The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

The Bennet family is back in a new vlog format on youtube. Jane Austen’s beloved character Elizabeth Bennet now has her own video blog, run by her and her friend Charlotte Lu (Charlotte Lucas in the book), where she talks about the crazy antics of her mother, who wishes to marry off her daughters, as well as her sisters, who range from ‘problematic’ to ‘practically perfect in every way’.

The vlogs follows the plot of Austen's 19th century novel while updating the storyline to suit modern times (examples of this include making Lizzie a student of mass communication and Bing Lee a medical student, as well as increasing everyone's age). As the vlogs are filmed mostly in Lizzie's bedroom, the characters often resort to impersonate others such as Darcy and Mrs Bennet, who have not yet been introduced to the camera.

Co-creator Hank Green has described the project as “something that no one had ever done before”, and wanted to keep it simple; “just a person talking in front of a camera.” One of the advantages of having an adaptation using online video is the potential of fan interaction via youtube comments and Q&A videos, as well as social media sites such as Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a unique adaptation of Pride and Prejudice which offers a new presentation of Austen’s characters. The show is often touching, frequently hilarious and will hopefully pave the way to future online adaptations.

Written by Rachel Kiley and produced/edited by Hank Green of the Vlogbrothers, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries has already amassed more than 70,000 subscribers, and is updated every Monday and Thursday.