Though Made Way More Insulting, Bridgerton Season 3 Repeats A Key Daphne Story
Though it is much more offensive this time, Bridgerton Season 3 repeats a major Daphne Bridgerton storyline from early in the run. Season 3 centers Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, hence Penelope's family is inevitably a major component of the narrative. Part of that entails encouraging Penelope's sisters, Prudence and Philippa, to have children as fast as possible in order to support the family out of a limited financial situation. Penelope confesses her identity as Lady Whistledown, so the ball Prudence and Philippa toss as a "last hurrah" of sorts becomes really important. Eventually Penelope is pregnant. With all three sisters seeing each other with their children, Bridgerton season 3 ends in a nice note. But the road to get there winds a lot of turns, and one of them reminds me of a crucial beat in Daphne's first season story.
Daphne marries Simon in Bridgerton Season 1 without knowing how sex works. Her mother is supposed to tell her, but Violet can hardly put together a phrase before flitting away from conversation. Though Daphne has to find the truth on her own, the narrative is told with much sympathy for the character. The show makes it evident that Daphne's ignorance is merely a result of the time and has nothing bearing on her IQ.
Daphne's Season 1 Babies Storyline With Prudence & Philippa Changes Approach In Bridgerton Season 3
But season three of Bridgerton offers another reading of this narrative. Prudence and Philippa seem to be not conceiving despite their seeming best attempts; Portia cannot understand why. In a sequence designed only for laughs, Philippa finally says that what she believes to be sex is not sex at all. By using Prudence and Philippa as "dumb" for not finding it out themselves, the show suggests in playing that particular story beat for humor a somewhat different strategy to handle the same epiphany with Daphne.
Though both core ideas are the same, neither method could be more distinct. Most of history, particularly throughout the Regency and Victorian periods, women were kept in the dark about sex. The same sexual pleasure and freedom that males enjoy are not meant for women. Daphne's narrative offers a careful analysis of this sexism, but with their similar path the Featherington Sisters totally discount it.
Featherington Sisters Story Betrays The Significance Behind Daphne's Season 1 Revelation in Bridgerton Season 3
In the end, Bridgerton Season 3 offers as a joke's punchline the absence of Sexual Agency among women. It implies viewers should not really take the sexism underlying this concept any great thought. What initially seems a smart analysis becomes a ridiculous means of disparaging Penelope's sisters. The show does a terrible injustice to one of the most intelligent narratives from the first season in the process.
Although Daphne's leaving from Bridgerton ahead of season 3 disappointed Colin, her absence produced some quite wonderful moments for him in the third season.
How Differently Bridgerton Season 3 Approaches Female Sexual Agency
The way the Featherington Sisters are portrayed in season three of Bridgerton contrasts sharply with Daphne Bridgerton's treatment in season one. Although Daphne's ignorance of sex was shown with sympathy, stressing the limitations of society conventions on female sexual awareness, Prudence and Philippa's same lack of knowledge is used for comedic effect, apparently implying that their ignorance results from their own idiocy. This change in tone compromises the show's first attempts to confront Regency era Female Sexual Agency's historical reality.
Turning the plot of the Featherington sisters into a punchline runs the danger of trivializing the problem of female sexual illiteracy in Bridgerton season 3. Although the show's first examination of these subjects with Daphne was careful and perceptive, the Featherington sisters' treatment seems callous and finally compromises the feminist elements of the production.
Third season of Bridgerton: a closer look at the Featherington Sisters Storyline
The plot of the Featherington sisters in Bridgerton season 3 examines the complexity of family dynamics, society expectations, and the search of happiness in a society where women are sometimes cast to secondary roles. The demands of their social surroundings—especially the impending possibility of financial ruin—drive the sisters' search for love, family, and financial stability. The Regency Era's social conventions and expectations help to influence their frantic searches for spouses and children.
Though finally touching, the sisters' experiences also expose the restrictions and paradoxes of the time. Their early ignorance of sex mirrors the social limitations placed on women's knowledge of their bodies. But the way the show presents the Featherington sisters finally falls short of a sophisticated examination of these subjects, choosing comic exaggeration that runs the danger of trivializing the actual difficulties women in the Regency Era encountered.
Bridgerton: Examining the Feminist Subjects of the Show
Popular Netflix series Bridgerton has won over viewers with its romantic narratives, likable characters, and vivid universe. Set in Regency-era England, the period of social restrictions, strict social norms, and limited prospects for women, the series explores Often questioning the patriarchal conventions of the day, the program examines the complexity of love, family, and social mobility.
The varied cast of Bridgerton, its portrayal of many social levels, and its investigation of feminist ideas have all drawn compliments. The program addresses problems of female emancipation, Sexual Agency, and the quest of love and fulfillment. Still, Bridgerton's treatment of these subjects has certain shortcomings. Particularly, the plot of the Featherington sisters draws attention to the show's erratic attitude to the complexity of female sexual knowledge and autonomy.