Use The Lizzie Bennet Diaries to discuss the idea of modernizing classics. After watching an episode (or possibly several specifically chosen episodes) discuss the updates to the story, what changes the creators made to the story to modernize it, and how these changes affect the story. Do they work? Does the modernization increase interest in the original? Does the modernization detract from the original in any way?
After discussing the video as an example, have the students choose a well-known scene from a classic story and write their own modernization of the story. It could be in the format of a narrative, or possibly a script for a web series similar to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
CJ's Writing Room 