#speaking of the regency. 1980 bbc pride and prejudice supremacy. hottest lizzie and darcy pairing IMO

[daenystheedreamer]

I would love to hear why you hate regency Media!!

so first and foremost whatever makes people happy is beautiful and wonderful. if british guys in stiff collars gets you hot, all power to you. fluff fiction is fine, comfortable fiction is fine. im not gonna kill you from rubbing one out to a bodice ripper called like Seduced By The Duke. THAT BEING SAID

good fucking god none of you know what the regency period was like beyond austen and heyer 😭 SLAVERY WAS STILL LEGAL!! all the wealth was built off slavery and imperialism... girl where do you think the sugar was coming from!!! and where'd they get the tea from!! east india company INVENTED CAPITALISM and destroyed a continent 😭 oh they abolished slavery THEY COMPENSATED SLAVE OWNERS!!!

also landed gentry.... girl its in the name!! LANDLORDS!! you arent just lady of a manor. you are lady of a manor on the estate being leased to tenant (cough cough indentured) farmers.

i think so much regency media disregards the actual material reality of the british empire, not only abroad but within. even when the lower classes (eg serving staff) is mentioned its often treated as window dressing or worse as part of the package. dont get me started on cinderella shit AHHHH oh he fell in love with the maid the governess 🥺 ough we're analysing class and gender in england 🥺 NO YOU ARENT!!! AHHHH!!!

also regency media obfusscates how ugly the clothing was. it's very anachronistic. and much of the aesthetics are also based on neoclassicism and God Damn this post is too long already. SCREAM

there's fun stuff in the regency that gets ignored in favour of romanticising it... i LOVE beau brummel. special little fancy lad in his special clothing. calls the prince fat. gets exiled from high society. dies of syphilis in a french debt prison. THATS sexier to me than bridgerton. also pride and prejudice is like top 10 favourite novels OAT please no one yell at me 🥹