#as though people throughout history haven't been forced to conform to all sorts of gender and class and social roles

[captainjonnitkessler]

"American individualism has a lot of problems and can lead to a loss of supportive community networks" - true, a problem worth talking about

"Individualism is a poison and anyone who wants to maintain a level of independence from their family, culture, or community is suspect" - BAD. WRONG AND BAD. THIS IS EXTREME CONSERVATISM DRESSED UP IN A PROGRESSIVE HAT

[a-little-slice-of-fandom]

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to ask or submit this, but if you haven't done Jane yet I'd like one (analysis). I always thought Heart of Stone was much more than just about Jane greiving not being with her son, but maybe also like commentary on how wives (especially in the Tudor era) are meant to bite their tongues and keep everything under control no matter their actual feelings

Hi love!!!

So Seymour is incredibly interesting to me as a character for so many reasons, and is a shinning example to me of why Six is such a fantastic show for female characters and female representation.

For Heart of Stone itself, I think it’s sort of like Don’t Lose Ur Head in where there’s loads of subtle messages and character development throughout but you maybe have to listen to the song a few times to fully get the messages, unlike say All You Wanna Do or even Get Down which are much more open about what they’re trying to say. Seymour goes through this character development (much in the same way Howard does), of realising that even though she loves Henry, he doesn’t love her in the same way and that she is utterly replaceable to him.

And while there’s definitely some commentary in there about how women were treated in the Tudor era, with Seymour acknowledging her worth is directly tied to her son, and while I would argue that that theme is discussed more in relation to Aragon rather than Seymour, it goes to explain a lot of their actions throughout the show. Both these characters are portrayed as incredibly argumentative throughout Six, which makes sense when you think that this might be the first time that they’re allowed to be argumentative and stand their ground and fight back against the horrible things that people are saying about them. Seymour (and Aragon) are no longer tied to Tudor ideals. They have a voice now and they going to use it. And while this character trait is generally played for laughs in the show, it actually becomes quite sad if you think about it too long and too hard.

My only issues with HoS is that some of the original lyrics from the student run actually worked better in my opinion, but that’s a whole other thing that I don’t have time to get into right now. AND I’m actually not a massive Adele fan/ a fan or slower songs in general so I’m usually more interested in the second half of the song than the first half. I would have LOVED a HoS that was closer to a Sia song like Chandelier or Titanium you know?)

One thing I’d also like to quickly draw everyone’s attention to is Seymour’s outfit. A main cast Seymour is the only queen (main cast or alternate) to wear a dress, while also having long hair that’s worn mostly down. While clothes and hair obviously have no gender and anyone can wear anything, Seymour’s costume is probably the most typically feminine out of all the queens and directly contrasts the more masculine coded costumes that Cleves and Parr wear. This links into Seymour representing the more traditional side of feminity, being linked most obviously motherhood but also the role of a wife or “homemaker”. Her love is unconditional...and that’s not something she needs to be ashamed about. Love is a strength, not a weakness, and it’s celebrated as such.

Speaking of which Six doesn’t ever tear down traditional ideals of feminity to bring up newer ideals or preconceptions. For example, Seymour’s more demure attitude is never frowned upon by the others in order to praise Cleves more confident and bold personality. Yes, the queens themselves argue amongst one another and bicker about who had it hardest, but the show itself (and Toby/Lucy) doesn’t seem to favour one or the other or believe women should strive to be one or the other. The show essentially boils down to telling the audience that ALL women should be respected and represented, including those who simply might prefer more traditional gender roles like Seymour. There’s nothing wrong with adhering to them or rejecting them, it’s forcing them on someone that Six frowns upon.

It’s just,,,refreshing to have a character who is celebrated for their feminity and for their pride in being a mother, rather than torn down or frowned upon in favour of other female characters who conform to more stereotypical versions of female empowerment, like the brooding/stoic woman who feels nothing (which six has none of!!! Thank god!!!)

But Seymour isn’t this goody-two-shoes queen or the Mary-sue character of the show either! She’s an incredibly flawed individual, just like the other five queens, with her main strength of her love for her son leading her to be incredibly defensive over her situation. And again, I do think this makes sense? Firstly, Seymour is written off in the show in the same way she’s generally written off in history, so her wanting to stand her ground and defend herself/her situation(which definitely could not have been easy for her. Remember Henry warned her about Boleyn’s fate after Seymour tried to challenge him...) makes perfect sense! And secondly, I genuinely think Seymour has some form of attachment issue to Edward. The way seymour acts in the show honestly reminds me of someone who has lost their baby for whatever reason and simply can’t cope with that loss. She’s practically obsessed with this concept of motherhood and of her son. Yes, that’s what she’s usually tied to throughout history but for some reason Seymour makes me think of a guilty parent who blames themself for something that was completely out of their control. I don’t think this takes away from the theme motherhood being a strength that Seymour also is a fantastic champion of, but I do think it’s a really interesting layer to her character. Maybe I’m grasping at straws with this, but I do just see Seymour as someone with an intense amount of grief that she’s unable to address in a healthy way.

So that’s my general opinions on Seymour as a character! While HoS isn’t necessarily my favourite song of the show, I do actually really enjoy Seymour as a character (as she has some of my favourite lines in the show) and what Toby and Lucy managed to accomplish with her as a character.

Hope this explains my feelings well love ❤️❤️❤️ I’ve got a few people asking me to discuss Cleves so that will be my next post!