The third season of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” has drawn crucial reward and record-breaking viewership, however latest discourse across the sequence’ central coupling has drawn a refrain of dissenting voices amongst followers.
Season 3 of “Bridgerton,” which started airing in Might, was targeted on the burgeoning relationship between Colin Bridgerton (performed by Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan).
As in earlier seasons, there was no scarcity of bodice-ripping warmth between Colin and Penelope, who have been affectionately nicknamed “Polin” by viewers. A Forbes article printed final week, nonetheless, has sparked debate for questioning whether or not the world was “ready” to see a “mixed-weight romance” depicted on-screen.
“If this romance upsets you, it says more about how deeply you’ve internalized fatphobia than it says about the bodies of the actors playing Penelope and Colin,” the article mentioned.
The Forbes piece additionally linked to 2 different articles to assist its declare. One among them, printed by the U.Ok.’s The Spectator in Might, described Coughlan merely as “not hot.”
“She’s not shapely ― which can work as sexy even in Hollywood; she’s fat,” the Spectator article continued. “There’s nothing wrong with fat ― it’s hardly a moral shortcoming ― but a zest for equality and diversity (and in this case good acting) just isn’t enough to make a fat girl who wins the prince remotely plausible.”
The second, which appeared in The Guardian, was largely defensive of Coughlan, although it deemed her “a little bit fat” in its headline.
Although the Forbes article ended on a complimentary word with regard to each “Bridgerton” and Coughlan herself, it nonetheless garnered a frosty response on-line.
“This only applies where the female character is bigger,” one individual wrote on X, previously Twitter, pointing to exhibits like “The Sopranos” and “The King of Queens” by which male characters with bigger our bodies have been coupled with smaller-bodied ladies.
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Added one other publish on X: “a ‘mixed-weight’ relationship?! surely this applies to in the overwhelming majority ― pretty unlikely coincidence that two people would be of identical weights. weird suggestion to imply people should partner up by weight!”
For her half, Coughlan has by no means appeared overly vexed by criticisms of her look and has emerged as an outspoken body-positivity advocate.
Talking to the U.Ok.’s Stylist in Might, the actor mentioned she’d requested a few of her “Bridgerton” scenes to be additional steamy to get again at trolls who’ve taken intention at her physique.
“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included,” she defined. “There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest ‘fuck you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering.”
