So as we know from my previous posts, Jane Austen is a huge part of my life. Although she wrote nearly 200 years ago, her stories are still read and continue to be relevant to modern audiences. Pride and Prejudice is arguably her most famous novel and as a result many adaptions have been made in recent years. In 2012, a YouTube channel (aptly called Pemberley Digital https://www.youtube.com/user/PemberleyDigital) began a vlog series called The Lizzie Bennett Diaries. This modern adaption tells the classic story in real time with Lizzie Bennett as a 24-year-old graduate student studying media communication.
The website can be found here: http://www.lizziebennet.com/story/
The reason I find this website so effective is how it chronicles the story. When the show started in April 2012, Lizzie published videos every Monday and Thursday. The characters, including Lizzie’s sisters Jane and Lydia, Darcy and his sister Georgina, among others, were all active on social media. The transmedia team created Twitters, Instagrams, and Tumblrs for these various characters and they interacted in live time as Lizzie’s videos were published. Although the series has ended (much to my dismay), the website has made the entire series accessible in chronological order. New viewers can start the series from the very begin and see the entire story unravel with all the incorporate transmedia elements of tweets and pictures. There’s also an option to follow the story through one particular social network such as YouTube, Twitter, or Tumblr. All of the media and videos are embedded into the site, so the links do not redirect viewers to YouTube tabs.
In addition to outlining the entire story, the website offers information on the characters which have a unique spin from the original writing of Jane Austen. There’s also actors’ bios and information about the creative team and writers. The website has a simple background and layout, but the information is clearly labeled and organized making this website incredibly effective. Not only is the website easy to navigate, it conveys an excellent story.
