George R. R. Martin, author and notorious character assassin of A Song of Ice and Fire better known as Game of Thrones, said ‘A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads only lives once’. It is not certain if this is where the term YOLO came from, but there is some truth to what he said.
In light of the increasing power of the internet emerges the new stream of entertainment: web series. The word speaking for itself, it means watching series online, most specifically on YouTube. The most famous one, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, has caught my eye a few years back. So did its sister web series Emma Approved, an adaptation of Emma from the same author. Most of them are adaptations, but one specifically broke the pattern and lived up to GRRM. Why live one book when you can live more?
Enter Classic Alice, a web series about a college girl named Alice Rackham living vicariously through classic novels. It is written by Kate Hackett, who also plays Alice. It all started when she failed a test because her writing was according to her professor too bland and methodical. So instead of shrugging it off like any normal college student would, Alice decides to do something about it. And then her different lives begin to unfold, affecting not only her but also her friends such as Cara Graves, her math god roommate. Her adventures are recorded by I-still-don’t-get-how-they’re-friends-if-they’re-so-different-from-each-other-but-whatever Andrew Prichard, which does it in turn for his thesis project as a film major. More characters are introduced throughout the series but what’s the fun of telling when you can watch them yourself?
Uploading a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday plus other side projects such as Cara’s This Proof is Treble playlist and Alice and Andrew’s Pens vs Lens shows their great presence outside of the show. Not to mention their very active Twitter accounts. They make you feel that they’re very real, and you’re very welcome to their world.
I am highly recommending this web series. It is one of the most well-written, underrated gems in the internet out there. Other than videos of baby sloths.
Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheClassicAlice
Watch the beginning here:
Airah Writes 