Bridgerton is where we all go for our classiest softcore porn and high-societal British intrigue. The Shonda Rhimes-Netflix hit just dropped the back half of its third season, featuring a romance between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) aka “Polin.”
However, the brilliant Coughlan, being ever-so-slightly full-bodied, has led to some truly unhinged internet takes on relationships in relation to their participants’ physical appearances.
‘Mixed-weight relationships’ origins
For instance, a June 27th article from Forbes is currently in the internet’s crosshairs. The piece, entitled “‘Bridgerton’: Are We Still Not Ready For A Mixed-Weight Romance On Screen?” has folks dunking hard on the idea of the very concept of a “mixed-weight relationship.”
Why? Because—as the internet collectively agrees—it’s in fact, not a thing:
‘Mixed-weight’ couples in classic TV tropes
Many drew comparisons to other television shows that celebrated a fuller-bodied male dating or married to a slimmer-bodied woman.
Peter and Lois Griffin, Doug and Carrie Heffernan, Homer and Marge Simpson, Carl and Harriet Winslow, Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Bob and Abishola (in the original seasons)… there are seemingly endless examples of “mixed weight” couples on TV when the man is of the fuller body type.
Forbes story had good intentions
It’s worth noting that a lot of these posts on X seem like they didn’t actually read the article itself, in which author Virgie Tover puts a spotlight on the actual gross public reactions to Coughlan’s figure.
“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,” they write.
Still, treating the “mixed-weight relationship” concept as at all novel is certainly dunk-on-able. Anyway, go watch Derry Girls.
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