Still catching up...
Jun. 26th, 2013 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessI keep watching stuff and don't have a chance to tidy up my thoughts and post before watching more stuff. This harks back to Saturday, when I watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries - episode 90 to 100.
Episode 90 Something Lighter...Please
I didn’t go back to the last episode I saw, just echoed the title of this one mentally. Bing’s lack of study as a medical student was lampshaded and we had a report of the conversation, but, as Lizzie pointed out, no details about Jane’s “indiscretion” – was it Darcy’s misinterpretation or Caroline misleading? Anyway, we were left humouring New Jane and New Bing being friends while thinking “for now” along with Lizzie.
The most interesting bit about the QandA was Bing turning up and being a bit more thoughtful and determined to keep his relationship between him and Jane... between him and Jane. Leaving me going "Attaboy!" and feeling frustrated.
Ep 91 How About That
Well, I enjoyed Lizzie enjoying being her mom in full flow as we got few details from Jane about where things were at with her and Bing, but the "what if" stuff let slip by both girls was telling.
Ep 92 Goodbye Jane
AWWWWWWW. In!universe, Lizzie’s plans for Jane’s goodbye video suggested that she’d decided to finish making them – oh well, I suppose it ties into her admission that there had been a lot. But mainly I was awwwing at the Jane-Bing conversation where we got a hint that it was Caroline’s fault and that he’d been doing some Serious Thinking (although um, if his family paid for the medical training, he should tell them directly he was giving it up and not Jane and the internets first) but the way he acknowledged what he’d done wrong and Jane’s hesitation, even though I thought he made a good case, seeing as he was never going to beg abjectly as Lizzie wanted.
I’ve always found them SO SWEET and the kissing and the possessive hand on the neck and the being only slightly embarrassed by. And that he was willing and able to listen to Jane’s ‘No’ and then ‘Wait’. AWWWWW. And Jane is totally right to set boundaries. I flailed.
Ep 93 Look who’s back
We’re in the home straits – nostalgia time – and it’s good that it’s Charlotte, ready to needle Lizzie and tell it how she sees it. I’m almost surprised she didn’t raise Domino, but nobody watches anyone else’s videos here. Anyway, very nicely appreciated BFF snark. And excellent make-up on Ashley Clemons, BTW.
Ep 94 Revelations
Okay, so they find out via Lydia’s mysterious ways, which doesn’t explain everything, but Lizzie’s rewatching her vids being ‘illuminating’, both sisters having learned not to trust first impressions (Lydia showing that here and Lizzie answering as much in the previous Q&As). I thought it sailed past Lizzie (OR DID IT?) that the line about doing something to make someone you care about hurt less applied as much to Lydia doing this for Lizzie as the obvious inference of Darcy doing this for Lizzie. Clearly, it was also feeling responsible for George after what happened with Gigi to some degree too. (Although, to be clear, Wickham is the one in the wrong.)
Also, Lizzie made explicit that she was asking for Lydia’s consent to post all of this (even the bit where she let slip that Lydia was having counselling!) – totally deserving of the high five.
I’m going to presume the changing lightbulbs vid was a fan who won a competition (and did herself proud) y/y? For a second, I thought it was going to go all meta and show the people behind the screens.
Ep 95 End of the Line
Ooh, I enjoyed that (although I LOVED the Catherine de Burgh persona and would welcome seeing her back again) as Caroline came back to do the thing that instigates Darcy’s visit and answer the mystery of Jane’s indiscretion, by being extremely indiscreet herself. Lizzie won on all counts, didn’t she? What with the self-determination and letting Caroline hang herself on her own rope once she’d realised what she was up to. (I’ll presume the Lees didn’t know Bing had dropped out of med school before and had had that bombshell plus New York at the same time. Hmph.)
Ep 96 Talking to Myself
And this is the reaction to Lydia’s news that we should have got in 95, if Lizzie didn’t sometimes process things like a snail travels. I’m not really complaining, I thought Lizzie impersonating everyone (Gigi and Charlotte were new ones and they were all great, Clemaons is a fabulous mimic) and having enough perspective to give herself advice and own up to the fact that her gratitude is kind of an obstacle – and his silence is driving her mad – it was all on point and engagingly done.
Snerk. My canon is that Lizzie posted it straight after the phone call without letting herself think too much about what she was giving away. Here’s the phone message and here’s the thinking process behind it. Do what you will (call me, maybe) DARCY.
Epsiode 97 Special Delivery
LIZZIE: And guess who was at the door?
ME: Logan Echolls.
Ahem. Anyway, it was lovely to see Charlotte being a supportive birthday-sharing (I’d forgotten about that) BFF and then push Lizzie on beating around the bush and demanding everyone else confessed their feelings while she held out over hers. But then we got upset!Lizzie after putting herself out there and getting...nothing but radio silence.
If there were actual people who were surprised when the Chinese takeaway food was Darcy, I hope they don’t vote. But yay for our headless couple! And with all the build up that there has been, this better be good.
Whatever was done to Lizzie’s hair, it made her look more Janeish than normal.
Ep 98 Gratitude
Blah blah blah opener. Meat of it: oh, yeah. From how they managed to work in novel dialogue to the kissing, from the awkward to the happy. Oh, yeah!
Q and A 10
Again, mostly inconsequential questions, until we got a glimpse of Darcy (of course she’d have said "yes". I fear I’d have said "what’s the play?" Lydia Bennet has no idea what a nerd really is,) And then we get to see Darcy’s really really happy face and laugh, and then Lizzie’s ‘seriously’ AND THEN we’re reminded that he’s really tall and she’s really not...
Ep 99 Future Talk
Aww. (I can see how too much of their coupledom in this format would get tiresome) again with some quoting and some tying up of loose ends and hammering home the message. The cut for kissing was nicely done, the body language and the return of the awkwardness too - although, yes, working at Pemberley would be a no-no. But yes to San Fran. Of course.
Episode 100
Nice – Lizzie’s reasons for finishing the vids felt in-character and they’d been prepping it for a while. Having Charlotte be there to reflect on the journey and Lydia, with a flash of her old self, was just right, while actually seeing (the back of) and hearing Mrs B was perfect. It was rightly emotional.
[Typing this up now, I see that what I've written way undersells my actual response to the Lizzie/Darcy of the final episodes, and makes it seem like I cared more about Jane/Bing. SO NOT TRUE. I literally watched all these vids one after the other, so I was tired.]
And now, there are Sanditon vids, I see from Gigi's Twitter feed – I hadn’t heard about them via fandom, which suggests it's not bothering with them. I don’t know whethere I will either, as I don’t love the Domino concept, but I do like Gigi. I read the ghost written completed ‘Sanditon’ once and hated it. There was about one paragraph that felt like vintage Austen and that’s all I recall. So, I don’t know.
I do hope I see more of all the LBD actors on other stuff. I mostly thought they were great. I will be interested in how LBD affects other literary adaptations, webseries etc.
As for the whole phenomenon, well, I can’t say I fully experienced it – I just watched the videos, not in real time, and didn’t get the communal experience of analysing an episode (and all the other associated stuff). As someone who loves the book, I enjoyed it. By making the modern day adaptation a meta take on storytelling and communication, it did some interesting transformative stuff – sometimes it was a little hampered by lack of budget, I suppose. Sometimes, I was a little frustrated about certain aspects – gaps in the in-universe logic, for instance, but it was always going to be difficult to give us all the information we needed while keeping to the rules.
What I did absolutely love was the fact that it was mainly about four girls (which grew to five when Lydia got to know Mary better and six when Gigi exploded on to the scene) working things out together in an entertaining way made it, in and of itself, cool, even if a lot of the driving force is still the love stories. But they made it about the sisters’ love for each other a lot too, and if this Lydia Bennet spoke to a generation of girls, that’s awesome. I didn't mind that it mostly ended up being about Lizzie (please remember how ungrounded Lydia's early videos were. I could see that for Lydia, after everything, not diving back into making videos was a healthy choice, which is not to say that I didn't regret that we didn't have some more Mary in there somewhere.
And hey, it inspired some ficcing from me. Now I hope to read other people’s! Please rec all awesome LBD stuff to me, as I've been avoiding it to stay unspoiled. Fic, artwork, meta etc is welcome - esp. gen, Lizzie/Darcy, Jane/Bing and crossovers.
Episode 90 Something Lighter...Please
I didn’t go back to the last episode I saw, just echoed the title of this one mentally. Bing’s lack of study as a medical student was lampshaded and we had a report of the conversation, but, as Lizzie pointed out, no details about Jane’s “indiscretion” – was it Darcy’s misinterpretation or Caroline misleading? Anyway, we were left humouring New Jane and New Bing being friends while thinking “for now” along with Lizzie.
The most interesting bit about the QandA was Bing turning up and being a bit more thoughtful and determined to keep his relationship between him and Jane... between him and Jane. Leaving me going "Attaboy!" and feeling frustrated.
Ep 91 How About That
Well, I enjoyed Lizzie enjoying being her mom in full flow as we got few details from Jane about where things were at with her and Bing, but the "what if" stuff let slip by both girls was telling.
Ep 92 Goodbye Jane
AWWWWWWW. In!universe, Lizzie’s plans for Jane’s goodbye video suggested that she’d decided to finish making them – oh well, I suppose it ties into her admission that there had been a lot. But mainly I was awwwing at the Jane-Bing conversation where we got a hint that it was Caroline’s fault and that he’d been doing some Serious Thinking (although um, if his family paid for the medical training, he should tell them directly he was giving it up and not Jane and the internets first) but the way he acknowledged what he’d done wrong and Jane’s hesitation, even though I thought he made a good case, seeing as he was never going to beg abjectly as Lizzie wanted.
I’ve always found them SO SWEET and the kissing and the possessive hand on the neck and the being only slightly embarrassed by. And that he was willing and able to listen to Jane’s ‘No’ and then ‘Wait’. AWWWWW. And Jane is totally right to set boundaries. I flailed.
Ep 93 Look who’s back
We’re in the home straits – nostalgia time – and it’s good that it’s Charlotte, ready to needle Lizzie and tell it how she sees it. I’m almost surprised she didn’t raise Domino, but nobody watches anyone else’s videos here. Anyway, very nicely appreciated BFF snark. And excellent make-up on Ashley Clemons, BTW.
Ep 94 Revelations
Okay, so they find out via Lydia’s mysterious ways, which doesn’t explain everything, but Lizzie’s rewatching her vids being ‘illuminating’, both sisters having learned not to trust first impressions (Lydia showing that here and Lizzie answering as much in the previous Q&As). I thought it sailed past Lizzie (OR DID IT?) that the line about doing something to make someone you care about hurt less applied as much to Lydia doing this for Lizzie as the obvious inference of Darcy doing this for Lizzie. Clearly, it was also feeling responsible for George after what happened with Gigi to some degree too. (Although, to be clear, Wickham is the one in the wrong.)
Also, Lizzie made explicit that she was asking for Lydia’s consent to post all of this (even the bit where she let slip that Lydia was having counselling!) – totally deserving of the high five.
I’m going to presume the changing lightbulbs vid was a fan who won a competition (and did herself proud) y/y? For a second, I thought it was going to go all meta and show the people behind the screens.
Ep 95 End of the Line
Ooh, I enjoyed that (although I LOVED the Catherine de Burgh persona and would welcome seeing her back again) as Caroline came back to do the thing that instigates Darcy’s visit and answer the mystery of Jane’s indiscretion, by being extremely indiscreet herself. Lizzie won on all counts, didn’t she? What with the self-determination and letting Caroline hang herself on her own rope once she’d realised what she was up to. (I’ll presume the Lees didn’t know Bing had dropped out of med school before and had had that bombshell plus New York at the same time. Hmph.)
Ep 96 Talking to Myself
And this is the reaction to Lydia’s news that we should have got in 95, if Lizzie didn’t sometimes process things like a snail travels. I’m not really complaining, I thought Lizzie impersonating everyone (Gigi and Charlotte were new ones and they were all great, Clemaons is a fabulous mimic) and having enough perspective to give herself advice and own up to the fact that her gratitude is kind of an obstacle – and his silence is driving her mad – it was all on point and engagingly done.
Snerk. My canon is that Lizzie posted it straight after the phone call without letting herself think too much about what she was giving away. Here’s the phone message and here’s the thinking process behind it. Do what you will (call me, maybe) DARCY.
Epsiode 97 Special Delivery
LIZZIE: And guess who was at the door?
ME: Logan Echolls.
Ahem. Anyway, it was lovely to see Charlotte being a supportive birthday-sharing (I’d forgotten about that) BFF and then push Lizzie on beating around the bush and demanding everyone else confessed their feelings while she held out over hers. But then we got upset!Lizzie after putting herself out there and getting...nothing but radio silence.
If there were actual people who were surprised when the Chinese takeaway food was Darcy, I hope they don’t vote. But yay for our headless couple! And with all the build up that there has been, this better be good.
Whatever was done to Lizzie’s hair, it made her look more Janeish than normal.
Ep 98 Gratitude
Blah blah blah opener. Meat of it: oh, yeah. From how they managed to work in novel dialogue to the kissing, from the awkward to the happy. Oh, yeah!
Q and A 10
Again, mostly inconsequential questions, until we got a glimpse of Darcy (of course she’d have said "yes". I fear I’d have said "what’s the play?" Lydia Bennet has no idea what a nerd really is,) And then we get to see Darcy’s really really happy face and laugh, and then Lizzie’s ‘seriously’ AND THEN we’re reminded that he’s really tall and she’s really not...
Ep 99 Future Talk
Aww. (I can see how too much of their coupledom in this format would get tiresome) again with some quoting and some tying up of loose ends and hammering home the message. The cut for kissing was nicely done, the body language and the return of the awkwardness too - although, yes, working at Pemberley would be a no-no. But yes to San Fran. Of course.
Episode 100
Nice – Lizzie’s reasons for finishing the vids felt in-character and they’d been prepping it for a while. Having Charlotte be there to reflect on the journey and Lydia, with a flash of her old self, was just right, while actually seeing (the back of) and hearing Mrs B was perfect. It was rightly emotional.
[Typing this up now, I see that what I've written way undersells my actual response to the Lizzie/Darcy of the final episodes, and makes it seem like I cared more about Jane/Bing. SO NOT TRUE. I literally watched all these vids one after the other, so I was tired.]
And now, there are Sanditon vids, I see from Gigi's Twitter feed – I hadn’t heard about them via fandom, which suggests it's not bothering with them. I don’t know whethere I will either, as I don’t love the Domino concept, but I do like Gigi. I read the ghost written completed ‘Sanditon’ once and hated it. There was about one paragraph that felt like vintage Austen and that’s all I recall. So, I don’t know.
I do hope I see more of all the LBD actors on other stuff. I mostly thought they were great. I will be interested in how LBD affects other literary adaptations, webseries etc.
As for the whole phenomenon, well, I can’t say I fully experienced it – I just watched the videos, not in real time, and didn’t get the communal experience of analysing an episode (and all the other associated stuff). As someone who loves the book, I enjoyed it. By making the modern day adaptation a meta take on storytelling and communication, it did some interesting transformative stuff – sometimes it was a little hampered by lack of budget, I suppose. Sometimes, I was a little frustrated about certain aspects – gaps in the in-universe logic, for instance, but it was always going to be difficult to give us all the information we needed while keeping to the rules.
What I did absolutely love was the fact that it was mainly about four girls (which grew to five when Lydia got to know Mary better and six when Gigi exploded on to the scene) working things out together in an entertaining way made it, in and of itself, cool, even if a lot of the driving force is still the love stories. But they made it about the sisters’ love for each other a lot too, and if this Lydia Bennet spoke to a generation of girls, that’s awesome. I didn't mind that it mostly ended up being about Lizzie (please remember how ungrounded Lydia's early videos were. I could see that for Lydia, after everything, not diving back into making videos was a healthy choice, which is not to say that I didn't regret that we didn't have some more Mary in there somewhere.
And hey, it inspired some ficcing from me. Now I hope to read other people’s! Please rec all awesome LBD stuff to me, as I've been avoiding it to stay unspoiled. Fic, artwork, meta etc is welcome - esp. gen, Lizzie/Darcy, Jane/Bing and crossovers.
