Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, the visually decadent hit show
Speaker 1: Bridgerton has managed to take some of the edge off
Speaker 1: and provide sweet relief from this world full of social unrest,
Speaker 1: pandemics and scirreless politicians set an eight thirteen London during
Speaker 1: the regency period. Bridgerton quickly wrecked previous Netflix viewership records,
Speaker 1: with eighty two million households worldwide tuning in during its
Speaker 1: first four weeks of release. That's a stunning of their
Speaker 1: subscriber base. No doubt people tuned in because they had
Speaker 1: heard tales of the diverse and gorgeous cast. All those
Speaker 1: steamy sex scenes didn't hurt either. But hot lovin isn't
Speaker 1: all that. Bridgerton is about. Feminist themes permeate throughout the
Speaker 1: first season, and the show also shines a bright light
Speaker 1: on class issues that plagued society still today. Nonetheless, bridgertain
Speaker 1: is a fictional television show sas on an equally fictional
Speaker 1: book series, so it's safe to say that some creative
Speaker 1: liberties were taken. So what did Britain get right and wrong?
Speaker 1: Historically speaking? Is it a true representation of life in
Speaker 1: regency England. Executive producer Shonda Rhymes is known for shattering
Speaker 1: ceilings and stereotypes, so it really shouldn't have shocked anyone
Speaker 1: that her team cast a black man in the leading
Speaker 1: male role as the Duke of Hastings and sadly the
Speaker 1: scenario would have been very unlikely in regency England. But
Speaker 1: we spoke via email with Whitney S. Christensen, a regency historian.
Speaker 1: She explained that only about twenty thousand of the one
Speaker 1: point three million people in London at that time were black,
Speaker 1: or about one point five percent of the population. She
Speaker 1: said Britain is largely a fantasy in terms of the
Speaker 1: diversity of the population shown. The majority of the black
Speaker 1: population was poor or working class, with most employed as servants.
Speaker 1: There are some exceptions, however, she said, while the numbers
Speaker 1: of high ranking black people in Britain is fantasy, some
Speaker 1: of the ways they're depicted are based in fact. A
Speaker 1: black boxers like Bill Richmond and Tom Molino were a
Speaker 1: popular form of entertainment, much like Hasting's friend Will. Additionally,
Speaker 1: into racial marriage, while rare did happen and was depicted
Speaker 1: in the literature of the time. Let Us also not
Speaker 1: forget the Queen Charlotte herself is portrayed in the show
Speaker 1: by a black actor. This may very well be rooted
Speaker 1: in fact. Christiansen said one of her ancestors may very
Speaker 1: well have been a more or black, a mistress of
Speaker 1: one of her ancestors. A portraits of her definitely illustrate
Speaker 1: an African cast to her features, including her curly hair.
Speaker 1: But there were almost five hundred years between Queen Charlotte
Speaker 1: and the Moorish mistress that may have been her ancestor.
Speaker 1: Watch any period drama and you'll likely wind up in
Speaker 1: sensed by the portrayal of women's rights or black thereof
Speaker 1: Britain does a great job of depicting a close representation
Speaker 1: of the rights of women of the day, whereas most
Speaker 1: of the female characters obsess over finding a husband. The
Speaker 1: character of Eloise Britain routinely laments her genders societally imposed
Speaker 1: limitations in life. She says in one scene, must our
Speaker 1: only options be to squawk and settle or to never
Speaker 1: leave the nest? She says in another, you wish to
Speaker 1: follow your heart and I wish to nurture my mind.
Speaker 1: The thing is the women depicted who worry over finding
Speaker 1: a husband do so for good reason. In that time period,
Speaker 1: Christenson explained, quote women could typically not inherit and in
Speaker 1: fact many estates were tied up in entailments, which meant
Speaker 1: that upon the deaths of their fathers, their homes were
Speaker 1: inherited by the nearest male relative, sometimes leaving unmarried women homeless.
Speaker 1: This made marriage incredibly important because there was no real
Speaker 1: way to support yourself financially if you were not of
Speaker 1: the working class. Hence the London season, which during the
Speaker 1: regency period ran from around Easter to the end of
Speaker 1: the summer. During this time, the debutantes came out at
Speaker 1: Queen Charlotte's Ball, a tradition that continues today. During the
Speaker 1: regency period, this marked the beginning of a month's long
Speaker 1: process of lavish balls, where men and women considered each
Speaker 1: other for marriage potential. Christiansen said, and the hunt for
Speaker 1: a husband was indeed known as the marriage mart and
Speaker 1: people did indeed track how many times you had danced
Speaker 1: with a specific partner, and particularly if they were in
Speaker 1: a row, three times in one night meant you were
Speaker 1: practically engaged already. Many young women felt immense pressure to
Speaker 1: find a husband immediately, as the character of Daphne Bridgerton does.
Speaker 1: A Christiansen explained, there is some truth in the idea
Speaker 1: that a failure to find a husband in your first
Speaker 1: season was a disaster, but it's not because of your reputation.
Speaker 1: It's more that the money spent on a successful season,
Speaker 1: the gowns, the carriages, the travel expenses, the balls hosted
Speaker 1: in one's own home could be ruinous if they didn't
Speaker 1: pay off. The pressures on Daphne to make a good
Speaker 1: man match would have been very real. In the area
Speaker 1: of costumes, the show took some liberties, although the fashions
Speaker 1: are rooted in reality, A Christiansen said, these are mostly fantasy,
Speaker 1: with the designers taking the silhouettes from the era and
Speaker 1: playing with color and creativity for effect. The silhouette of
Speaker 1: Daphne's gown is largely accurate. A Regency era gowns were
Speaker 1: inspired by Greek sculpture, as the Parthenon marbles were moved
Speaker 1: to London during this time, and so neoclassical ideals were
Speaker 1: all the rage, but use of color in Britain is
Speaker 1: much more mad cap than the reality would have been.
Speaker 1: Detail oriented viewers might also note that Queen Charlotte and
Speaker 1: our courtiers are outfitted in a much different style, more
Speaker 1: suited to the Georgian esthetic. A. Christiansen said that this
Speaker 1: is accurate because court dress remained several decades behind fashionable dress,
Speaker 1: with large hoops being worn until eighteen twenty. As with
Speaker 1: most films, books, and TV shows set in previous times,
Speaker 1: Brigitte and presents a double edged sort of sorts, A
Speaker 1: christians And explained. For example, those who take Britain's version
Speaker 1: of history is truth may fail to understand the deep
Speaker 1: racism that marked early nineteenth century London, including how it's
Speaker 1: depictions of black men as boxers or Marina as sexually
Speaker 1: experienced may actually reinforce racist stereotypes rather than challenge them. However,
Speaker 1: fantasy history can also be a powerful way to get
Speaker 1: people interested in real history. It's often the pretty dresses
Speaker 1: and romance and charismatic characters that draw us into discovering
Speaker 1: the real life facts behind these people in places. It's
Speaker 1: a great marketing campaign that can lead to real scholarship.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by A LEEA Hooint and produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Klang. For more on this and lots of
Speaker 1: other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain
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