Bridgerton is For The Girls
Written By : Grace Weidenhamer
My love for Bridgerton goes beyond the costume design and the soundtrack (which will be played at my wedding). The series evokes something in me that I can’t explain. The yearning, the forbidden love, the desire to make something of yourself. As much as I love the love stories the show is based around, (obsessed with Benedict and Sophie BTW) there’s an undertone that’s hard to ignore; the feminine urge to go against society. To carve your own path.
In the time period Bridgerton was based on, women had few options. Society women had even fewer. We’ve come a long way – and still have a long way to go– but certain themes feel very relatable, despite the show being set in the 1800’s.
Finding your footing outside of society norms.
I think it’s more popular and accessible than ever to follow a path that doesn’t follow the status quo, but that doesn’t make it any easier. With all the resources at our finger tips, you would think that anything is possible; any dream can be made into a reality. Yet the same thing holds us back as it did in Bridgerton days: fear. The fear to be perceived, the fear of failing, the fear of change. We’re so afraid of trying something new, something different, that we learn to accept our fate. We learn to stay in our lane and begin to believe that is where we belong.
If you haven’t seen the show or read the books, one of the characters, Eloise, feels like the black sheep of her family because she doesn’t want to enter society and be married off. She wants to be an independent, educated member of society, free from the shackles of womanhood. The thing is, when Eloise dips her toe into the pool of rebellion, she continues to find herself stepping back onto dry land. Her character is more privileged than most. Being a middle child in a wealthy family may be the perfect opportunity for her to reject the marriage market, yet she finds herself at society events time and time again.
Even for someone as able and eager as Eloise, she finds the harsh reality of diving headfirst into the unknown terrifying. The same is true for many of us. We have every intention to reject the norm. To quit our job and finally start our business. To show up in a space that wasn’t designed for you. But when faced with the choice to become something else entirely, to enter the grey area, we backtrack. If you read up until this point to find an answer, I have to apologize. I don’t know how we combat these feelings other than by just doing it. Do the thing you’ve been waiting on the perfect moment for. Do the thing that takes you out of your cushy bubble of self-identity and become something new entirely. What happens then? Your guess is as good as mine. But if you have the ability to try, it would be cruel not to.