Confetti toss! Confetti toss! Happy 1 year anniversary to That Looks Sharp! Exactly 363 days ago I began this blog with a post where I created 3 designs inspired by looks from Bridgerton. We’ve really come full circle, so this year I wanted to revisit where I started. Season 3 of Bridgerton had an unexpected take on the regency fashion, but I’m more interested in the portrayal of gender roles.
Besides the romance, Bridgerton Season 3 further explores the hardships faced by women during the Regency era. In this season, Penelope is forced to grapple with 2 different roles: Lady Whistledown and being a wife. Becoming a wife and mother is the highest honor women in the Regency Era were told they could possess. Penelope accepts it’s absolutely impossible for her to maintain both roles, so she drops Lady Whistledown as a result.
Watching Penelope leave her writing is so upsetting because by doing this she visibly loses her passion and fervor. Her only purpose in life is to breed and raise babies. Soon after, Cressida Cowper reveals she is Lady Whistledown to the ton, and steals Pen’s work. This dilemma is so conflicting because though Lady Whistledown is Penelope’s creation, we all know Cressida Cowper has no other options. She can either marry one of her father’s elderly friends or obtain the Queen’s reward. Both Penelope and Cressida must make an impossible decision and pick between 2 life-altering paths.
One particular scene this season encompasses the mindset of many women in the Regency era. In episode 8, when Penelope and Lady Featherington are fighting over who is more in the wrong for the scandalous actions, Lady Featherington reveals her true motivation. She grew up believing all power comes from a man. Lady Featheringtons’s revelation unveils the patriarchal mindset that has been passed down from generation to generation.
Women must always pick because men are the only ones that can have the power of not picking. We must pick between furthering our self goals or maintaining societal standards. A female doctor has to pick between starting a family, or staying in the surgical rotation. A young woman has to pick between being a good wife or starting her dream business. Women must pick between falling in line or disappointing everyone around them by deciding to be “selfish” and pick themselves for once. Why can’t we have both? Women can finally own credit cards, lead successful careers, and yet still have to pick. They can’t have it all, but a man certainly can.
Watch Bridgerton not just for the romance, and fashion, but also to see how gender roles have remained unchanged in such subtle yet significant ways. If you do, I promise you will see that women have always had to pick, and will seemingly always have to.
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