Why getting it ‘WRONG’ made BRIDGERTON so RIGHT!

by Robert Macfarlane

Spoiler Alert — today we’re going to be looking at Bridgerton, the new hit tv series on Netflix, and how its historical inaccuracies have led to its success. So, if you haven’t seen the show, I thoroughly recommend going ahead and watch it before reading this deep dive.

The death grip that the BBC has held on period dramas for the last ‘300’ years

First and foremost, congratulations to Netflix and Shonda Rhimes, you have finally broken the death grip that the BBC has held on period dramas for the last ‘300’ years. This show has introduced a brand new generation to the concept of the ‘period drama’.

To put this in context, Hulu did a study on viewers ages 18–24 to see what type of content they were watching, and what they found was, this particular age group was interested in non-traditional content that explored cultural changes and gravitated towards today’s societal issues. Quite naturally, Bridgerton fit the bill. Through incorporating period drama themes with contemporary creative choices, Bridgerton has been a roaring success and roped in a new fanbase for the period drama.

Before we dive too deep, there are a couple of myths about Bridgerton that we need to dispel.

Myth 1: Bridgerton has been cited as being overtly sexualized. It’s not been specifically sexualized towards one gender or another, and we’ll get back to how important that is, but a lot of people have stated that there has been an over-sexualization of this particular period in time. However, writers, historians, and the producers of the show all agree that the Georgian period was the actual sexual revolution in the UK. Essentially, as ‘religion’ started to evolve alongside culture, they began to leave many rules about sexuality by the wayside, ultimately allowing their subjects more sexual freedom.

Myth 2: In the UK, during the late 18th and early 19th century, people of colour were not in positions of power. Subsequently, there has been a massive critique of Bridgerton’s use of Black actors. Well, this belief is categorically untrue. There were indeed people of colour who were in the upper echelons of society. In fact, this myth has probably come from the way in which media has represented previous period dramas. For the most part, they rarely include people of colour, particularly Black people, in society — save handmaids, slaves, and other people of service. In contrast, Bridgerton has pivoted from this precedent by showcasing sophisticated and distinguished folks of colour — which I believe is an incredibly empowering creative decision.

Overall, the creators of Bridgerton have made some strong creative choices to ensure that former and new fans of the period drama feel welcomed and connected. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at where Bridgerton really shines.

The first strong choice refers back to the second myth — people of colour not in power. By choosing a broad range of ethnicities for the actors on the show, they’ve avoided having the token actor on the side who merely serves to fulfil a quota. Instead, Bridgerton feels like a fully cohesive decision about the mix of ethnicities within the show. Considering Hulu’s study, concerning culture and the way that culture is changing, this is an absolutely brilliant move.

Another major creative choice is the modernization of music within the show. And I’m not just talking about music that’s laid over the top, which would be non-diegetic sound, I’m referring to the diegetic sound, the sound that could have been recorded in the location.

If an actor turns on a radio in the scene, that is diegetic sound. It’s the sound that has been created within the space. What Bridgerton has done is they’ve selected modern tracks and then had the orchestras within those scenes perform the tracks in a period style.

So, the characters in those scenes are dancing to music that’s been interpreted by an orchestra to reflect the sound of the era while the actual score remains modern. The change is very nuanced, a move that for most people will be totally subconscious, and in this way, many people won’t outright recognize it, but they may recognize something familiar. It’s a clever way to get viewers to easily connect to the story that they’re watching.

The premise of the show is a coming of age, emotionally and sexually, of a young man and a young woman, both of whom evade undesirable romantic matches by deciding to falsely court one another, and of course, with time, they fall in love. Both of the genders throughout the story and through various subplots are seen as sexualized in different ways. The series explores these sexualizations using the rules of the world that they’ve set up.

Casually, the male lead sports a nine o’clock shadow, a facial hairstyle that would not have been worn in that era — typically most men would have worn mutton chops, a full beard, or be clean-shaven

9 O’clock shadow would have been deemed unattractive.

Therefore, the creators have decided to highlight and utilize today’s beauty standards in an effort to appeal to the audience at home. Additionally, another area that was quite interesting in sexualizing the male gender was when we see the male lead in a boxing match with a friend. Both men are bare-chested and engaged in rigorous sport, it’s a clear demonstration of their physicality and physique, things that point to their allure. Yet, it isn’t until we get to the female sexualization that we recognize there have been very sensitive choices to the way in which women have been portrayed. Whenever possible, the creators have decided not to show profuse amounts of flesh, they’ve not overtly sexualized the women. Instead, they’ve chosen to balance the imagery for both male and female characters.

If you want to know more about the overt sexualization of women in film and TV, I’ve done an in-depth episode on my Youtube channel on the male gaze in the Queen’s Gambit (link at the bottom)

In review, Bridgerton has been such a resounding success not just because it appeals to the original audience for period dramas, but because of the deliberate choice to tweak traditional elements just enough to apply to a new audience. Bridgerton combines both pastime stories and modern multi-cultural stories to make an emotionally and socially invigorating series.

If you’re interested in learning more, don’t forget to tune in to a new film analysis on my YouTube channel — every Thursday — where we explore film and TV series of the day. Also, be sure to check out the links below to up your game on your next film.

youtube.com/robertmacfarlanedirector