Tag Archives: Pride and Prejudice

Fleeting: Modern Adaptations of Old Classics (Jane Austen Edition)

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Much like how I did with various Modern Adaptations of Shakespeare’s Classics here is a quick list of various modernizations of Jane Austen’s novels that I have seen and appreciated on some level (so this is by no means a comprehensive list by any stretch of the imagination):
EMMA
Clueless

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Bride and Prejudice
I Love You Because
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Now the interesting thing to note is that I actually did a little bit of research about this and realized that out of six of Jane Austen’s novels only two have been modernized and adapted whilst still keeping the intergrity of the primary storyline and the majority of the characters.

Rather odd if you ask me.

Granted one of the major modernizations that most everyone would know about but I have yet to have seen would be Bridget Jones’ Diary. Now why haven’t I seen it? Simple, because all the clips and trailers I have found online haven’t lured me enough to have any kind of desire to watch the movie itself. It is simple not my cup of tea from what I have been able to see. Sad isn’t it?

So since I have already devoted several posts to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries I am not going to touch that particular modern adaptation in this particular post, instead just focusing on the other three…

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Literary Review: Old Friends New Fancies by Sybil G Brinton

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Technically I read this particular novel a few years ago, and I have reread particular portions of the novel but it has been a while since I have read the novel front to back in its entirety. So after those few years I decided to pack up the book and reread it during my flight to the west coast and from there decided to break it all down again.

First a few generalizations to note:
The author does notate some passage of years for various characters (if not all), however, there was a distinct feeling that all six of the primary novels ended at approximately the same time. As thus there was a sense of convolution in trying to fit everything in as much as possible.

There were a fair number of characters that were either 1) mentioned in passing, 2) passing through as an obstacle or 3) passing through as a connection for other characters to meet. How do these break down? Well
1) Edward and Elinor Ferrars, Colonel and Marianne Brandon, Catherine Tilney, most of the Bertrams
2) Anne Steele, Robert and Lucy Ferrars, Sir Elliot, Lady Catherine de Bourgh
3) Lady Portinscale (Eleanor Tilney), Mr Yates

As always there were a few primary romances that occurred over the course of the novel… without providing any spoilers some of the characters in question included:
Northanger Abbey: James Morland
Mansfield Park: Tom Bertram, William Price, Mary Crawford
Pride and Prejudice: Colonel Fitzwilliam, Georgiana Darcy, Kitty Bennet
I am sure from the above you are able to figure out the majority of the pairings (if not all)

Overall I rather enjoyed this particular novel, despite all the typos, editing errors, etc. It is probably one of the better Jane Austen sequels I have read in a while. With the majority of the characters staying true to the original characterization as depicted by Jane Austen it is a real trip to try to remember how someone knew someone else and why. At the same time the new romances were fun to follow as I found myself getting involved in them as well.

But like all books… I have a few grievances:

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Review: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (aka LBD)

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I fell down a rabbit hole… a major rabbit hole. It was a rabbit hole so deep that I haven’t really taken any time to get out of it because it is so much fun in this rabbit hole.

So what am I going on about?

Well.. as I was lurking at the Pemberley Discussion Boards, I noticed via the Austenations board the acronym LBD with a vast number of episodes. I got curious… when looking at a few posts and how it would appear to be Pride and Prejudice related and how certain characters were emulated other characters I can’t help but be intrigued with this conundrum.

Thank goodness for Google… kind of.

A quick Google look up for LBD revealed a long list of various companies and groups with the initials LBD… but nothing Jane Austen related… which is what hit me.

Another quick Google look up for LBD and “Jane Austen” revealed the website The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: An Online Adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice which led to the online web series of the same name… And OH. EM. GEE.

According to the website it is…

The home of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries an online modernized adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Developed by Hank Green and Bernie Su

And they went all out… a fair number of the characters have twitter accounts, there is a tumblr, there is even an online presence for the companies featured on the show (Collins and Collins, Pemberley Digital) outside of the actual Lizzie Bennet Diaries series…

First a quick round up… here is how the characters have been changed / adapted from the original Jane Austen novel:

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Review: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (at NYMF)

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The New York Musical Theatre Festival is a musical only festival that appears on the New York theatre scene that takes in some of the strongest full productions of up and coming musicals from across the country and gives them the chance to show off their stuff in the heart of New York City.

Such known alumni include:

Every year presents a new crop of productions trying to find their footing and every year there has been standouts. This past year is no exception.

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