Original Source: Lizzie Bennet Diaries – Ep: 80 – Hyper-Mediation in New Media
COMS1001: Engaging Media – Curtin Univeristy
DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS AND SUBJECT MATTER BELONGS TO LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES AND JANE AUSTEN BEFORE THAT – THIS IS FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES ONLY.
Line taken directly from video (1:57 – 2:08)
Given the fact that it was past halfway into the semester, Lizzie was surprised at the attendance in the lecture this morning. She had barely dragged herself away from her bed that morning, having spent the previous night furiously finishing her essay, cursing Lydia with every clack of her keyboard. She promised herself, eyes stinging and fingers aching, that she would get a lock on her door, even if her mother protested.
She sagged into her usual seat, seated in the middle, right beside the projector. Charlotte, hat on and book out, already sat there and sent a smile. Lizzie thanked every deity she knew that Collins hadn't followed Charlotte to her lecture, as his overeager commentary might have made her cry.
She heard the bustle of people as the main door open, and she spotted Dr. Gardiner's small stout figure, followed by a suited figure out the corner of eye. Figuring that was the guest lecturer she remembered vaguely reading about, she focused on setting up her pages, and on trying not to fall sleep. Just thinking about it made her hide a yawn.
A nudge from her side startled her, and she turned quickly to see Charlotte hiding a smile, "Don't let Darcy catch you doing that!," her friend whispered.
She could feel herself freezing in place at the name. Darcy. She'd been trying not to remember the name, her anger at his actions against Jane remaining still. She whirled in her seat, and saw that the suited figure was in fact in Will Darcy, dressed without a bowtie, but somehow in a fitted suit. Her theory that he was actually a robot remained true, as she doubted any actual human should be that well-dressed so early in the morning.
She slouched into her seat, and avoided looking at him, ignoring Charlotte's amused stare from the right. The projector flickered on beside her, and the room fell quiet. She didn't hear Dr. Gardiner's introduction, was vaguely aware they were learning about new media concepts, but her rising panic disrupted her usual attentiveness. She cursed Lydia again, and her new fascination with video-making.
How could I have not noticed that Will Darcy was going to be here?, she asked herself furiously. Her promise to protect her work more carefully, and for this situation to never happen again, was reaffirmed, as she placed a large sticky note on her laptop.
It was Darcy now who spoke, "Imagine a vlogger, seeking to explain an event which had occurred during the past week, but with no video or audio evidence to explain or justify their claims. So they turn to what we at Pemberley Digital refer to as costume theatre. Where they, by themselves or with a friend," Lizzie felt a growing horror build within her, "act out the scene for their audience."
Oh God, she thought to herself, he actually knows what he's talking about. Having been so used to his condescending stares, she hadn't really thought about his actual intelligence.
Darcy continues, hands and face more expression than any other time she had seen before, "This is, as Dr. Gardiner has no doubt explained before, a concept in new media called Hypermediacy. It would remind the audience that this wasn't a conversation we would naturally have but because of that the obviously constructed nature of the scene would, by its very artificiality, create its own sense of, " here Darcy met her eyes, and he faltered just a fraction, the rising passion interrupted, "verisimilitude."
Crap, she thought to herself, ducking back behind her laptop once again, he really does know what he's talking about. She snuck into her back, grasped her spare chocolate bar from the previous day, and carefully unwrapped. She could feel Charlotte's stare, but she again ignored it. She was too busy eating her feelings, and trying to calm her rising panic.