5 More Literary Web Series You Should Be Watching

You know what’s so much better than a movie version of your favorite book? A web series created by talented fans who want to do justice to the original work. Yes, real people (really cool, young-ish people) are actually creating low-budget video adaptions of famous books and plays, and uploading them to Youtube for our viewing pleasure. The whole things is just another gift from the Internet wizards that we need to share with you. If you enjoyed round one of literary web series to watch, prepare yourselves for even more good times.

1. Nothing Much to Do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn57zw4–D0?list=PLgtRIWtmHefNSmhLGzm87bM6AKzWvD-ls

Nothing Much to Do is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. This web series follows the play by way of the vlogging adventures of New Zealand high schoolers Beatrice and her cousin Hero. This series is especially innovative as other characters, like the ever important Bennedick, have their own channels, too. You get to see their different perspectives on the same event. For example, in a particularly fun set of episodes one channel aired party footage, while over on Bennedick’s channel we saw his angle of the party. His vantage point of that same party? Locked in a bathroom drunk and dressed up as Batman. Awesome.

Kate the Cursed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyWXQEOTDBs?list=UUvhoFhZFfgEsJ7kwDTkxBOw

Shakespeare’s really cornering the web series market these days. Check out this adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew created by a group of innovative Canadians. In this version, Kate is a snappy high school senior and within the first two episodes we find out Kate hits her date in the face for trying to kiss her. Perfection. Also, Kate’s phone is a Nokia flip-phone. A flip-phone. Let the perfection continue!

Jules and Monty

To cap off the Shakespearean trifecta, we have Jules and Monty, an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Finally, we get some tragedy up in this business! They manage to blend blocks of the original text of the play into their dialogue in a surprisingly natural way. And how does the series deal with the idea of modernizing a double teen suicide? Watch and see!

Emma Approved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeeXkf8LZ_8?list=UUgOlD8TImVB4xalJTiO6eqQ

If you were a fan of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, chances are you’re already tuned into this adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma—since this show is produced by that same fantastic team. If you’re not, check it out! The show is stylish, clever, funny, and, of course, filled with the treachery of romance. And while most of the shows in this round up include elements like characters having their own twitter accounts and such, Emma Approved is queen in that department.

Green Gables Fables

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDOhS23KyCM?list=UUO_zDxEu4FA1vdpcB2WPSJg

This is the least professionally done of the web series group and very charming. It’s most realistic in that our main character, Anne with an E, doesn’t have a sponsored wardrobe, fancy lighting, and a professional camera. Anne’s talking directly to a web cam with all the rambling enthusiasm that the book’s protagonist had. While perhaps the least polished production of the group, it’s nonetheless just as entertaining.