Lizzie Bennet and Why You Should Love Her

One last group hug before ya go.

Get out your tissues FabNerds, because tomorrow is the last episode of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Let me repeat that: Tomorrow. Is. The. Last. Episode.

Ever.

Take a second.

Now, I have talked about my love for the LBD a little before and if you are ever on the internet at all, it is likely someone else you know has posted videos or gifs or articles or fan fiction about it it. There is no denying it’s popular and there’s not denying the fans are passionate. Just look at these tea flavors someone made.

If you are my mother or many of my friends…you might find that annoying. Honestly, if I was just coming into the show now I would find it annoying too. Luckily, I saw that first episode within the week it went up and soon fell in love with Lizzie’s story regardless of the fact that I’ve been trying to finish Pride and Prejudice for the past ten years.

There’s not much that can be said about LBD that hasn’t been said already – everyone from Ms. Magazine to Wired has done a write up on it, in some form or another. Yet, I feel like I would regret not sharing why I love it before episode 100 goes up on Thursday.

I went to a play a couple weeks ago that was an adaptation of a fairly well-known piece of literature and I was shocked to see that most of the female characters from the original work (who were all quite prominent) were either eliminated entirely or whittled down to stock characters. For the first time it really struck me how rare it is to find female-driven stories, even in this century; there aren’t as many Joss Whedons and Sarah Ruhls as we’d like there to be.

That’s what makes The Lizzie Bennet Diaries so special. It’s not just Lizzie’s life that we are following – it is the lives of three other well-rounded women. I don’t mean “well-rounded” as in they can check off multiple boxes on Mr. Darcy’s list of what makes an accomplished woman. I mean they are not just a bunch of cute archetypes or sketches of interesting women. Lizzie, Charlotte, Jane, and Lydia* are representations of real, complete women – flaws and all.

And they aren’t playing second fiddle to Lizzie or the romantic plot of the P&P. We care just as much (or maybe more) about the state of Charlotte and Lizzie’s friendship as we do about Lizzie and Darcy’s face-sucking. Hell, we don’t even see Darce’s face until more than halfway through the series**, but we do see Charlotte’s and despite their secondary status in the novel all of Lizzie’s friends and sisters are prominent on our small screens. To quote The Lydia Bennet, herself:

True facts.

Also, in this modern day and age when we are all just too busy, it’s nice to have an excuse to read some literature. And thanks to fan-created website Darceny – I finally have a reason to finish reading Pride and Prejudice. Even if you don’t want to join the online book/video group (though you should because it looks awesome and I think I will be pretty active on it) I know plenty of other people who are just picking up Austen’s second novel again because of the show.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: If it gets people to read more, then it must be a good thing.

So I’ve said all I have to say on the LBD. At 12AM EST tomorrow I will be awaiting the final episode with everyone else. I’m said to see it end, but I have a feeling that it is just the beginning and I am so grateful with what the Lizzie Bennet Diaries gave me. If you haven’t at least watched the first episode by now, you should. Here it is.

No Regrets,

Jess

Too many gifs?

*And Gigi, and Caroline, and frankly every character Male or Female on the show.

** And it’s waaaaay longer until we see Darcy and Lizzie suck face.

Monthly Obsessions #1 – January

Welcome FabNerds! Today marks the beginning of a exciting new segment here at Nerdy and Fabulous Headquarters – Monthly Obsessions. This is where I get to share the FIVE THINGS I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT DAY AND NIGHT FOR THE LAST MONTH. If you can’t tell, I’m really stoked to share these things. So, as a clichéd cheerleader would say: “Ready? OK!”

1. Baby Lips

So I don’t know why this commercial totally captivated me this month, but it did. I think it’s a combination of my love of lip products and the fact that this new chap stick from Maybelline looks like grown up Bonne Bell Lip Smackers*…Anyway, I am in love. I only have the peppermint flavor right now (the green one) because everything else was sold out, but it is amazing. It’s smooth and refreshing. I also have this delusion that when I put it one it makes my breath fresh. It doesn’t, but it does make me feel better.

2. Argo: The Ben Affleck Story

OK, so I touched on this briefly in my last post, but I’m like totally obsessed and proud of this good ol’ Boston boy. Let’s do a quick recap of his life, shall we: Brother to Casey. Best Friends with Matt Damon. Starts the acting thing. Writes Good Will Hunting with him (so we are told, though I still don’t believe he did much). Wins an Oscar. Does some blockbusters. Everyone is comparing him to Matt, who is making some pretty deep films (relatively speaking).

And then it just goes down hill. Bennifer happens. He makes Daredevil and a slew of other crap movies.  He is the basically the screw up. Then he marries Sydney Bristo- I mean Jennifer Gardner and has a couple kids and starts directing. Though Gone Baby Gone and The Town were both fairly well-received they were also fairly predictable Boston movies, which for some reason are really in vogue right now. But then there’s Argo and it’s like zing! He’s actually really talented. It’s a wonderful underdog story – minus the Oscar snub. But he’s winning everything else so he should be proud. Way to go Ben.

3.  The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Aka. The thing that defines and consumes my life. No, really. For those who don’t know, LBD (as we of the fandom call it) is an interactive web adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Here Lizzie is an American grad student who keeps a video blog where she talks about her friends, her sisters, her marriage-obsessed mother, and -of course- the mysterious douche bag known as Darcy (Lizzie’s words, not mine). What’s kind of awesome about it is that the story spans through all sorts of online media. The character’s have facebooks and tumblrs and, most importantly twitter. Well, most important for me anyway. Literally when a character tweets my world stops and I have to stare at it for hours and hours until another character tweets and so on and so forth.

It’s a fabulous retelling of an already fabulous story. I can’t really say anymore because then I’ll never get anything done. If you haven’t started watching yet, here’s the first episode. If you are already a fan, tweet me @TheFabJessGoing and we can talk about what’s happening with Lydia.

4. This is My Jam

I learned about this sweet website from a fictional LBD character’s twitter and I realize I should be more ashamed of that, but I can’t be because it’s too cool. This is my Jam let’s you pick the one song you are currently obsessed with (totally up my alley already) and share it with your friends. You can only pick one song a week so it’s kind of a big deal, but it all gets added to your ultimate playlist. Really cool. You should all join and follow me. This is not just a ploy for followers, but it really is.

5. Pitch Perfect

I just saw this movie a few nights ago and it is Aca-perfect. This funny, sweet campy movie about collegiate Acapella is everything that I secretly loved in high school. Just watch this clip and you’ll see that it is amazing.

So that was our first Monthly Obsession. What’d we think? Now I’m late for class** so I gotta end it here.

See you Friday,

Jess

*I tried to find a Lip Smackers commercial to compare to the Baby Lips one, but all I found were these weird tributes to the 80s classic. If you have a lot of free time on your hands you should check it out.

**Don’t worry Mom, I’m not really late.