Because I am really enjoying courtneymilan's analysis of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I don't even follow the series anymore, but what she writes is really interesting. Particularly this post re: the use of the word "abuse" in Lydia and Wickham's relationship.

The thing that happened with Wickham has already been named in the narrative. Lizzie called it “manipulation” and a variety of other things. By giving a name to what happened to Lydia, and by giving it a name that is not abuse, but something lesser—being charmed by a charming man, being manipulated, acting as if this is just about the betrayal of selling the sex tape—this minimizes what happened.

There are times when I think it’s okay to step back from a narrative and not give a name for what’s happening. Hell, I write books in eras where the modern vocabulary we use to describe this kind of thing literally doesn’t exist, so I’m sympathetic to the claim that you don’t have to name everything. But you damn well don’t give it a label that minimizes the harm.

We’re dealing with a problem that largely goes unrecognized—where people who hear about these things happening often shrug it off or say, “So what? He didn’t hit you.”

I don't know what I'd do without The Mary Sue, which linked me to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, aka what would happen if Lizzie Bennet lived in 2012 and decided to do a video blog about her life (plus a tumblr, plus twitter, plus facebook...). It's hilarious, and the writing & acting are really superb. As entertainment, I highly recommend it.

As a Jane Austen fan who overanalyzes the shit out of things, I have thoughts.
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