at least. (And if he watched Lizzie’s, he’d know, like I did and Lydia did that Lizzie wasn’t watching Lydia’s, although I hope that Mary or Jane is by now.) More hints and defninites about what happened in Vegas. And yes he’s pretty and Lydia is vulnerable...
Ep 79 The Unavoidable Mr Lee
And the question of who’s watching and who the characters think are watching rumbles on.
Total lampshading of Bing, the med student who isn’t at classes or swotting all the time. (In fact, by the end of the vid, I really didn’t think he ought to be a doctor.) SO, as a viewer, obviously I’m 100% with Lizzie and understand what she’s not saying – why did you hurt my sister – but is saying anyway. Bing came off like a confused puppy who still had feelings for Jane and wanted Lizzie’s good opinion which warred against the fact that he’s decided to trust Darcy and Caroline. Like Lizzie said, that’s not making up his own mind (although her track record isn’t without blemish).
On a completely shallow level, it was good to see him back, but really...he’s a confused puppy. Apart from Lizzie’s parents (presumably), he’s the only one who doesn’t know about the videos and buys the video letter thing. I mean, has he not heard of Skype?
Lydia 25 Kicks
Wickham’s stuff was contrived. So there he was, being a facsimilie of a caring boyfriend (in as much as threatening to beat someone else up is ‘caring’) and Lydia (where are her parents?) being that mix of hurt (by her sisters), distrusting (of guys) but opening up to tell him why (except he’s using the internet audience to get her opening up.)
No in-universe reason given for the fixed camera, I note.
Ep 80 Hyper-mediation in New Media
Ahahahah. I liked Lizzie dissecting her conversation with Bing. She couldn’t have done more without divulging Jane’s feelings where she had no right. But I loved that she was thinking things through even more. The wandering around the hallways thing was actually funny (I haven’t always loved it when they've done 'business' like that.) I was going to say something snitty about Darcy probably only having read Gardner’s work because of Lizzie, but given his company, maybe not. Anyway, duly established he’s her intellectual equal and can use long words properly, but I was thinking ‘at this point, I might bring in literal sockpuppets’.
Still, the Newsie cap really did rankle, didn’t it!? (But dude, BRACES?) eanwhile, I expect fic to be all over The Lizzie Shirt.
And that was a really nice, thoughtful conversation. I was immersed enough to go ‘He has a point.’ It also totally proved that Darcy as presented by Lizzie is not William Darcy.
And then there was a moment where there was a little lean in, miniscule really, but I am sure he wanted to kiss her after the talking. DDGAGbhbhbhbuhgafb
Only a keyboard smash could express my response to that.
I was not imagining it. Anyway, yay intellectual equals and introduction of new perspective and general theme of forgiving.
Lydia 26 Dreams
Wow, I had my eyes mostly on wan Lydia, not pretty George, who just laid out his revenge for Lizzie for making his financial misdeeds known at least (I’m pretty sure the timeline was not as he set it out.) Lydia has a guilty conscience, pretty boy, not a guilty subconscious. We’ve certainly not seen anything to make us think that Lizzie would have anything to do with any of her sisters or friends’ exes, especially if she’d known what Lydia knows. She does, after all, know that it was just casual and that he treated Lizzie badly, even if he seems to be treating Lydia better.
Much better episode, although no in-verse reason given for why she was filming just then. It might have been even better if George had been pushing her to film/post it. Meanwhile, he let slip that they really are just sleeping together, so is that going to be how long he’s going to keep this up for?
QA11
Gigi was barely in that, but looked cute. I also liked Lizzie’s office clothes. One or two book-referencing gems, some lamp-shading (the writers clearly realising they never did explain Collins and Collins, even if they came up with a reason off camera. Was it actually something to do with HarperCollinns?) I’d rather have something dealing with the reality of Lizzie and Gigi’s relationship. I mean, to get to lunching with her, Lizzie must surely have asked her why she’s being so weird, specifically in episode 78, even if she hasn’t noticed it’s matchmaking. A bit of a well-dressed break from the good stuff.
Lydia ep 27
See, this had a reason for being filmed, and I’m sitting there thinking ‘grr, I’m afraid he’s playing you’, which is sad given what we’ve found out about Brent. Meta about rom-coms, even though the 'I mean this line' trope is well-worn in modern rom-coms at least.
Hollywood is lucky that you, and so many other girls, Lydia Bennet, like their boys so much that they go ‘yeah, action film, fine’. (I mean, I like action films too, but I would probably have an opinion on which one(s) to see and which one(s) to avoid.)
Ep 81 Awkward –
urgh, watched it out of order (although Lizzie’s reference to her last video wasn’t to the QandA but to 80, which shows they're not about moving the plot along).
Great title. Lots to digest. We got Gigi all but blurting out that she knows that Darcy, whom I can’t call William, is uncomfortable around Lizzie because he loves her. We got a nice twenty-first century nod to the difference in wealth between the Bennets and the Darcys. We got an intimation to those who’ve read the book that a hot-tub may be the LBDverse version of a seaside resort or wherever it was. Aww, Gigi.
And after being told to man up and talk to Jane (he didn’t technically ask for her advice, but I couldn’t imagine Lizzie sending on Bing’s best to Jane under the circs either), Bing proved that maybe he is no longer as gullible as he was. I’m still wondering how he’ll pass, but I may recant my ‘not fit to be a doctor’ assertion.
On a lighter note, I was amused that Lizzie had to clarify the reference to Voltaire – I didn’t get it and thought ‘tend to my garden’ sounded weirdly wishy-washy, but not the Prime Directive reference. Also, if Lydia thinks LIZZIE is a nerd, what does she make of Maria?
Ep 82 Checks and Balances
Ooh, clever title. Also, a new part of Pemberley (although you’d have thought they’d have good enough glazing to block out the traffic.)
I think we needed that to explain things that might have been oblique to the point of invisible to the non-reading viewers. And we needed to know what the LBDverse twist was – they avoided Gigi being quite so young as she is in the book, where the fact that she’s nowhere near of age, still a schoolgirl, and Darcy is her guardian is a huge factor. But what I always thought the salient point would be was that Wickham took advantage of Gigi – her naïveté (which we’ve seen, not everyone goes skiing, love) and now we see that he’s repeating himself with Lydia to hurt Lizzie. The money can’t be a factor, though. (What’s he living on BTW?) And outside of the Darcys and Wickham, only Lizzie knew. Until now. And I loved that moment where you could see that Gigi arguing that ignorance wasn’t always the best protection was something she was determined to put in practice.
I’ve been wondering for a while if Gigi has been watching Lydia’s videos. Don’t know.
Is Lydia watching Lizzie’s???
Were viewers commenting urging the characters to watch each other.
I only stopped viewing to watch The Hunger Games on DVD.
This 90-minute programme was centred around recreating the Netherfield ball from Pride and Prejudice, by having young dancers dance the dances to the music that it is likely that Jane Austen was familiar with, wearing clothes and just a little make-up as the hosts and invited guests would have done to a private ball of this nature, to the light of beeswax candles, and refreshed by the dishes of the day. Presented by a female and a male social historian, assisted by all manner of professors, it was fascinating.
I did think that there was a bit of padding, and while it was definitely learned, there did seem to be an assumption that ‘we’ the modern readers had never read any other historical fiction (except perhaps ‘Emma’) at all, or that any viewers would remember oh, a life without electricity, cars or when letters mattered. Or that dancing has lost all its social connotations or that clothes aren’t deciphered by modern eyes as saying something about the wearer’s class and habits.
We also had one of the female dancers committing the solecism of asking a man to dance. Granted, it was in the context that he was the presenter who’d rehearsed the dance and happened to have had a costume made, even though he was meant to be just observing from a modern day perspective. This emphasised that for all the talk of authenticity, they were ‘recreating’ a fictional event, and that surely some of the shots of featured dancers who’d already been brought to our attention when they were dressing up for points to be made about costume, had been set up.
However, seeing all the details (which I presume Georgette Heyer knew all about!) did bring into focus things I’d grasped to some degree. They’d obviously done their research diligently. Recommended for fans of the book (and all Regency romance writers/historical novelists), although proper Janeites will probably know most of this stuff.
Predictably, I later rewatched ep 78 of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Rewatching ep 78 and the one with Gigi’s maneuverings and then the awkward first Lizzie and Darcy at Pemberley. I still felt sad for Darcy at his ‘understood’, when I don’t think he understood the whole (ie that it was dinner with Professor Gardener.)
And then from Lydia’s ep 23 to ep 82
Strangers
Ooh, I had almost forgotten the Jacksons beyond the LOTR referencing. So Wickham watches the vids, or Lydia’s at least. (And if he watched Lizzie’s, he’d know, like I did and Lydia did that Lizzie wasn’t watching Lydia’s, although I hope that Mary or Jane is by now.) More hints and defninites about what happened in Vegas. And yes he’s pretty and Lydia is vulnerable...
Ep 79 The Unavoidable Mr Lee
And the question of who’s watching and who the characters think are watching rumbles on.
Total lampshading of Bing, the med student who isn’t at classes or swotting all the time. (In fact, by the end of the vid, I really didn’t think he ought to be a doctor.) SO, as a viewer, obviously I’m 100% with Lizzie and understand what she’s not saying – why did you hurt my sister – but is saying anyway. Bing came off like a confused puppy who still had feelings for Jane and wanted Lizzie’s good opinion which warred against the fact that he’s decided to trust Darcy and Caroline. Like Lizzie said, that’s not making up his own mind (although her track record isn’t without blemish).
On a completely shallow level, it was good to see him back, but really...he’s a confused puppy. Apart from Lizzie’s parents (presumably), he’s the only one who doesn’t know about the videos and buys the video letter thing. I mean, has he not heard of Skype?
Lydia 25 Kicks
Wickham’s stuff was contrived. So there he was, being a facsimilie of a caring boyfriend (in as much as threatening to beat someone else up is ‘caring’) and Lydia (where are her parents?) being that mix of hurt (by her sisters), distrusting (of guys) but opening up to tell him why (except he’s using the internet audience to get her opening up.)
No in-universe reason given for the fixed camera, I note.
Ep 80 Hyper-mediation in New Media
Ahahahah. I liked Lizzie dissecting her conversation with Bing. She couldn’t have done more without divulging Jane’s feelings where she had no right. But I loved that she was thinking things through even more. The wandering around the hallways thing was actually funny (I haven’t always loved it when they've done 'business' like that.) I was going to say something snitty about Darcy probably only having read Gardner’s work because of Lizzie, but given his company, maybe not. Anyway, duly established he’s her intellectual equal and can use long words properly, but I was thinking ‘at this point, I might bring in literal sockpuppets’.
Still, the Newsie cap really did rankle, didn’t it!? (But dude, BRACES?) eanwhile, I expect fic to be all over The Lizzie Shirt.
And that was a really nice, thoughtful conversation. I was immersed enough to go ‘He has a point.’ It also totally proved that Darcy as presented by Lizzie is not William Darcy.
And then there was a moment where there was a little lean in, miniscule really, but I am sure he wanted to kiss her after the talking. DDGAGbhbhbhbuhgafb
Only a keyboard smash could express my response to that.
I was not imagining it. Anyway, yay intellectual equals and introduction of new perspective and general theme of forgiving.
Lydia 26 Dreams
Wow, I had my eyes mostly on wan Lydia, not pretty George, who just laid out his revenge for Lizzie for making his financial misdeeds known at least (I’m pretty sure the timeline was not as he set it out.) Lydia has a guilty conscience, pretty boy, not a guilty subconscious. We’ve certainly not seen anything to make us think that Lizzie would have anything to do with any of her sisters or friends’ exes, especially if she’d known what Lydia knows. She does, after all, know that it was just casual and that he treated Lizzie badly, even if he seems to be treating Lydia better.
Much better episode, although no in-verse reason given for why she was filming just then. It might have been even better if George had been pushing her to film/post it. Meanwhile, he let slip that they really are just sleeping together, so is that going to be how long he’s going to keep this up for?
QA11
Gigi was barely in that, but looked cute. I also liked Lizzie’s office clothes. One or two book-referencing gems, some lamp-shading (the writers clearly realising they never did explain Collins and Collins, even if they came up with a reason off camera. Was it actually something to do with HarperCollinns?) I’d rather have something dealing with the reality of Lizzie and Gigi’s relationship. I mean, to get to lunching with her, Lizzie must surely have asked her why she’s being so weird, specifically in episode 78, even if she hasn’t noticed it’s matchmaking. A bit of a well-dressed break from the good stuff.
Lydia ep 27
See, this had a reason for being filmed, and I’m sitting there thinking ‘grr, I’m afraid he’s playing you’, which is sad given what we’ve found out about Brent. Meta about rom-coms, even though the 'I mean this line' trope is well-worn in modern rom-coms at least.
Hollywood is lucky that you, and so many other girls, Lydia Bennet, like their boys so much that they go ‘yeah, action film, fine’. (I mean, I like action films too, but I would probably have an opinion on which one(s) to see and which one(s) to avoid.)
Ep 81 Awkward –
urgh, watched it out of order (although Lizzie’s reference to her last video wasn’t to the QandA but to 80, which shows they're not about moving the plot along).
Great title. Lots to digest. We got Gigi all but blurting out that she knows that Darcy, whom I can’t call William, is uncomfortable around Lizzie because he loves her. We got a nice twenty-first century nod to the difference in wealth between the Bennets and the Darcys. We got an intimation to those who’ve read the book that a hot-tub may be the LBDverse version of a seaside resort or wherever it was. Aww, Gigi.
And after being told to man up and talk to Jane (he didn’t technically ask for her advice, but I couldn’t imagine Lizzie sending on Bing’s best to Jane under the circs either), Bing proved that maybe he is no longer as gullible as he was. I’m still wondering how he’ll pass, but I may recant my ‘not fit to be a doctor’ assertion.
On a lighter note, I was amused that Lizzie had to clarify the reference to Voltaire – I didn’t get it and thought ‘tend to my garden’ sounded weirdly wishy-washy, but not the Prime Directive reference. Also, if Lydia thinks LIZZIE is a nerd, what does she make of Maria?
Ep 82 Checks and Balances
Ooh, clever title. Also, a new part of Pemberley (although you’d have thought they’d have good enough glazing to block out the traffic.)
I think we needed that to explain things that might have been oblique to the point of invisible to the non-reading viewers. And we needed to know what the LBDverse twist was – they avoided Gigi being quite so young as she is in the book, where the fact that she’s nowhere near of age, still a schoolgirl, and Darcy is her guardian is a huge factor. But what I always thought the salient point would be was that Wickham took advantage of Gigi – her naïveté (which we’ve seen, not everyone goes skiing, love) and now we see that he’s repeating himself with Lydia to hurt Lizzie. The money can’t be a factor, though. (What’s he living on BTW?) And outside of the Darcys and Wickham, only Lizzie knew. Until now. And I loved that moment where you could see that Gigi arguing that ignorance wasn’t always the best protection was something she was determined to put in practice.
I’ve been wondering for a while if Gigi has been watching Lydia’s videos. Don’t know.
Is Lydia watching Lizzie’s???
Were viewers commenting urging the characters to watch each other.
I only stopped viewing to watch The Hunger Games on DVD.
