Pride & Prejudice

As I have no doubt mentioned before I am a big fan of Pride and Prejudice (something my older sister never ceases to be amazed by). Granted I would never have become a fan of it if I wasn't cast as Lady Lucas in the play adaptation during high school. Drama is actually useful for something other than seeing everyone in tights and various stages of undress. (But seriously mostly the tights thing.)

One thing about Pride & Prejudice is that all the secondary characters (aka anyone that's not Lizzie or Darcy) are kind of underdeveloped. That is why I truly love adaptations of Pride & Prejudice almost more than I do the original because they absolutely love playing with the characters.

Now, before I get off on my gushing love tangents to my favorite adaptations there are a couple staples of Pride & Prejudice adaptations that I have noticed.

1. They like to pick one minor character and make them gay. In Lost In Austen it's ... Actually I'm not going to tell you because you should just go watch it and figure out for yourself. (Seriously, you'll never guess.) In The Lizzie Bennett Diaries it's Fitz, who in the book has practically no part at all.

2. There is straight up no love for Kitty Bennet. She is a character that is so forgettable, that I actually forgot about her existence. She is of course written in to both Bride & Prejudice and Lost in Austen, but no more really than the fact that she happens to be standing in the scene. (So basically like the novel.) The most love she has gotten is in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries spin off, The Lydia Bennet!, where she is actually a cat. That is right she is such an unloved character that she gets replaced by a cat named Kitty. Now that says a lot.

Now on to the love gushing!

The first one is Bride & Prejudice and it's separate from the other two on my list. While I love the heck out of this fun little musical, it's an adaptation that still basically follows the book as far as the shallow side characters rut goes. Also I only kind of like one song enough to listen to outside of the movie. (If you listen quietly you may hear the teenage version of my older sister lecturing me.)

Then there is Lost In Austen. This is a film you can only appreciate fully if you know Pride & Prejudice fairly well. (You can still enjoy it if you don't, but it can't possibly be as amazing.) It is about a modern day female Pride & Prejudice enthusiast that inadvertently switches places with Elizabeth Bennett and it is a gorgeous mess. It does a fantastic job of running amuck of Austen's world. While everyone of course knows how the story is supposed to go, it is delightful to see how characters react when "fuck it" inadvertently becomes the motto for the story's original structure. Since all sorts of crazy goes on throughout the film you get a new liking for the characters when you see them shoved entirely out of their comfort zone and not in just the Darcy has to talk to people way. Characters you hate become more likable (except Collins he's actually worse). Sides of stories you never thought about get mentioned. And all in all you will never look at Pride & Prejudice the same.

My other absolutely favorite adaptation is that of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. It is a modern adaptation of the story as a web blog of the main character. What I love about this was that it was released in real time on YouTube, the side characters are developed so much further and in really fun ways, the spin off web videos of Lydia and other characters add to the story perfectly, and on top of all else it is priceless to read the comments by people that didn't actually realize it was a work of fiction. (Seriously people? Open a book once in awhile. Or read the description.) I love the fact that for a change Charlotte isn't just this mopey kind of useless character. Jane gets a backbone (also happens in Lost In Austen). And thank god Lydia actually gets some sort of depth.

That last one may actually be my favorite part. Throughout most every adaptation of Austen ever Lydia Bennet forever remains this cliché, naive, boy crazy teenager with no thoughts in her head. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries in partner with The Lydia Bennet! worked perfectly to give the character something past just the annoying little sister. The audience does see her as that through Lizzie's eyes at first, but by the end of everything you want to kick the shit out of Wickham more than even the book and Lydia isn't a total dumbass.

One of the reasons Pride & Prejudice has survived is because it's a workable story. It can remain perfectly intact no matter where you place it and what you have to change to make it fit the modern world. A benefit of the limited view of the background characters from the book, is that you get to see every different way possible that a character can be interpreted. It is fantastic that new villains can be created, old villains can be seen in a new light, and you can finally not want to just beat Lydia with a pole. (But probably no one will ever really care about Kitty.)