Stories, Classics, & YouTube

Yep! I'm going to talk about some of the YouTube sensations in this post. You know what I'm talking about....

Emma Approved! Frankenstein MD! Welcome to Sanditon! The Autobiography of Jane Eyre! and the best for last.....THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES! (Plus a few others.)

In the last couple years, video storytelling has blasted off into the sky with much fanfare and from the looks of it, no chance of dying out anytime soon. Which is great! Because I've really been enjoying all the different stories we get to be a part of.

And that? Is exactly what (or part of what) makes these videos so popular (in my opinion). The viewers get to feel like we're part of the story. And if you ask any avid book reader, I imagine you'll get very similar responses. We like to feel like these characters are actually real people and we could be best friends with them. We get sucked into their lives and feel like we're literally in the story with them. That's one way writers hook us in, after all. By dragging us into the action and refusing to let us go back to real life until they decide when. So when stories that we may or may not know well get put into video form, with real people playing the characters and then talking directly to the viewers (and using transmedia {instagram, tumblr, and twitter for example} to interact with us as well), we like it. We flock to it. We obsessively search out every single detail about said characters and real life actors and......or wait, is that just me? ;)

Regardless, whatever the formula for hooking viewers, it's clearly been working. Much to my delight! (Because you know what that means? More awesomeness to come! More stories getting told! Always a good thing in my book.) (Pun not on purpose.....but I like it so it's staying.) (Although not really sure it's actually a pun?) (Nonetheless. It's staying.) (And that's all I'll say about it.) (Promise.)

So! The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was the beginning of it all and what a beginning it was. Talk about a high standard to live up to! Arguably the best of them all so far (I say arguably because some people probably agree with that and some people probably don't.) (But surely we can all agree that it was certainly a phenomenon!) (Still is for that matter), the producers, writers, and actors of the show caught everyone by surprise and made a huge splash the world over. Literally! I remember watching it faithfully and seeing all sorts of languages in the comment section under each video.

Then there was Welcome to Sanditon. And The Autobiography of Jane Eyre started up around the same time The LBD finished (about which I have a few thoughts, so a more detailed post may come later.....maybe). And we then had Emma Approved come on the scene. Also can't forget the newest, Frankenstein MD (Victoria talks a mile a minute, which is good since she always goes above my head with all that science mumbo jumbo. And Iggy is great!) Now there are multiple others on YouTube. I haven't watched very many of them, although I did try the first few episodes of the New Adventures of Peter and Wendy (which is quite adorable and fun!). I've also watched a couple episodes of Nothing Much To Do. As well as heard of Classic Alice and Green Gables Fables (neither of which I've watched). I'm sure there may also be a few others that I know nothing about.

That's one thing I think is pretty awesome about it all. That these great classic stories are getting known in the minds of teens today! Of people in general! It may even spark some of them to want to read, which would be amazing. Now granted, all these stories are updated into modern times, but they are still getting put out there. Reminding people of how fabulous they are. That they're classics for a reason! And that maybe, just maybe, they are worth taking a second look at, instead of dismissing as just some old story that's probably boring. (I admit, I wasn't so thrilled to read them when I was a teen. But I have since changed my mind. Quite happily I might add! :)

And isn't that the goal of any writer? And the dream of every reader? To have these stories out there for people to consume and enjoy and talk about? So whether you're a purist or not, I think it's pretty wonderful that these stories are getting refreshed. (Plus, since I've not ever read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I'm intrigued to watch a story that I know nothing about.) And as a Jane Austen fan, I am beyond thrilled that her stories are getting told again. I never tire of watching and reading about her regency (or modern!) heroines! :D

Have you been watching any of these? Why or why not? Any thoughts to share? Anyone? Hello?