If Bridgerton is to take inclusivity seriously, they should have a couple who are not attractive at all because even ugly people deserve love. Nichola Coughlan might not be rail thin, but she is beautiful.
I gotta say, though I can't really see you in full, the fact that are considered plus sized surprises me. But, maybe what I consider plus sized is incorrect.
Not gonna lie, if my sister took inspiration for her novel from the real experiences of our mentally ill brother’s troubles and the sort-of illegal affairs of a fellow community-member in a vulnerable situation… I would also bash her novel in the press. Even though the wider society at the time needed to be more aware of domestic violence and its horrors, it makes sense to be hesitant towards publicizing or promoting said novel if drawing attention to that issue could potentially put a spotlight on the illegal acts of real people trying to escape their abusers. Despite that, I think Anne Brontë writing The Tenant of Wildfell Hall did a lot of good in the end.
I just found your channel, very interesting! I also subscribed 🙂 As someone whose weight has fluctuated all my life, I get very frustrated with people judging others so easily with out any ideas of their circumstances; so much pettiness and anger 😢 I also have to say, in all my 60 plus years of life and reading, the MOST ridiculous, asinine statement I've ever seen or heard is that one asking if we are ready for a 'mixed weight ' romance?!!!! Gobsmacked here in more inclusive ( in my experience) Canada !!!
I totally agree with all of your points. And I would like to add one more: maybe the (mis-)apprehension of plus sized people would be a relatively new phenomenon also stems from what we hear about modern (processed, highly industrial) food and how much rates of diabetes and obesity are going up because of that. So in reverse, one might come to the (false) conclusion that there were no plus sized people at all because they all cooked themselves and fresh. And another thing that is a very new way of thinking is "it's your own fault" because we are used to us being able to control everything. If we do this, it results in that. But it's not always that black and white and not always that easy. Yes, a plus sized person might eat too much or might eat the wrong things. But they might also be on medication that has side effects like weight gain. Or their metabolism might be genetically different from that if a slim person and they gain weight although they are eating less than said slim person. It's never as easy and one dimensional as it seems.
It is funny to me that Zoe Strimpel describes herself as a feminist. 🙄 Her other description of herself as a contrarian is apt however. It's honestly sad seeing women trying to bring other women down. Says more about the writer tbh.
OK, I am now imagining Northanger Abbey, but with a Wednesday fan as Charlotte, and maybe a few Emo kids in there, for good measure. Of course, the goths gravitate to the Gothic architecture.
First of all it wasn’t just an American war for independence it was a French and Spanish war to try and compete with the British, you were pawns. Second the Caribbean was far more valuable to the Empire and it was that that we didn’t want to lose.
NO! Hattie McDaniel is not BUMBLING servant but an in-charge authoritarian character who had her own agency. She is the audience stand-in showing outrage when Scarlett wants her hand "warmed up" by her sister's fiance's trouser pocket. She deserved her Academy Award and is not representative of a bumbling servant or slave. Give credit where credit is due.
This hatred for fat women, and dismissiveness against them as leading ladies not only harms women, but men, as well. Did you know, there ARE, in fact, SOME MEN WHO PREFER FAT WOMEN?! Yes!!! They exist! And a great many of them HIDE behind thin wives. They marry thin, conventionally attractive women, like gay men (used to) marry, well, women. Because they need a beard. Because HEAVEN FORBID anyone should find out that they are ACTUALLY attracted to someone who DOES NOT FIT THE APPROVED MOLD. If you DARE to stray outside the established lines, then you will be mercilessly mocked, AT BEST. At worst? Well, let's not pretend that nobody has ever written a murder mystery where the motive was, "He was hot, and rich and charming, and I WANTED HIM FOR MEEEEEEE, but he DARED to love HER! UGH! IMPOSSIBLE! That makes me WORSE than a FAT WOMAN! OH NO! Not to be endured!" Oh, yeah. It's happened a time or two. And in real life? More than two. So many men have WANTED to love the woman they desire, to marry the woman they love, to be true to their wives. But, instead, to save themselves from the harsh treatment of others, they break the heart of the woman they desire, by NOT choosing her, or choosing her to be the side-piece, only, and also break the heart of the innocent woman, who fits society's mold, AND COULD HAVE FOUND LOVE AND HAPPINESS ELSEWHERE, IF THEY HAD NOT BEEN SO SELFISH AND COWARDLY, DAMMIT! It's infuriating. You know, in real life, there are LOTS of lovely fat women with thin, and even conventionally handsome, men. But these men have to be bold and strong and brave, to go for what they want and love, and tell the world to eff-off and leave their ladies alone! It's a HARD life, to have to CONSTANTLY protect your love, and plenty of men who would enjoy such a relationship, if the world would just leave them alone, simply do not have the cajones to actually go through with it, and stand up against the world to protect their woman, as well as themselves. And then, you get that small, but grossly awful population of men who choose to marry fat wives, not because they desire them, but because, THANKS TO THE WORLD'S HATRED, these women become easy to control and abuse. "You'll never find any OTHER man to take you in, let alone love you, so put up with my crap, or die hated and alone." Sadly, that works for a very long time, until the woman reaches the point where she says, I don't care if I die hated and alone, as long as I don't die WITH YOU." And all the while, you get people saying, "But, we're hating the fat people BECAUSE WE CARE ABOUT THEIR HEALTH!" You can't hate fat people thin. You can LOVE them, and say, "I will support you in changing your lifestyle for your own health, according to a doctor's directions. But if you can't stand to do it, that's OK, because I want you to be happy, not miserable, and dieting IS LITERALLY CRAZY-MAKING. The Minnesota Starvation Experient took healthy, sane men, who had been rigorously tested for physical AND mental health, and had them on a "starvation" diet of about 1500 calories per day, one and a half times the amount people tell women to eat daily, FOR MAINTENANCE (no, dieting to lose weight is commanded to be EVEN LOWER), and not only did every single one of those men lose it, in one way or another, becoming OBSESSED with food, but one of them actually CHOPPED OFF HIS OWN FINGERS, BECAUSE IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME. He lost his mind and his fingers, to starvation. Dieting is MISERABLE. And many, Many, MANY people SIMPLY CANNOT ENDURE IT. But, if they try it, and fail, then the world piles onto them, about how THEY are wrong, and bad and not good enough, and a failure. Even though 95% of human beings who intentionally lose weight do not keep that weight off long term. And 60% of the people who intentionally lose weight actually gain MORE weight back, so that the long-term effects of dieting for more than half of humans is actually getting bigger and bigger and bigger, with every attempt. And with each time, they are told that THEY are at fault, not biology. That THEY are failures, not that their bodies have decided to save up fat against the next starvation event. All of us have known that thin friend, who can eat an entire shopping cart full of food, and not gain an ounce. We know that, and accept that. "Oh, they just have that kind of metabolism." But, the fat friend who starves herself and works out for hours on end, but doesn't lose weight? "She's just lazy and self-absorbed and NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH." One of the contestants on The Biggest Loser managed to maintain his weight loss, by LITERALLY RETIRING AND MAKING WEIGHT MAINTENANCE HIS FULL-TIME JOB. Yeah. Working out eight hours per day, while starving himself. And THAT is what people are supposed to do, for the rest of their lives, if they EVER got fat, in the first place. It's horrible and harmful! Am I going to say, "Fat is healthy! Everyone should be fat!"? No, of course not. Am I going to say, "Fat is beautiful! Everyone MUST embrace fat as the new and only beauty standard?" No, of course not. NO beauty standard should be FORCED. People should be allowed to love whom they love, without the rest of the world getting in their business about it. And as for healthy, that is WAY more complicated than size. Some people MAY lose weight, as they embrace lifestyle changes to improve their health. Others may be strictly following their doctors orders, and not lose an ounce. In fact, some people CANNOT diet to lose weight, as it is in direct contradiction to the dietary needs they have to KEEP THEM ALIVE with their current health issues, because the human body is COMPLICATED. People on hemodialysis, for example, can't eat the healthy, vegan lifestyle. NOPE. That would kill them pretty darn quick. Legumes? Avoid. Whole grains? AVOID. Bananas? It's not the sugar, but the potassium that will kill you. All you know about another person, and their health, when you look at them, is their size, and your own feelings about that. You know NOTHING about their actual health. My sister was almost killed by a physician who judged her on her weight. "You're fat, so you're obviously diabetic. We'll run the tests, as a formality, but I already know, so start this medication, at once." When the results came back, it was, "STOP TAKING THAT MEDICINE!!!" (We already had stopped after the first dose nearly did her in). "GO TO THE HOSPITAL AT ONCE! DO NOT EVEN STOP AT HOME TO GATHER SOME CLOTHES. GET SOMEONE TO BRING YOU WHAT YOU NEED. YOU'LL BE IN THE HOSPITAL FOR A WEEK, IF YOU SURVIVE TONIGHT! Oh, and no, you're not even pre-diabetic. No diabetes, whatsoever." At 6X size, mind you. Almost as if there's more to the human body than a simple, "Thin is healthy, fat is going to kill you and we need to hate anyone who is not an Olympic athlete, oh, except for those fat weight-lifters, who weigh 300 pounds, and can lift 600 pounds. They are women, ,and fat, and therefore UNHEALTHY AND UGLY AND NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR GOOD MANNERS AND MUST BE HATED UNTIL THEY DIE." Can you tell that I HATE the haters? I fought against suicidal ideation for TEN YEARS because I was "too fat" to be worthwhile. When I finally gave up on dieting, I stopped wanting to die! Guess what? Being fat may be bad for my health, but actively wanting to off myself, and looking for all the different ways I can do it, every time I enter a new room, and counting (Oh, only 7 here) in every new room IS NOT SO HEALTHY! You want the people you care about to live a long time? Focus on their behaviors, and not on the number on the scale or on the clothing tag. Focus on eating healthy, with plenty of vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients (including dietary fat!), and focus on a healthy amount of SAFE exercise. Don't focus on "How much weight did you lose?" Try focusing on "What were your gains? Oh, you can lift ten more pounds than last month? AWESOME! It's great being stsrong!" or "Oh, you can do cardio for longer, before you hit your limit? YAY STAMINA!" Stamina is an excellent indicator of general health. Looks? Not so much. If you LOVE someone, focus on their LIVES and making their lives GOOD and HAPPY. Not HATING THEM so that they are SO MISERABLE that they are willing to starve themselves JUST TO SHUT YOU UP. How can anyone call that love or cmpassionate? I'm not saying to "embrace fat," or "love fat," or "you must find fat desirable." You don't have to. But yoU DO need to STOP HURTING OTHER PEOPLE, both the fat people AND the people who DO ACTUALLY LOVE THEM and want them, and desire them, and hope to spend their lives with them, but are afraid to do so, because of your hatred and hurtful behavior.
I'm two minutes in, so my comment isn't about what you're saying, just that you're saying it. I literally JUST NOW watched a video about Regency England beauty standards, and how they wanted their women to be "moderately plump." So, Kiera Knightly would NOT be considered beautiful by THEIR standards, but by Hollywood standards, she practically sets the standard. The Bridgerton books had Penelope being fat, and being disliked and ignored, because she was fat, until finally, at the age of 26 (or so), and she was "on the shelf," she finally lost enough weight to be "not fat, but still plump," and good enough for Colin to FINALLY notice her in that way. But, Bridgerton was NOT written by a Regency author, but by a modern author, who set her stories in HER OWN VERSION of Regency England. So, I don't know if you're going to address ACTUAL Regency ideas about female beauty, how much fat is required to be pleasantly plump, and how plump is TOO plump, or if you're going to be talking about Hollywood adaptations of Regency novels, such as Pride and Prejudice, or Hollywood adaptations of modern novels set in an alternate universe of "Regency England" where Queen Charlotte scolded her daughters for not marrying, rather than what really happened, which is that she FORBADE her daughters from ever marrying, and they had to wait until their brother, George IV, finally gave HIS approval, and aby then, they were unable to bear children. Anyway, I can't wait to see what you say! YAY!
I had never seen Nicola before you flashed her picture on screen and I was immediately like, "Holy shit....she's gorgeous." edit: Have you seen Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves? It's a body positive Korean animated film that initially got cancelled upon its announcement due to bad advertising so not many people know about it
There is a co-relation between slimness and youth, making it probably the main reason why throughout history slimness has been used as a beauty standard element for men and women. This day and age, we live in a never-before-seen level of abundance, making it possible to live a life of low activity and high consumption. This is the reason there are now so many overweight young people, not to mention older too. The transition between the beauty standards humanity was used to and the body changes accuring thrughout the past decades is the reason oversized people received so much hate. It has nothing to do with Hollywood. If anything, Hollywood represents what society already thinks. They portray what they portray to please the public, not to offend it. And it´s poving it with the gradual inclusion of oversized leading characters happening today.
Thats like getting your friends to hold your enemy back while you hit him, then bragging about it. Britain eventually defeated the french and spanish. America was nothing in the grand scheme of things at the time. Just a colony that was interfered with by the french to rebel against Britain.
Although i agree it should be no taxation without representation i cant help but feel double crossed as we defeated the french and Spanish so without our bavy America would likely not exist..
Ah, the corsets. How awful. Abby Cox, Karolina Zebrowska and Bernadette Banner put numerous videos on this topic, highly recommend. In short - actresses are, most often, not wearing corsets (or stays) made to size, as women in the past would. They are also tight laced (if the garment alows it) for "aesthetic", and it will not be comfortable in the long run. Also - there are many other undergartments that should go with it, starting with a shift/chemise. Corsets are underwear that was practical and thought through. And are not a torture device if designed and made correctly.
"But people back then were smaller, look at the clothes in the museums!" - those clothes are in the museums, because they survived, because they were not worn as much. Because, in most cases, they belonged to adolescent girls. And they grew out of them, and there was not enough fabric to remake them. People were people sized. There were "fashionable" siluettes, sometimes fuller, sometimes more suave, but there were always people who were taller, shorter, had broader shoulders or shorter legs, flat chest, big boobs, flat bottom, round belly, just like now. We might not see it on paintings showing the noble classes (to a degree), but if we look at scenes depicting "normal people" we will see all shapes and sizes.
Very confused by the "boss babe" section given the only character discussed that actually appeared plus size was the woman from Titanic. And especially given that most of the examples are also much older than any typical lead of a period drama and that is often their defining physical character trait
She's so hot. I'm so gay. My friend and I giggled and screamed like school girls watching their crush taking his shirt off at a swimming pool. Yes. She's fat. And HOT AS HELL.
'Yellowjackets' hardly counts as a period drama (I hope o_o) but Melanie Lynskey's character is portrayed as desirable both in her teen years, when she is portrayed by Sophie Nélisse, and in her mid-forties, when she is no longer slim or young. The series has a lot of issues, but I am very much here for Lynskey as a romantic lead (even though she is more of an anti-hero in the series.)
New to this channel and I’m instantly drawn in by your personable delivery and the clear sense of a depth of knowledge behind your statements. Too many RU-vidrs deliver an essay on something they researched over a short period and just regurgitate everything they’ve found. Not surprised to hear you’ve got a PhD in history!!
I don't watch the show because i don't want to see fatties be be happy or have good things happen to them. I know it's fantasy, but that's a bridge too far. Kills all believability.
The regular period pieces missed that point wealthy ppl. where bigger seized back then (more food no or minimal physical work) the poor where smaller (and also shorter) due to the malnutrition. Fet was equal with wealthy.
This makes me sad that we still have to talk about a woman's size. Beauty is so much more than what you see on the surface. A role should go to the best talent, & stop looking at their size. We need to stop, especially as women, being ok with size being a problem. We need to love ourselves & our bodies no matter the size.
I've been slim for about 50% of my life, mid sized for 25% of my life and overweight for about 25% of my life so far. It's been spread throughout my life not in distinct stages. Strictly for health reasons, I prefer being slim/mid weight.
I happened to be feeling very disphoric recently and disliking my body, and i happened across this video. I enjoyed how informative and interesting it was, and it also helped me feel better about my own self and fatphobic voices. So thank you! This helped me! Keep em coming! Even if theyre not at all about fatphobia!
@@regencyrumours I should have mentioned that I went back and binged every episode/video last night while sick with a migraine 😅 Excited to see what you make next!
The famous painter Peter Paul Rubens adored his second wife who weighed around 300 lbs. She was his favorite model whom he frequently painted nude almost always as a goddess or nymph. It is where we get the phrase Rubenesque referring to a voluptuous woman. And his first wife wasn't a skinny Minnie either but rather pleasantly plump.
I used to assume they didn’t use many plus size women in period dramas because people were thinner in the past because they didn’t have all the junk food we have.
I find Polin's story really lackluster. The actors did a great job with what they had but it definitely shows where writers heads are at even when the rest of us are holding our breathe for size diversity... Was there no writers available that are attracted to some extra flesh?
Applause for this whole video! Can we mention the 'thin actress has to gain weight so she's "not attractive" but she's actually still normal size' bit of the 90's? Muriel's Wedding, Bridget Jones' Diary, America's Sweethearts (though that was a fat suit)...apparently we were supposed to think that they were unattractive and they were normal sized. Made anyone who wasn't tiny wee feel like a flippin' elephant.
Your description of the legal and economic status of women in the 19th century was so chilling because politicians are literally trying to take us back to that right now. We really can't go back. It has to end.
There is a RU-vid channel by Ellie dashwood and it's talking about regency era beauty standards it is far more accurate and far more detailed than this particular RU-vid video. Anyone actually interested in the truth of the matter needs to watch this video. This is video trying to say that everybody's against fat people... It is simply that regency standards are different from our own.
This thing about historical drama or even historical comedy is we do not reflect the times very well at all they are not clean they were not overly fashionable all the time we refused to see the filth and regards to that lovely young mom in Bridgerton show I do not like or love because of certain elements in the first season I love her and she is not a fat personis she pencil is she pencil but this girl carries a great deal of her chubbiness and her beautiful face she is beautiful a lot of people and I know a lot of people that pencil they’re married to wonderful people they love each other we all love each other we’re not all perfect and none of us are walking the catwalk but we love each other we care about each other and we need more of that reflected along the screen not less
