On Re-watching

There are a lot of people in the world who watch (and read) something once and then move on. To me, that’s never really been an option when it comes to the greats. The great books, movies, and more recently, web series. While I do try to read new books, you can’t ever really tear me away from my favorites. I’ve read the Harry Potter series over and over. I’ve watched Love Actually at least twenty times since it came out. I have every word to The Emperor’s New Groove memorized. And you can’t tell me it’s not a good idea.

There’s a reason we come back to the same books and movies and media over and over again. Something within it resonates. I recently re-watched all of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries (a 2012 web series based on Pride and Prejudice, which happens to be one of my most favorite books). I also own two separate adaptations of Pride and Prejudice (the BBC 1995 series and the 2005 version with Keira Knightley). I love them all in their own ways. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (LBD) is a modern retelling using vlogs and other social media to tie it together (tumblr, twitter, etc). Because of the nature of media these days, the modernness of it works wonderfully, and the writers even did an amazing job bringing depth to characters forgotten in the original work (they made me love Lydia. I never thought that was possible). Pride and Prejudice is a book that has stood the test of time because, although it’s meant for 1800s Britain, the storyline and the characters can be related to by everyone at any time.

It’s easy to come back to something you love, and it’s easy to figure out why. When you’re writing, it’s important to remember those things. You want your story to resonate with readers in the same way, to stand the test of time, if you will. For now, I’ll leave you with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries – don’t worry, there are only 100 episodes 😉 plus Lydia’s 30.