#Ive used it on the skirt pieces of my 1860s ballgown that is still not finished.

[aahsoka]

anyways thinking again how a ‘not like other girls’ character is a lot less annoying when she is surrounded by other fully fleshed out women and gets to realize that no one and everyone is ‘like other girls’ because we are all individuals.

like I think the biggest gripe to have with eloise is when she trends a little too modern in her ideals (though perhaps thats not a huge issue in a show that is built on anachronisms) but her character clearly has many instances of learning about other women and growing and understanding them and being confronted by her own privilege or pretentiousness.

I think its perfectly fine to have a character who believes and acts like they are ‘not like other girls’ because that is a way actual people act. What makes it annoying is when there is no pushback in the narrative against her ideas and I think bridgerton does actually make her confront herself and the interiority of other women who think differently than her pretty often. Like the first season shows us how her and Daphne come to agree to disagree, and Daphne deeply wanting a marriage and children is never seen as a negative through the narrative, but instead just something Eloise specifically does not want for herself at that point.

tho it was like. silly of her to reject the book colin got for her. like sure ur reading something else but the guy bought it for you with you in mind its not his fault ur interests have moved on while he was. literally not in contact with you for 4 month because no one writes him back lmfao. u have time for emma and early feminist theory girl (at least someone said it was mary wollstonecraft?). But maybe this is just an arc for her to reconcile femininity and her ideals; she went too far in the other direction perhaps?

also this is a quote from Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication, from 1792. So Eloise being a bit brusque sometimes has a foundation. Sometimes you do have to call out other women for upholding the patriarchy.

I would say perhaps where it fails this season is making the random girls she talks to beyond Cressida fairly two dimensional. (but in her defense as much as I think embroidery is beautiful and an art that takes a lot of skill and time, I think I would also get bored of a conversation where people just listed their favorite stitch instead of like…… talking about when its most useful or what kind of embroidery project theyre working on idk. I dont go around being like ‘oh yes i love the french seam. end of sentence.’ however that is again the fault of them being written two-dimensionally).

anyways some of us are contrarian feminist bitches who also enjoy textile arts (me)

i dont hate when eloise isnt interested in embroidery like yea sometimes she gets a little too modern (though in her period they were definitely beginning to talk and write about the ideas that became feminism). also like i get living in an era and class where being good at it might be expected and resenting that expectation especially when she is surrounded by a bunch of other women who are 3 dimensional and also embroider .

its annoying when ur protag hates it and sees women as lesser for it and the narrative treats them that way, but the narrative of bridgerton doesnt totally. it does juxtapose cressida and penelope and daphne having more traditional interests and pursuits against eloise’s desire for non traditional pursuits and those people often confront her about it when she gets pretentious. Plus her interactions with theo kind of make her confront her own privileges re: class. she doesnt just get a free pass idk.

yes the random ladies at the balls are more 2 dimensional and while im a historical fashion girlie and who loves to defend women of the past and historically feminine pursuits i also know what its like to feel horribly disconnected from what femininity is supposed to be according to the people around you idk. I have experienced the exact feeling of hearing people talk about having planned their weddings in advance and having absolutely nothing to offer to the conversation and no desire to participate in it.

like while i typically hate a not-like-other girls period character who gets a little too modern, Eloise doesnt get on my nerves when she exists around a plethora of other well developed female characters who might disagree with her. yknow