Canadian Gothic
Dec. 4th, 2013 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilIt seems I can't help but develop an obsession with one fandom or another. Around this time last year, I was getting pretty heavily into the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I still love it, but since it's been over for eight months and more, and my fan fic ideas are finally starting to dry up, it seemed time for something new to occupy the majority of my brain. I don't really go actively seeking new things; they just kind of find me and latch onto me until I can't shake them off.
Well, this one really is really taking hold. After Lizzie Bennet I was kind of hoping to find another web series adaptation, having realized their potential to be more thorough and innovative than the usual adaptations of classics, but I would have thought the LBD team's new effort, Emma Approved, would be the most likely candidate. I love Jane Austen, after all, and Emma was the first book of hers I ever read. Well, EA is fun but doesn't have quite the same magic as the LBD just yet. It might grab me later, but for now…it's all about the Autobiography of Jane Eyre.
Again, this surprised me. I read Jane Eyre once in college, enjoyed it, and never picked it up again. I liked Jane and I liked that she stuck to her principles, but Mr. Rochester has such a boatload of problematic issues. Don't get me wrong, I prefer it way, way above the other Brontë's most famous book. (I used to call it Withering Blight.) But when people speculated, during the earlier run of the LBD, that they'd like to see a version of Jane Eyre done this way, I thought, nah, no thanks. Too weird. Too hard to adapt. Not nearly as much fun as any of Austen's novels.
I ended up watching Episode three first, just out of curiosity, because the thumbnail indicated it was filmed somewhere other than in a comfortable bedroom. And it was perfect. It's inspired by Lizzie Bennet; they've even acknowledged that both in-world and out-of-world, but it's not a clone by any means. They recognize that Jane wouldn't be a polished video blogger the way that Lizzie, communications and new media student, would be. She'd be nervous, uncertain, but determined to be brave and try something new. She goes out of her comfort zone, and we go with her. Sometimes it's scary. That third video captured just perfectly the subtle threat of the gothic elements of the book. I was honestly panicking right along with Jane. They do a lot more moving around, too, and so there's a little less of that contrived "someone pops into the room while Lizzie's filming" that happening in the LBD. Don't get me wrong - I think the format worked for Lizzie, because she'd be very deliberate about how she presents herself in her videos. For Jane, the camera and by extension her in-universe audience have become a sort of friend to talk to or even keep her company. Unlike Lizzie, she has no support system whatsoever, and especially when things get weird or creepy, she ends up relying on her camera.
I've realized that as much as Pride and Prejudice is my preferred re-reading book, I really have more in common with Jane Eyre, personality-wise. Lizzie only had two or three videos with just herself talking to the camera. Jane has loads, and they really convey the same sense as Jane's long inner monologues in the book. It doesn't getting boring, even when an episode doesn't do a ton to advance the plot. They take plenty of time with arcs that often get cut entirely in other adaptations, like when she goes to see her dying aunt. They really dig deep into what makes Jane tick. The narrative starts when she's headed off to work for Mr. Rochester, but they reveal bits and pieces of her backstory at just the right points. And even when my fangirly brain is hoping to see more of Mr. Rochester, when the video turns out to be more quiet reflection from Jane, I appreciate on a deeper narrative level that they're taking their time to get things right.
And let me talk about behind the scenes stuff. These are students! For the most part, anyway - lots of dedicated actors and writers and crew, based in Vancouver (one of the videos involved an excursion into the city and would really work quite well as a tourism commercial), working for pretty much nothing. They just put up an Indiegogo campaign and reached their goal within two days - and no wonder. After they've been creating such great content without compensation, their fans were happy to give back. The main actress is also one of the creators and head writers, and I'm very pleased to notice just how many women are involved. Jane Eyre really ought to have her story told by women - it was just about as feminist as you could get away with in the 1800s. Having said that, I must acknowledge that the actor playing Rochester is fantastic. It took a while for him to grow on me, but now I'm thinking he's pretty much perfect. They've modernized his quirky charm without softening the problematic parts of his character. Just recently, they had the first proposal scene, and it was like watching a combination of Darcy's first proposal and second proposal, the videos at Pemberley before the Lydia/Wickham scandal, and all of Lydia's videos with Wickham. All at once. Because Rochester makes a terrible blundering mess of professing his love to Jane, so you're cringing, but then you're sighing happily as Jane returns his affections, but then you're thinking (at least if you know the book), "Ugh, this is a woefully short-lived happiness. Terrible terrible things are coming!" as well as squirming at the vaguely manipulative/unhealthy ways Rochester behaves. It's pretty intense.
And yet it's not all doom and gloom. Somehow they manage to be really, really funny. Her cousins in particular were hilarious in very different ways. Jane is funny too. She deals with a lot of weird things with her peculiar sense of humor. And you can see how she and Rochester are cut from the same quirky cloth in many ways. When he finally works through all his garbage (which fans refer to as the Thing, to avoid spoiling those unfamiliar with the book) I can envision see them being happy together. But until then…this is going to be a major roller coaster.
(Oh, and the name for the fans is just too perfect. Eyreheads. ;) )
Well, this one really is really taking hold. After Lizzie Bennet I was kind of hoping to find another web series adaptation, having realized their potential to be more thorough and innovative than the usual adaptations of classics, but I would have thought the LBD team's new effort, Emma Approved, would be the most likely candidate. I love Jane Austen, after all, and Emma was the first book of hers I ever read. Well, EA is fun but doesn't have quite the same magic as the LBD just yet. It might grab me later, but for now…it's all about the Autobiography of Jane Eyre.
Again, this surprised me. I read Jane Eyre once in college, enjoyed it, and never picked it up again. I liked Jane and I liked that she stuck to her principles, but Mr. Rochester has such a boatload of problematic issues. Don't get me wrong, I prefer it way, way above the other Brontë's most famous book. (I used to call it Withering Blight.) But when people speculated, during the earlier run of the LBD, that they'd like to see a version of Jane Eyre done this way, I thought, nah, no thanks. Too weird. Too hard to adapt. Not nearly as much fun as any of Austen's novels.
I ended up watching Episode three first, just out of curiosity, because the thumbnail indicated it was filmed somewhere other than in a comfortable bedroom. And it was perfect. It's inspired by Lizzie Bennet; they've even acknowledged that both in-world and out-of-world, but it's not a clone by any means. They recognize that Jane wouldn't be a polished video blogger the way that Lizzie, communications and new media student, would be. She'd be nervous, uncertain, but determined to be brave and try something new. She goes out of her comfort zone, and we go with her. Sometimes it's scary. That third video captured just perfectly the subtle threat of the gothic elements of the book. I was honestly panicking right along with Jane. They do a lot more moving around, too, and so there's a little less of that contrived "someone pops into the room while Lizzie's filming" that happening in the LBD. Don't get me wrong - I think the format worked for Lizzie, because she'd be very deliberate about how she presents herself in her videos. For Jane, the camera and by extension her in-universe audience have become a sort of friend to talk to or even keep her company. Unlike Lizzie, she has no support system whatsoever, and especially when things get weird or creepy, she ends up relying on her camera.
I've realized that as much as Pride and Prejudice is my preferred re-reading book, I really have more in common with Jane Eyre, personality-wise. Lizzie only had two or three videos with just herself talking to the camera. Jane has loads, and they really convey the same sense as Jane's long inner monologues in the book. It doesn't getting boring, even when an episode doesn't do a ton to advance the plot. They take plenty of time with arcs that often get cut entirely in other adaptations, like when she goes to see her dying aunt. They really dig deep into what makes Jane tick. The narrative starts when she's headed off to work for Mr. Rochester, but they reveal bits and pieces of her backstory at just the right points. And even when my fangirly brain is hoping to see more of Mr. Rochester, when the video turns out to be more quiet reflection from Jane, I appreciate on a deeper narrative level that they're taking their time to get things right.
And let me talk about behind the scenes stuff. These are students! For the most part, anyway - lots of dedicated actors and writers and crew, based in Vancouver (one of the videos involved an excursion into the city and would really work quite well as a tourism commercial), working for pretty much nothing. They just put up an Indiegogo campaign and reached their goal within two days - and no wonder. After they've been creating such great content without compensation, their fans were happy to give back. The main actress is also one of the creators and head writers, and I'm very pleased to notice just how many women are involved. Jane Eyre really ought to have her story told by women - it was just about as feminist as you could get away with in the 1800s. Having said that, I must acknowledge that the actor playing Rochester is fantastic. It took a while for him to grow on me, but now I'm thinking he's pretty much perfect. They've modernized his quirky charm without softening the problematic parts of his character. Just recently, they had the first proposal scene, and it was like watching a combination of Darcy's first proposal and second proposal, the videos at Pemberley before the Lydia/Wickham scandal, and all of Lydia's videos with Wickham. All at once. Because Rochester makes a terrible blundering mess of professing his love to Jane, so you're cringing, but then you're sighing happily as Jane returns his affections, but then you're thinking (at least if you know the book), "Ugh, this is a woefully short-lived happiness. Terrible terrible things are coming!" as well as squirming at the vaguely manipulative/unhealthy ways Rochester behaves. It's pretty intense.
And yet it's not all doom and gloom. Somehow they manage to be really, really funny. Her cousins in particular were hilarious in very different ways. Jane is funny too. She deals with a lot of weird things with her peculiar sense of humor. And you can see how she and Rochester are cut from the same quirky cloth in many ways. When he finally works through all his garbage (which fans refer to as the Thing, to avoid spoiling those unfamiliar with the book) I can envision see them being happy together. But until then…this is going to be a major roller coaster.
(Oh, and the name for the fans is just too perfect. Eyreheads. ;) )
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no subject
Date: 2013-12-05 04:55 am (UTC)Aren't ill-considered first marriages a lot easier to shake off these days? Or is it a thing where she's completely dependent on him for healthcare so that he can't divorce her because it would mean essentially leaving her to the mercy of whatever the state happens to have available for her? I could see that. Hmmm ....
no subject
Date: 2013-12-05 01:36 pm (UTC)There's been a lot of discussion on this behind spoiler tags, including how they'll adapt him being trapped in a marriage when divorce is so much easier in the present day. I'm hoping there's at least some element of Rochester not wanting to abandon someone who's entirely dependent on his care….but it's possible there's a more mercenary element, like an aggressive pre-nup that would strip him of half his company if he ended the marriage. Some have speculated it's not even a marriage at all, but some other deep dark secret analogous to a crazy wife in the attic. But I think it's pretty clear just from what's happened so far that Someone is in that house, and I strongly suspect her initials are B.R. On the one hand I can't wait to find out how they've managed this incredibly tricky adaptive bit, and on the other I don't ever want it to happen so we have to watch it destroy poor Jane. Sigh….