So in accordance with my announcement from yesterday about only posting about things I love, I decided to start an in-depth, super passionate, rambling and love-filled series about the things I love: books, films, TV shows, webseries, music, people, whatever. These will be semi-reviews, love stories, cheerful ramblings, thoughtful analyses… and just messages about some of the things in this world that truly make me happy (usually text, though I may try at some point to integrate images and gifs). It only seems fair, then, that the first of these posts will go to the show that brought me to Tumblr in the first place: The Autobiography of Jane Eyre.

AoJE for a lot of us began as something to fill the hole that the Lizzie Bennet Diaries left after it ended. AoJE was clearly inspired by LBD - indeed, in her first episode, Jane tells her viewers how Lizzie (as a “real” person) inspired her (and gently laughs at the impeccable hair the girls always seem to have). That quick flash of LBD footage actually sets the tone for what AoJE would be all about over the next year plus. AoJE used the technical format that LBD popularized, but it used it more casually, with worse hair and more realistic surroundings.

Jane’s vlogs felt like real vlogs - clumsy, at times oddly filmed, often hesitant, almost always reflective of a complicated life and distinctly not professional. There was little of the shiny gloss that LBD had throughout its run - we all remember the spot on the camera in the early episodes, as well at the cut-up, jerky camera blackouts. From the onset, AoJE was a realistic show, with a grounded story and a grounded realism and a grounded Jane that carried the story along phenomenally. And a camera that moved, and a girl that moved with it.

To pretend that our Jane did not greatly contribute to why the show was successful is not even an option - Alysson Hall (boobiesmcfeels) brought Jane to life naturally and flawlessly, to the point where we all, I think, struggle to distinguish between the two at times (the recent behind-the-scenes take during which Alysson goes through all her lines in a Valley Girl accent definitely showcased for me how little I separated between actress and character, as my jaw dropped further and further). As both a writer and as an actress, Alysson imbibed Jane with more life than any other adaptation I’ve ever seen.

Jane for us was not a character - she was a friend, one we worried about when she stopped posting online, one we comforted when she was upset, and one we even were hurt by when she so quietly left us just a few weeks ago. Fans responded to the show’s end not unhappy because of the quality, but because of the relationship they had formed with Jane. It felt much more like a friend who moves away and stops talking to you than a show that has reached its end.

But AoJE is not simply Jane. It’s episodes like Kidnapped, which are so believable as not-fiction that when I show it to people, they ask if these are my friends. It’s characters like Simon or Beth, who are conceptually faithful to their original, but put in a different context and different light, perhaps even improving upon Brontë’s original story. It’s the choices that Jane makes, the way she grows up, the way redemption plays into the story… all of these aspects match the original Jane Eyre, yet also successfully turn it into a fresh, original story that is worth being told on its own right.

There was also a level of engagement and fan involvement in the show that surpassed LBD. The way showrunner Nessa Aref (inkingideas) lovingly coaxed fans in the weeks leading up to the ending, the way the transmedia team often teased fans, the way Jane herself interacted (or didn’t online) - these all made both the show itself feel more real, as well as the world around it. That they can laugh at themselves (with videos like the April Fool’s teaser, the perk videos, or their crossover with Shipwrecked Comedy for the excellent Bertha’s Attic Song) creates a safe space around the entire project that ultimately permeates the story itself.

I have not yet had the chance to watch all of the videos straight through, start to finish, but I know that I will do it in the very near future. And again in the further future, and again, and again. AoJE was partially an experience for me - holding my breath every Wednesday, later every Wednesday and Saturday, and finally just every painful, heart-wrenching Saturday - but it’s also a brilliant adaptation, story and piece of art in its own right.

So why do I love The Autobiography of Jane Eyre? I love The Autobiography of Jane Eyre because I love Jane Eyre the book, because I love this version of Jane Eyre the not-character-but-a-person, because I love stories that feel natural, because I love feeling that sort of connection, and ultimately because it’s really, really good. It’s a story that didn’t always make me smile (and often made me cry), but it always filled me with a sense of love. That is something to be treasured.