“I have seen so much discourse circulating online about Bridgerton and the relationship between Penelope (and) Colin,” begins a post by Chicago-based plus-size vintage and modern clothing retailer, Luv Sick Plus. “An unfortunate post on Threads said this would never happen and was so unrealistic. I have my own feelings on the show and characters… but one thing I know for 100% certainty, is that fat people have and always will be loved & lusted after.”
The post references the primary plotline for season three of Shonda Rhimes’ wildly popular Netflix show, Bridgerton. The mixed-weight romance between Penelope Featherington, played by actress Nicola Coughlan, and Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke Newton, defies romance plotline convention. It does more than that, though. This love story creates friction around the socially acceptable limits of desire and desirability, doing what Rhimes does best — unveiling unsettling truths about human relationships. In this case, the truth is that thin people (yes, dare I say, even straight men with cash and cachet) desire, love and marry people who are larger than they are all of the time.
Already a show that has broken records and offered refreshingly new takes on the period piece genre, this season of Bridgerton delivers yet again. The internet has been in rare form, however, when it comes to the union of Penelope and Colin, affectionately nicknamed “Polin.”
In a recent article penned by Zoe Strimpel for The Spectator titled “Bridgerton’s Big Fantasy,” Strimpel declares that Coughlan is “not hot,” and proceeds to fat-shame her. Strimpel writes, “Coughlan is an actress of great value, and might be adored, but she is simply not plausible as the friend who would catch the handsome rich aristocrat Colin Bridgerton’s eye in that way.” It’s important to examine Strimpel’s writing because it offers a glimpse into the nuanced beliefs and rules that are part of fatphobia — because it’s fatphobia that’s at the core of why “Polin” has created such a tizzy.
“But reader, she is not hot, and there is no escaping it, as I was reminded recently when she graced Harper’s Bazaar’s cover in a fabulous outfit that still did not change her not-hotness. She’s not shapely – which can work as sexy even in Hollywood; she’s fat. 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. In the cruel visual semantics of the screen, poor plump Penelope may be set up to win her man, but will she win her audience? The jury, dear reader, is still out.”
— from “Bridgerton’s Big Fantasy,” written by Zoe Strimpel for The Spectator
First, Strimpel’s description of Penelope as “the friend” reveals a need to sideline plus-size people, even when they are the main character of their own love story. This is a fatphobia we’ve seen frequently in romantic comedies that cast larger-bodied actresses as the asexual sidekicks of smaller-bodied ones. Second, it’s important to notice that Colin’s desire for Penelope isn’t even addressed. Only the implausibility of that desire is mentioned. The truth is, though, that Colin wants Penelope, right? He’s not a prisoner in this romance, right? Yet, it’s not Colin’s desire that’s being pathologized or chided at all. It’s Penelope’s body. Finally, what makes “Polin” implausible to Strimpel is not merely that Colin is “handsome,” which seems to axiomatically (and problematically) include his thinness, but also that he is “rich” and an “aristocrat.” This speaks to the complex ways that fatphobia interacts with other characteristics, like class. Even though most people — regardless of their body size — don’t marry rich aristocrats, for a person with entrenched anti-fat attitudes, it’s really important that the few who do are thin people. People with entrenched weight bias can possess a strong commitment to gatekeeping plus-size people from access to things like love. A deeply fatphobic person may deem that a plus-size person’s partner is an inappropriate match based on presumed differences in social status, and believe that those social differences are more important than either partner’s desire for one another.
GETTY IMAGES FOR NETFLIX
Though Strimpel has no problem calling Penelope fat, the plus-size internet is divided over whether she is, in fact, a “fat icon,” as one Instagrammer put it. A post, published by Los Angeles-based plus-size boutique, The Plus Bus, reads, “There’s a new fat icon to watch…. and we’re LIVING for her!!!!” Responses varied. Some enthusiastically agreed. Others pointed out that Coughlan wears a size 10 in real life, and plus-sizes traditionally begin at size 14. It’s safe to say, I think, that regardless of whether Coughlan is plus-size or not, she is enough of a departure from the traditional love story lead actress that it’s caused a stir.
Los Angeles based plus-size fashion boutique, @ThePlusBusBoutique, calls Penelope “a new fat icon to … [+]
THE PLUS BUS BOUTIQUE
Through “Polin,” Bridgerton brilliantly provides a mirror and an invitation to ask ourselves: “Have we moved so far from Regency-era notions of social status and marriage?” For some, this romance is unsettling because it forces them to consider that humans are simply not governed by tidy, predictable rules. 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.
For others, this romance is delightful because it flouts the rules of television that have consistently relegated larger-bodied women to pitiful objects of scorn. For many of us who have lived in a larger body for a long time, this romance may not seem so unfamiliar. I just married a person who’s smaller than I am. We wed in a pink castle in California, and I wore a poofy white princess dress. See? Fairy tales do come true for fat women.
The Luv Sick Plus post that opened this article ended with a call to action that’s worth sharing: “I wanted to share a few pictures of my own very very realistic love. It’s so important to share images of fat people happy and living our lives. I implore you to post a picture of yourself today, doing something you love, one where you feel beautiful or one where you are with someone you love. You never know who you can inspire just by being yourself.”
