Mol

“What he knew, he knew from books, and books lied, they made things prettier.”

“We haven’t seen a lot of stories like Bertie’s before,” Robinson told LGBTQ Nation. “Someone who is a person of color and non-binary, we don’t see those stories in history often. History has been whitewashed and straightwashed but these characters existed. These people existed. I felt so honored to be a part of telling these stories and telling a story similar to mine for a person like Bertie.”

Those fourth wall breaks give me a little thrill, like we’re conspiratorial lesbians and she wants me to know that I know what she’s up to and I do know and it’s scandalous and audacious and thrilling. Or that Anne sees me, the lesbian in the 21st century, watching her, the lesbian of the 19th century, and it’s like connecting through time, like this is the history we almost lost (like so much other burned private paraphernalia) and that Anne Lister preserved for us, to show us that lesbians existed before the word “lesbian” could be applied to them and that they loved women in all the romantic and sexual ways we want to deny they could have, that Anne Lister loved women, knew how to please them, and women loved her and came back for more.

It works for me. It, weirdly, does make me feel seen. Because I’m guffawing at what’s happening on screen, but it’s like a little wink sent my way like, “Yes, you are seeing this. Yes, I did do this. Yes, it’s great.”