#bridgerton discourse

[pensbridge]

I think the view that the Bridgerton women have to be some evil witches and to make a point on your personal stance, you must pit their faults against each other, acting like one is an angel and the other has manipulative motives is just WRONG on so many levels.

Marina tried to trap a man and she said some horrible offensive things to Penelope, who did nothing wrong at that point.

Marina was an alone pregnant woman, driven to desperate measures in an attempt to protect herself, AND she was an 18 year old who thought that she was mature and used her words against her cousin who she felt couldn't understand in her times of stress.

Eloise sticks her nose into other people's business and she was also getting herself into trouble seeing the worker at the print shop.

Eloise is characterized as headstrong, so thinks she knows best. She is 19 and teenagers think they can do, say, and know everything more than anyone else.

Penelope is manipulative. She's just bitter and she could have handled the situation better. Why didn't she?

Penelope is a 19 year old, who didn't know who to turn to for help (at 17), so tried to take matters into her own hands. She's someone who we know has difficulty speaking up so it makes sense her inability to do so as she tried to tell Colin.

Edwina is so dumb. How could she not see what was right in front of her face? She's wrong for going forward with Anthony when she did not know anything that was happening between them. Unknowing, she's keeping them apart; I hate her!

Blame the writers, blame the producers; I don't know. This one is crazy to me how someone who did nothing wrong gets blame as if this plot called for her to be some conniving mastermind. guess 2 South Asian women of color can't be built up. Also she is 18!

See a pattern? These are teenagers! They are naive and in belief that that know more! Everyone is this universe is morally wrong at times. Everyone does things based on their personal beliefs at the time and individual motivations. Everyone has been selfish. That's what makes them humanly written.

Also as a note, the way female characters are written on this show seems to be based on an interest in complicated female relationships and how they can break apart but come back together, while having no contrary feelings to love toward one another.

-Edwina and Kate

-Eloise and Penelope

-Penelope and Marina

(I see it as there can be fights; there can be jealousy; there can be betrayals, but these in-universe characters would not hate the other the way some fans feel angry for them).

#complex female characters #ppl expecting 19 year olds to make perfect decisions 🤯 #bridgerton #eloise bridgerton #penelope featherington #edwina sharma #marina crane #marina thompson #peneloise #sharma sisters #women of bridgerton #character analysis #character take #kate sharma #kanthony #polin #bridgerton discourse #shondaland #rants

[minim236]

someone put it well saying that the problem in bridgerton is the show’s pattern of woc having their lives ruined due white characters who instead of being apologetic are narratively rewarded, whilst the women of colour they screw over are demonised by the fandom.

#bridgerton #bridgerton discourse #marina thompson #edwina sharma #bridgerton fandom #bridgerton s3 #bridgerton s2

[blueyellow8green]

Bridgerton fans try to realise there is no correct side between Eloise and Penelope. Both made mistakes, both had good reasons. Shonda gave us complicated characters and you can prefer one over the other but that doesn't mean denouncing the other as evil.

#bridgerton #eloise bridgerton #penelope featherington #queen charlotte #bridgerton discourse

[ellapastoral]

We deserve better consent portrayals 100%

https://youtu.be/Q2EOuB-oDBg

#bridgerton #black youtuber #black girl #black girls #small youtuber #black girl fandom #ella pastoral #bridgerton discourse #bridgerton season 1 #bridgerton netflix #bridgerton daphne and simon #sienna mae #consent #netflix shows #the umbrella academy #umbrella acedmy #the umbrella academy spoilers #the umbrella academy season 3 #the umbrella academy netflix #Youtube

[viscountessevie]

Uhhh my OG anon about the poll,,,,you came to the right person: ya non-binary pal is a Greek nerd and honestly wtf is that comparison. Actually you know what Imma just show yall the INSANE ask I just got. Not cos of the anon but the insanity that is the Polio fandom.

I am LEGIT seething at this comparison. First the show wants to do My Fair Lady aka Pygmalion and now this bullshit. RMB (while an okay book) IS NOT THAT DEEP! 

More Under The Cut [Cos it got long and this is the TDLR Sanji is Pissed Version]

Also the book couple had chemistry, the show version does not!! All this education and they can’t fucking read our full arguments. The Greek shit aside, I knew adding the education qn would be a slippery slope this whole fucking convo is SO condescending. It’s giving the assholes who put down Simone for being a college dropout in comparison to CC’s Oxford degree. 

Anyways that’s my knee-jerk reaction to getting these asks - thank you anon for them!! If any of you who has seen this thread, would you by any chance be cool sharing screenshots of this convo? They don’t deserve anonymity for such brain dead takes. I’ll be making a full well thought out thesis about this - you bet your ass you’re getting a spin off to My Fair Lady thesis but now its Why RMB Will Never Be The Odyssey. 

Also anyone else wanna send asks about this post or add comments/reblogs to this post pls do so! Imma compile everything together in one master post and add in everyone’s thoughts on this too. 

Before I forget, I initially made this post to tell the anon to give me time cos this is gonna have a MONSTER of an answer and also I’m working on another long ask atm! So I wanna clear that as well before diving into this. I was gonna tackle S3 asks but this is tooo insane to let it wait 

EDIT: I’m adding in the newer asks because holy shit the extended convo is horrifying: 

The quotes of this full ask between these two screenies were all quotes that are compiled above so it seemed redundant to put those quotes in again but it looks like more people have found that insane public thread yikes. 

I CANNOT STOP LAUGHING AT THIS TAKE “I’m from SEA so I enjoy something more light hearted” LMAO WHAT girlie did you not have strict Asian parents who parentified you?? But I also get it if that person was traumatised by her life that she finds comfort in light hearted romances which is valid but Jesus this is not it. 

You’re SO right babes I’m gonna cover this in my masterpost. I think they’re trying to overcompensate because we always call them dumb for liking a ship with no chemistry and one of them is a racist in their show version. Anyways can’t wait to see what else yall have to tell me on this topic! Also it doesn’t have to be just the Education question, since we’re talking about the poll we might as well pick it apart! 

#Bridgerton #Bridgerton Fandom #Bridgerton Discourse #anti penelope featherington #Penalty (Bridgerton) #Anti-Polin #Pelican (Bridgerton) #Block these tags if you don't wanna see this shit #God I wish I could be this delusional as those users #I'd be happier in life for real #Bridgerton Poll #Bridgerton Asks

[sukibenders]

Bridgerton and some in the fandom can end up doing their few poc characters a disservice all for the sake of drama. This doesn't necessarily surprise me with Shonda, especially with her shows like Grey's Anatomy, but I had hoped it would have mellowed out, for lack of better words. And there are better ways to add drama to the plot without hurting your poc characters, but the show does not seem to get that. Sometimes, even when it tries to give them "decency" it still doesn't sit right (I'm talking about Queen Charlotte with Lady Danbury's storyline). The show tends to do this with their woc characters, putting them through trials or nearly ruining their lives, only to reward the (most of the time) white characters for doing so. Like this isn't new with this show, so it's surprising when people act like it is. Some in the fandom are quick to drag these characters through the mud for every little thing, but won't do the same for others, and it's not hard to see why.

#bridgerton #netflix bridgerton #bridgerton discourse #i could go into detail about all the poc characters done dirty on this show #from marina to edwina to kate to mary to simon and others #but that would be a long post that i don't think people are ready for #fandom discourse #dni if you can't have a calm conversation here

[jackoshadows]

It's so confusing and weird that Bridgerton introduced in world racism both with Lady D and Simon in season one of the show and in Queen Charlotte and at the same time they also want the audience to accept that somehow Marina Thompson or the dark skinned Indian Kate Sharma has more privilege and power than Penelope Featherington?

Kate Sharma was also poor, so much more than the Featheringtons. She depended on Lady D to host them. The Sharmas were looked down on by the ton because Mary Sheffield married an Indian. The Sharmas were disowned and ostracized by the Sheffields.

Kate was also an unmarried spinster. No one was asking Kate to dance. As much as Kate wanted love and romance and to dance at a ball wearing pretty dresses, she got none of that. She was also the woman on the sidelines watching as others danced and fell in love.

Racism and colorism is also very much a thing in eurocentric notions of beauty considering the setting and characters of Bridgerton is 99% white.

We got so little of Kate's backstory, of who her parents where - we didn't even get their names!! - of the trauma (explained for both Simon and Anthony using flashbacks) that had Kate overlooking her own happiness for that of her sister.

Despite bragging nonstop about the diversity of Bridgerton the showrunners thought that the white Featheringtons needed more screentime in season 2 rather than the South Asian family.

And Kate was planning on going back to India and work as a governess to pay for her livelihood. Because, you know, there's more honest ways of being a 'working woman' than running the equivalent of the regency 'Daily Mail' dragging other women down. The modiste Madame Delacroix, Kate planning to teach and Sienna in season one are all working to pay a living. Black, brown and lower class women looking to alleviate poverty.

And considering how much harder Kate already had it as an outsider in the ton, it wouldn't have been easy with Penelope using her gossip rag to describe the unmarried Indian woman as ' a Spinster of a beast'. What did Kate do to Penelope to warrant this? Nothing. Just a way for Penelope to make money at Kate's expense.

That's the thing I dislike the most about the way the character of Penelope is written on the show - her victims don't deserve her vitriol and are often in much worse circumstances than her. From Kate Sharma to the unnamed seamstress who apparently lost all her customers because Penelope wrote falsely about their work in the her tabloid as a bribe for Madam Delacroix.

And I think that's what I find problematic about the writing of the show and even the discourse surrounding it - when characters like Marina Thompson (the poor black cousin who would have ended up destitute on the streets because of Penelope) and Kate Sharma arguably have it far worse than Penelope Featherington as per the show's writing and yet we are supposed to have the most sympathy for Penelope because her crush Colin didn't love her back and she's a curvy white woman?

I guess that's the difference between how I perceive this world and these characters as a woc and the majority white female audience for this show and it's such a huge disconnect for me. I guess this is also partly because the show has this badly written and 'strangely toothless racism' as Ash Sarkar beautifully put it. As in the racism is treated in this world as a little problem solved by handing out a few titles to black people instead of being a white supremacist ideology which treated black and brown people as inferior, serfs and slaves.

From what little we got from season 2, Kate Sharma definitely did not have it easy navigating the ton as a poor outsider and that certainly contributed to her poor choices. She is also put through the wringer, treated like the other woman, is miserable for several episodes, had to apologize again and again and nearly die before Edwina forgives her!

In contrast Penelope's actions have hurt so many and yet she gets a pass by both the show and a fandom that wants Colin to grovel before her because of a single offhand remark and because he didn't return her affections.

Also making it clear here that I am not comparing Penelope to the male characters who always get the better writing, flaws and all. I am comparing Penelope to the female characters of colour - Kate Sharma and Marina Thompson.

I mean, Marina Thompson gets so much vitriolic and sexist hatred for not having told Colin Bridgerton the truth of her pregnancy. How dare Marina hurt this privileged white man Colin Bridgerton. When she was desperate to not end up destitute on the streets or get raped by old white men. And yet Penelope gets a pass for hurting women like Marina and Kate.

It continues a trend of white female characters never being held to the same standard as female characters of colour. Daphne sexually assaults Simon in season one and that was not even addressed on the show. Male rape is apparently no big deal because Daphne wanting children is what's important. It's Simon who has to apologize and within one episode resolve his trauma and accept being a father. This is despite both Daphne and Penelope having more screentime and more writing that builds their character unlike the stick thin writing given to Kate Sharma in season 2.

So yeah, I will be checking into season 3 to watch the ten minutes we get with Kate Sharma since we got so little of her in her own season and it's so singular to get dark skinned south Indian characters in a period drama romance like this. It's just the way the writing on the show, the production and even the fandom treats it's characters, especially characters of colour has been disappointing to say the least.

#Bridgerton #Kate Sharma #Marina Thompson #female characters in Bridgerton #writing #fandom discourse

[dancingdorito]

has she made questionable decisions? yeah. is she also just 19? yeah.

#bridgerton #polin #penelope featherington #penelope featherington discourse #bridgerton season 3

[knuckle]

joining the bridgerton discourse late to say that people are extremely overly harsh on penelope in a way they are not with other white characters and it's 500% fatphobia does not matter if nicola coughlan is technically plus size or not she is next to actresses with a bmi of 18 and she actually has a double chin

sure sometimes her decisions were questionable but tbh the only thing she actually did that was "wrong" was expose marina while she was about to scam her crush into a gaslighting marriage extravaganza obviously marina was right to do that but pen also was a fucking teenage girl with issues

like i really have to see people excuse kate trying to cement the engagement of her baby sister who wanted true love to a white man she KNOWS was looking for a wife as essentially a breeding mare because she likes him too much for her brain not to go to mush - which is all understandable but my woman was 26 ;-;

also penelope was right that queen charlotte would not believe she was lady whistledown over eloise who got along just fine after her exposed excursions to examine the brains of the #poors i really don't know why we give a shit about that am i really supposed to be mad at pen just for preventing eloise from flirting with some white newsie who looks more related to her than her own brothers while we know she is going to get straight married to a member of the landed gentry?

like sorry penelope is also a human being and not some perfect little shrinking violet sorry she also makes mistakes and hurts people just like every other fucking character that's been part of the main couple

#bridgerton #love kanthony btw also stan polin #penelope featherington #i'm not allowed to look in the tag so have some discourse

[devastatinglygreen]

penelope when she hears people calling colin a red flag

#polin #bridgerton #colin x penelope #okay sure totally believable discourse and not at all projecting something

[nevermorered]

I don’t want to see Pen with Debling. I don’t want to see them touch or kiss or anything intimate. It has nothing to do with me not wanting her to have options. It means I ship Polin. I’m in it to see them together.

I also don’t want to see Colin touch or kiss or have a fucking threesome either. It doesn’t have to do with saving himself for Pen or kink shaming bullshit. I don’t want to see it for the same reason I don’t want to watch Pen with Debling.

Let him have sex, I don’t care. Let him have had threesomes foursomes and moresomes whatever I DONT WANT TO SEE IT! Mention it, allude to it, whatever just don’t fucking show me. Have him have a voyeur kink bc obviously he does but I still don’t want to see him jack it to two women who are not Penelope when we already spent one season listening to him wax poetic over his love for another woman.

I am ssooooo entirely over the tired and overused rake trope. Let Colin be soft and Demi. Let him learn intimacy alongside his partner, Penelope. Let that intimacy stem from a place of knowing and trusting each other like they can’t anyone else. Just for the love of Mother Earth, don’t make me sit through another whoring montage.

#polin #bridgerton #bridgerton s3 #hot take? maybe I guess #I haven’t read nor do I believe the “leaks #but I’ve seen so much discourse over the good and bad of this alleged scene #I don’t want to see either of them with other people #I ship POLIN and want to see POLIN not Pen with some cardboard OC or Colin with whores

[thekatebridgerton]

Dear Gentle Reader

Choose your fighter for the battle of rejected love triangle men

#joining in the discourse #Bridgerton s1 #Bridgerton s2 #Bridgerton s3 #place your bets

[minim236]

So finally gathered my thoughts on Violet, and lmaoo they had to make her the white ally from a young age to give the audience a white woman to root for.

Realistically? She would have been listening to her mother's direction instead of her father's. That would have been a more interesting storyline - young Violet holding these prejudices that have been instilled by her mother. Then she actually meets the people her mother badmouths - like the rambling scene where Lord Ledger brings her to meet Agatha. She comes to her own intelligent realisation that her mother is just racist.

#queen charlotte: a bridgerton story #bridgerton #violet bridgerton #Lady Ledger #Lord Ledger #lady agatha danbury #bridgerton discourse

[pensbridge]

*when you make the mistake of going through that one part of the [show/movie/music you're obsessing over] fandom's tag and you see some toxic, borderline obsessive behavior*

#idk what to tag this as #fandom #shipping discourse #fandom wars #bridgerton #outer banks #the summer i turned pretty #the bear #red white and royal blue #queen charlotte: a bridgerton story #stranger things #heartstopper #never have i ever #never have i ever netflix #nhie #nhie netflix #-literally anything #you just know when you see dozens and dozens of hate asks it's time to leave #general #personal

[ellapastoral]

I saw way too many people ignoring the problematic aspects of these shows, so I decided to make a video calling out the nonsense 🤧

#bridgerton daphne and simon #bridgerton netflix #bridgerton season 1 #Netflix and consent #bridgerton discourse #bridgerton #the umbrella academy netflix #the umbrella academy season 3 #tua season 3 spoilers #umbrella academy season 3 #black girl #black girls #black youtuber #ella pastoral #small youtuber #black girl fandom

[thereadersmuse]

I think there is something inherently problematic about spending a dedicated amount of time ripping apart not only two characters, but their fans and the actors that play them. While continuing to promote and compare them to your favorites.

I mean, you can do whatever you want, honestly. That's the beauty of tumblr. But unless you are gaining something from surrounding yourself in constant negativity, I honestly don't get it.

#bridgerton wank #also not to pitt too fine a point on it but the last time i saw a blog dedicated to hating a pairing or characters in a specifc show ... #well. the twd remembers #💅 #overall thoughts on the current fandom discourse i suppose