Web Series Wednesday - Carmilla (Guest Post)

Hi everyone! Today, I've got something a little different from what I usually post. It's another one Web Series Wednesday, but this time, it's written by my wonderful Internet friend Macklin, who's a fan of this series and has been trying to get me to start watching it. Since I'm too busy with school stuff to start a new web series and I still wanted to talk about it, she offered to write this as a guest post, so here it is!

The literary web series (LWS) this Wednesday is Carmilla. This is my favourite LWS, and I am so happy that Laurie has allowed me to share it with you.

Originally, Carmilla is a 19^th century Gothic novella written by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It is one of the earliest pieces of vampire fiction, written 26 years before the famous Dracula and greatly influenced the genre-defining novel.  After a carriage accident, a lonely girl, Laura, finds herself housemates with the mysterious and beautiful, Carmilla. The novella is beautifully written and highly recommended to vampire fans. However, the web series, in my opinion, is way more enjoyable. (Whaaaat?!)

The web series diverges from the novel quite a bit. As with all book to web adaptations, Carmilla has been updated to the 21^st century.  Laura is now a first year university student doing a journalism project via vlogs akin to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. After the disappearance of her roommate and best friend, Betty, this project becomes an investigation with the help of Danny, a TA; Perry; the floor don; and Lafontaine, Perry’s best friend and a bio major. The prime suspect soon becomes Laura’s new roommate, Carmilla.  

Carmilla is a trans media piece. The two main characters have tumblr and twitter accounts, as well as Lafontaine.

The cast for this web series is fantastic. Elise Bauman plays Laura, and the title lead is played Natasha Negovanlis.  Both actors are very good and have great chemistry. Elise has the very hard task of carrying the production by being the person that narrates all the videos. There is one camera angle, and most of it is Laura speaking to the camera, relaying events that have happened off screen, though there is a lot of on camera action.  It is very funny and full of pop-culture references including modern vampire shout outs. The co-creator and writer of the show, Jordan Hall, is very much a descendant of Joss Whedon.

The stand out feature of this web series is its treatment of LGBT+ characters and gender representation. For example, Lafontaine is the first non-binary character I have encountered in popular media. This is mostly a female driven show with a majority of the cast and crew being female. Most of the characters are queer as well. Also, there is no “coming out.” Being queer is not a defining characteristic, and the story does not discuss sexual identity, for it is not important. Refreshing isn’t it?

I love this series! I hope that those who haven’t already go and check it out. So far, there are two seasons, each 36 episodes. There is also a Christmas episode set between the two seasons. 

Season 1 |  Chrismas episode |  Season 2

Web Series Wednesday - Emma Approved

Hello everyone and welcome to a new Web Series Wednesday post! Hope you enjoy this one.

Okay, so I'm perfectly aware that some people might not agree with me this week. I know Emma, as a character or as a novel, isn't everyone's favorite Jane Austen book, but I have to say that I enjoyed this web series, as well as the novel that inspired it, very much.

My experience watching this series was very different than what I'm used to. Instead of watching the series after having read and loved the novel, like I usually do, I watched the series while reading the novel for the first time. I know it might sound weird and scary, but I made sure to be a couple of épisodes behind what I was reading so that I wouldn't be spoiled. I really enjoyed doing it this way, because I could see this behind the writing, such as the romance, which isn't developed that much in the novel because of when it was written. I could still see hints ofit in the novel, but the web series was absolutely swoon-worthy, which got me addicted to the series. I fell in love with Knightley (and the actor who plays him, actually) and I started seeing him in a completely different way because of the episodes I was watching. My suspicions were also confirmed in video when I wasn't sure if actions meant more than they seemed like, so overall, I had a very nice time reading and watching the same story unroll before me.

After LBD, I was afraid that I would have excessively high hopes and be deceived. However, I ended up liking this as much, or maybe even more, than the series that drew me into this fantastic world of adaptations. I quickly became addicted to the music of this web series (don't judge me) and I fell in love with so many characters that it's actually crazy. It's a funny, light-hearted and well-played series that made its way into my heart.

I really liked Emma, first in the novel, but then in the web series. I think many people take her on the wrong side, but I personally think she's hilarious. Sure, she has her flaws. She's self-centered and tends to go overboard, she's vain and nosy, but in the end, she only wants what's best for the people she loves and her biggest dream is to help as many people as she can. She can be clumsy while doing so, but she's so caring and entertaining that I can't help but love her. I think that people must stop seeing all her faults and see behind them, where amazing qualities show themselves. If you've ever started this web series or novel and couldn't stand her, please try again with that in mind, because you could discover an amazing human being who is admittedly annoying sometimes. But aren't we all?

The settings in the web series are great. I love how they transposed the story into Emma's company, because it truly makes sense. Filming in the office is a really nice touch, even though sometimes it seemed a little bit nosy to be watching all of that (still loved it though, because it would've sucked NOT to see everything). As with LBD, I'm convinced the writers of this web series are geniuses, because I could see how tiny details were adjusted to make the story work as a whole in modern world.

In my opinion, the true reason why this web series is so good is the way they used the secondary characters and made them more important on the screen. Harriet and Martin are absolutely adorable and so are Harriet's videos, which are a nice addition to the series. Knightley makes tiny appearances that kill the fangirls, because there's so much that's not said but that we readers understand and it's sweet torture. Reading the comments is also really nice, because you'll find some obsessing over sentences and looks that you hadn't even realized meant something. I find the web series experience much more fun than regular TV for this reason, because there are true discussions that you can be a part of if you want to. Or you can just read and like hundreds of comments like I did, which is just fine and makes you laugh and obsess over characters (Knightley).

Here's a Knightley for you. Not too bad on the eyes, right?

To sum it up, I'd like all of you to give this book and this web series a chance, because I think the story truly deserves it.



Web Series Wednesday - The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

If you're new to this YouTube world, or simply to web series, you might not know about this amazing channel. However, it's definitely one of the best and most famous web series out there, and for many reasons.

I discovered this web series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, from Hank and John Green's YouTube channel, vlogbrothers. Hank posted a video back in 2012, when I wasn't subscribed to their channel ( or to anyone's, to be honest, because I didn't know YouTubers were a thing. Can't imagine living without YouTube now!). When I did subscribe to their channel, after having finished The Fault in Our Stars later in 2013 and discovering that John posted videos with his brother, I started watching all of their videos before I subscribed, because of how good they were. I wasn't that fast, so it took me a while to get there, but in late 2014, I watched this video and wondered: "does this really exist?" I was thrilled to find out that the series was entirely posted by then and I immediately started watching every single episode - which surprisingly didn't take that long, since I was so obsessed I preferred watching these to sleeping. I still do, to be honest.

The first reason why I like this series so much is that it's inspired by an amazing novel, Pride and Prejudice. It's the first Jane Austen novel I read and the first classic I actually chose to read, so this book has a special place in my heart. In Austen's book, there is an amazing romance, even though there's absolutely nothing explicit in it. It's just the fact that you know how the characters feel and you feel their love with them, which is just amazing. I watched as many adaptations of it as I could, so this series was no exception.

My second reason for loving LBD is the way it's adapted into a modern life story. I loved seeing all the little détails altered to make the story realistic and as dramatic in our society, because many things that were considered bad in the 19th century are simply normal today. The amount of work that must have been put in the creation of this web series is insane, which is why I admire it even more. If you've read the books and then you watch this web series, you'll realize how smart its writers are.

My final reason for watching this series instead of sleeping is how they represented each character. When you read a book, you create a precise idea of the characters and their surroundings that can be completely different from another reader's idea, which is why adaptations can be tricky sometimes. You could think a character's a real sweetheart, while someone could think he's actually calculating and evil. Sometimes, the author's writing or the main character's opinion influence our thoughts about a character, like it did for me in Pride and Prejudice. I thought Lydia was an annoying, irresponsible and self-centered girl because it's kind of how Elizabeth sees her little sister. However, in LBD, Lydia's character is taken very differently, which made me realize many things about her I had simply ignored. Her character in the web series quickly became one of my favorites, especially with the amazing actress who plays her, Mary Kate Wiles. I loved her videos, since she creates a channel of her own during the season, and I wish there had been even more of them. She's endearing and her way to talk and move cracked me up so many times that I wouldn't have believed you if you had told me I would react this way to her character before watching these videos.

I also loved the chemistry between the characters, the decoration, the music, the concept and the extras. I think this is a wonderfully well organized web series and I am glad I discovered such a universe. I read The Secret Diary of Lizzie, which is more personal than the videos, and I really liked it. I'm incredibly excited for the new novel that the writers are publishing, The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet, since it's about a character I grew to love. I can already recommend both novels!

 

 

I highly recommend this series!

Web Series Wednesday - Green Gables Fables

Hi everyone! I just thought of a new series of blog posts I could do once in a while called, as you probably saw in the title, Web Series Wednesday. As an avid fan of YouTube videos, I was delighted when I discovered, less than a year ago, that web series inspired of popular books actually exist. Since my blog is all about books, I thought some of you might be interested in web series, just like I am, so I wanted to share them with you through this series of blog posts. The first show is still updating at the moment and I absolutely love it, so here it is!

My initial reaction was complete shock when I found out that there is a YouTube adaptation of my favorite book ever, Anne of Green Gables. On the first video of Season 1 of Green Gables Fables, you can probably see my comment, describing my schock at discovering that there is something about Lucy Maud Montgomery's works that I didn't know of, especially a web series. I flew through the first season, crying and giggling at times, and I must admit there are many videos I watched twice, three times or even four times. I absolutely love Anne's actress, Mandy Harmon, and her chemistry (or lack of, for a big part of it) with Gilbert in the show is incredibly good and accurate. The cast is great and I follow most of them everywhere now, because I'm really glad I discovered such talented people through a web series. I would recommend having read the books before watching the web series (or even if you don't plan on watching the web series - the book series is plenty enough, it's awesome), but I think it would still be a good web series to watch without knowing what it's about.

The show portrays the first book of the popular Anne of Green Gables series, by Lucy Maud Montgomery, in the 21st century. If you're a fan of the series, you'll see all the little details the production worked on to make the story work in our era instead of one that was over a year ago. Anne (with an E!) is an orphan going from one foster family to another until she meets Matthew and Marilla, two siblings who welcome her in their family. Going to Avonlea, she meets new people, makes friends and enemies, starts a video blog and experiences many beautiful and not-so-beautiful things. With her imaginative mind and love for beauty and poetry, she makes her way in the world, never ceasing to make herself remembered to everyone soul she touches, including the viewer's.

I love how it's filmed, how it's cut, how it's created and how it's divided. Every episode has its load of content and drama, since Anne can be very dramatic, but it's only making you want to watch more and more of it. There are also other videos than the ones from Anne, such as videos from Gilbert, Ruby, Jane, etc. I loved this part, because it made me see the characters in a different way than I do when they are with Anne or simply in the novel. Anne's energy is contagious and the biggest fans and most attentive viewers will quickly realize things about herself and the people around her that she could never imagine, creating the perfect amount of anticipation for the future.

Right now, the first season is completely finished, but the second one is planned to begin on September 2nd. There are already videos about it, such as trailers, Q&As and videos from Anne, all very exciting. It's supposed to be about the third book, I believe, which is Anne of the Island. In this season, Anne is starting her first year of university, which means she'll meet plenty of new kindred spirits while staying in touch with her oldest ones.

You can also donate money to the production on Kickstarter to help them with the web series, which I encourage you to do, since they all work so hard to come to this result. You can click on this link to get to their Kickstarter page for Season 2.