{"id":6375,"date":"2022-09-14T15:27:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T15:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=6375"},"modified":"2022-09-14T15:27:52","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T15:27:52","slug":"bridgerton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/14\/bridgerton\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridgerton"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Love Match<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This piece was written as part of the Veritas Institute, a program of the Veritas Forum at which college students spend a week learning from top scholars in the fields of science and technology and write an essay about a topic at the intersection of science and the big questions. Fare Forward<\/em> is pleased to support the Veritas Institute by publishing some of the best submitted pieces.<\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Netflix\u2019s new run-away hit has fans clamoring for more love stories\u2014but it fails to follow through on the matches it creates.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Review by Katalia Alexander
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Bridgerton<\/em> Season 3 started filming this summer, and fans are already clamoring for a preview of the hit show\u2019s next installment. Since the release of the Netflix show\u2019s first season in 2020, the historical drama has proved incredibly popular, claiming Netflix streaming titles<\/a>, inspiring a Grammy-winning unofficial <\/a>Bridgerton<\/em><\/a> musical soundtrack<\/a>, and prompting dozens of glam-filled Bridgerton<\/em><\/a> experience balls<\/a> in cities across the country.<\/p>

So why is Bridgerton<\/em> so popular?<\/p>

Set in regency London high society, the show focuses on the eight children in the Bridgerton family as they come out into society and search for love. The first season follows fourth child and eldest daughter Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) in her society debut, and viewers see her fall in love, marry, and ultimately have a child with Simon (Rege-Jean Page), a handsome Duke. Season 2 switches gears to focus on her eldest brother, Viscount Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), as he tries (and fails) to resist falling in love with newcomer Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). In both seasons, the characters\u2019 family traumas, insecurities, and patterns of miscommunication keep the romantic leads apart for most of the season, only to be quickly resolved in the last episode to give the lovers their happily ever after.<\/p>

As a show, Bridgerton<\/em> does what it aims to do extremely well. The costuming and set decisions craft a glittering, glamorous world that viewers delight in. Instrumental covers of recent pop music hits and the Gossip Girl<\/em>-style narration lend the show a modern feel missing in many other regency romance adaptations, drawing in a wide audience. Actor Jonathan Bailey steps into the spotlight as the Season 2 lead and is unexpectedly successful in rehabilitating a largely unliked Season 1 character into a romantic lead people swoon over. Bailey\u2019s Anthony carries the trauma that keeps him from accepting his feelings for Kate close to the surface, showing audiences a deep and vulnerable look at Anthony\u2019s hurt even as the character stubbornly tries to ignore it. Ashley\u2019s Kate is likewise see-through to the show\u2019s audience, and as a pair, Bailey and Ashley give us both a tense sexual chemistry between their characters and emotional parallels that suggest a deep and emotionally fulfilling bond\u2014if the characters will let each other in. In short, Bridgerton<\/em> absolutely sells the love story at the center of its second season.<\/p>

That\u2019s exactly the problem.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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If we want to develop realistic understandings of life-long love, we need to be telling stories that reflect the complexities of long-term relationships.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The story Bridgerton<\/em> tells so well is that finding and accepting love can be difficult, but that that love, once you have it, is the key to resolving any difficulties you face. In Season 1, Daphne and Simon suffer in their relationship because Simon\u2019s childhood trauma causes him to not want children, and Daphne does. The miscommunication around this drives a wedge between the pair that is resolved not by talking about Simon\u2019s very real trauma, but by convincing Simon that he must accept that he is deserving of love. The season ends with the couple happily welcoming a child into the world, with no lingering trauma to be seen. Season 2 likewise uses Anthony\u2019s trauma as a tool to keep him and Kate apart, yet the resolution comes not from addressing this trauma, but from a speech by Anthony\u2019s mother (played by Ruth Gemmell) insisting that \u201ctrue love is worth it.\u201d The problem is not the trauma the characters carry or the external consequences of their relationships, but that they don\u2019t see or won\u2019t accept the power of love.<\/p>

This type of narrative, while not uncommon, is dangerous, because the stories we tell\u2014particularly the ones we tell again and again\u2014shape our expectations for our own lives and of what romantic love should look like. Rice University philosophy professor Elizabeth Brake<\/a> suggests that, as a society, we share a cultural assumption that everyone should want a committed romantic relationship, and that that relationship will automatically lead to a happy and fulfilling life.<\/p>

Our tendency to consume these happily-ever-after love stories leads us to conclude that feeling unhappy or unfulfilled in our romantic relationships for any period of time is abnormal and a sign that the relationship isn\u2019t meant to be. But the truth is that pretty much every long-term romantic relationship will have periods of major difficulty. Divorce<\/a> is often suggested as the answer to an unhappy marriage, yet a 2002 longitudinal study<\/a> by University of Chicago sociologist Linda J. Waite suggests that unhappy couples who divorce or separate are no happier than couples who choose to stay married. Waite also found that \u201ctwo out of three unhappily married adults who avoided divorce or separation ended up happily married five years later.\u201d These findings suggest that while marriage can indeed be difficult and even unhappy at times, periods of unhappiness do not mean a marriage is wrong or must end.<\/p>

Times of struggle in a romantic relationship don\u2019t necessarily mean that it isn\u2019t a good relationship\u2014they simply mean that as people, we struggle with insecurity, miscommunication, and vulnerability in ways that don\u2019t disappear once we find a romantic partner. In the early stages of a romantic relationship, the passionate emotions of falling in love often overwhelm us and lead us to ignore the flaws of our partner. But lasting relationships require partners to learn each other\u2019s faults and insecurities and choose to love each other despite them, a process that can be difficult but ultimately leads to a more stable, trusting relationship. If we want to develop realistic understandings of life-long love, we need to be telling stories that reflect the complexities of long-term relationships.<\/p>

Watching the second season of Bridgerton<\/em>, I had hoped we would get this kind of storytelling in the background of the Anthony and Kate love story, as Season 1 lead Daphne continues as a supporting character. While the show was undoubtedly limited in the stories it could tell about the newlyweds because of actor Rege-Jean Page\u2019s decision not to return, the on-screen explanation for his absence\u2014that he must tend to their estate in the country while Daphne returns to London to support the Bridgerton family\u2014could have prompted a compelling story for Daphne\u2019s character, navigating the early years of her marriage from a distance and with a newborn child. Instead, Daphne appears hardly bothered by her husband\u2019s absence, and spends nearly all of her time on screen reminding everyone of how blissfully happy she is in her marriage and insisting that each of her siblings find their own love matches. Instead of exploring how Daphne and Simon\u2019s relationship continues to evolve, the Bridgerton<\/em> writers stubbornly cling to the happy ending they wrote, even as Daphne\u2019s continued presence coupled with Simon\u2019s absence pokes glaring holes in that picture.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Rather than casting the pair solely as supports to another Bridgerton sibling on their journey to find love, the Bridgerton<\/em> writers should give Kate and Anthony space to continue to struggle and grow in their marriage.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The anthology-style format of Bridgerton <\/em>means that Season 3 will put forward yet another new leading pair (this time, series regulars Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton) to tell another new love story. But Bridgerton<\/em> still has a chance to tell longform stories alongside its latest falling-in-love narrative. Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley are both confirmed to return, meaning Season 2\u2019s leads will continue to play a part in the Bridgerton<\/em> story. Rather than casting the pair solely as supports to another Bridgerton sibling on their journey to find love, the Bridgerton<\/em> writers should give Kate and Anthony space to continue to struggle and grow in their marriage. How do the pair continue to work through the traumas they each bear from the tragic losses of their fathers? How does Kate navigate her new role as Viscountess and head of the Bridgerton family, and how does that affect the rest of the Bridgertons? There are ample ways that the writers could continue to tell difficult, compelling, and realistic stories about their Season 2 leads beyond the happily-ever-after of their season, and they should tell these stories. As Bridgerton<\/em> continues, a failure to do so will only become more and more obvious, as viewers get invested in a leading couple only for them to fall flat in later seasons as their development grinds to a halt.<\/p>

In a recent interview<\/a>, Kate actress Simone Ashley shared that she\u2019s excited to see her character step into the Viscountess role and navigate the new challenges it brings alongside husband Anthony, so I\u2019m optimistic that viewers might get a glimpse into what comes after the happily-ever-after for these characters in Season 3. Until then, I\u2019ll be scouring streaming services for love stories that don\u2019t end when the characters confess their love\u2014because I know that that is just the beginning of the story, and the hard, real, rewarding parts of love are all of the moments that come after.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Katalia Alexander<\/strong> is a recent graduate of Emory University, where she majored in Sociology and Business. She currently works as a Campus Ministry Intern at Bread Coffeehouse, a Christian campus ministry serving the Emory community. Outside of work, she enjoys baking, reading, and exploring coffee shops and bookstores around Atlanta.<\/em><\/p>

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Bridgerton<\/em><\/strong> is based on novels by Julia Quinn and created by Chris Van Dusen. It debuted on Netflix on December 25, 2020, and the first two seasons are available to watch there<\/a>.<\/em>
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Netflix\u2019s new run-away hit has fans clamoring for more love stories\u2014but it fails to follow through on the matches it creates. 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