Transmedia: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

If you haven't started watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, go now. You want to be a part of this.

Pride and Prejudice is literally happening in my news feed, and all over the rest of the web, right now. Lizzie Bennet, aka Elizabeth Bennet, main character of the story, has a vlog--a video blog--and posts updates about her life twice a week. I'm pretty sure this method of storytelling has never been done before; at least, certainly not to this extent.

You can follow Lizzie and most of the other characters on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and more: Gigi Darcy has a ThisIsMyJam account (sign up, btw, it looks cool), and Jane Bennet has a Pinterest and a Lookbook. Several independent websites related to the story have sprung up as well; for example, Darcy's company Pemberley Digital has its own website. I won't link to the travesty of a website George Wickham just created yesterday. Ugh.

The characters post in character on all these sites. Fans can chat with them and get retweeted. Tweets by fans have even ended up in the official twitter stories going up on the main site. The YouTube comments are made up of both in-story and out-of-story posts, as fans get so caught up that they're telling the characters what to do, begging them not to follow the storyline in some cases.

You have to go start watching now. I have no idea how they're going to compile this for rewatching. Sure, you can rewatch the videos and read through the stories, but... there's really no substitute for living this story. That's going to have to be one crazy-complicated DVD menu if they attempt that route.

Seriously, why are you still reading this? Go watch the first episode (or the first three or five or thirty), and then come back and comment with your thoughts.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2013 at 12:29 PM

    That's precisely the problem. It does seem to be a living story, one which I would feel awkward trying to catch up with. And all I know about Pride and Prejudice I learned from a middle school book report a classmate of mine gave.

    -Spencer
    (commenting from work, which is why I'm anonymous)

    ReplyDelete
  2. BaileyAnneBravelyFebruary 1, 2013 at 5:02 PM

    Yeah, but once you catch up it's AWESOME. I didn't start watching until a little while ago, and I caught up in about a weekend. You don't have to follow along with the side accounts, but once you catch up, it enriches it amazingly.

    Confession: I have never read Pride and Prejudice. Honestly. I've sat through the movie, ages ago, and to be frank, I didn't really like it. I didn't think I liked Pride and Prejudice at all. But here I am, enjoying this a lot.

    You should still try it, but either way, now that I'm aware of this I'll be quicker to jump on the next project they try. The creator has said that this is just the beginning.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eda KFebruary 2, 2013 at 5:35 PM

    Hi Bailey! I found your blog in the nerdfighteria forum, in the blogging thread.

    Just wanted to say, WOW I had no idea there were so many websites/accounts created for the characters. Do you follow all of them on YT, tumblr and twitter? (Or maybe even the pinterest, thatsmyjam and lookbok?)
    I know I should probably watch AT LEAST Lydia's videos since they seem to be a big deal right now, somehow concerning the plot, but I only watch Lizzie's videos and that's it (for now).

    I also wanted to say, just like the Anonymous reader who commented here - I was also wary about "joining too late", I caught up in summer (autumn, idk anymore), so there could have been about 40 episodes, but I was still very wary about it. But I enjoyed it tremendously that one afternoon I watched it all through. : ) There's no harm trying to catch up to something if it catches your interest, right? : )

    I like your blogging style : >

    ReplyDelete
  4. BaileyAnneBravelyFebruary 2, 2013 at 6:07 PM

    Hi Eda! Thanks for reading!

    Yeah it's a bit crazy how in-depth the creators have made this world. To answer your question, I don't follow *all* the accounts, but I do follow a lot of them. I'm subscribed to all the YouTube accounts, and on Twitter rather than subscribing to the individuals I subscribed to the list (it's easier to read that way anyway).

    I didn't bother to get a Lookbook or Pinterest account, and I don't use Tumblr much, but you can still "follow" them by going to the main website and clicking around the story elements. They do their best to compile all the important bits.

    I did, however, join ThisIsMyJam as soon as Gigi linked to it on Twitter, and followed her. You can get to my account from the link in the right sidebar! I joined because I'd never heard of it and it sounded like a really cool idea. Not much story will be happening there, but it looks like an awesome way to discover music.

    I joined the LBD story later than you did--I think they were already up to Lizzie's 70th by the time I caught up. That was one busy weekend. :)

    Thanks for the compliment and I hope you stick around!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eda KFebruary 2, 2013 at 7:58 PM

      Well, I love how believable they made it. I would think the pinterest and lookbook and tumblrs aren't THAT needed, but besides Youtube, I think the twitter accounts are super useful : )

      I plan to at least catch up with Lydia's videos, one day...

      70 episodes? wow busy, busy, I can imagine, haha xD

      You're welcomed. I will, I subscribed to you~

      Delete

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