💛🐝💛

You merely believed yourself in love. One should never apologise for that.

Penelope, what a barb!

@ktbeets and I spent a very long time spiralling and coming up with these extensive timeline predictions for Season 3 Part 1! Go check out our theories!

They aren't technically spoilers, just very detailed speculation, so watch at your own discretion!

Oh, Penelope, you are not listening to a word I say.

From the organizers:

Hi everyone,

I'm sure you’ve seen the book cover and poster art for Bridgerton S3 by now, as well as Nicola Coughlan’s post with the original version of the poster image.

In 2024, it’s really disappointing to see the female lead of a show be so heavily edited, whilst the male lead has been hardly touched. While we understand that marketing images will always have touch-ups, the amount that was done to Nicola is frankly sexist and insulting to her and her hair and makeup artistry team.

We know that the editors have overlaid their faces so that they’re both looking in different directions. However, when we compare the two photos, we can see that beyond basic retouching and flipping her face, the following edits to Nicola have been made:

Redefined her chin

Erased her elbows

Elongated her arm

Enlarged her lips

Changed the shade of her eyes

Changed her makeup

Added cleavage

The following edits have been made to Luke Newton:

Increased saturation and sharpened

All this on the cover of a book about finding self-acceptance.

If you would like Avon Books, Shondaland and Netflix to change the poster and book cover, please sign this petition here: https://chng.it/nDh4qnvkJn

We’d appreciate any shares we can get on socials tagging @avonbooks @shondaland and @netflix.

We know that the books will likely already have been printed, but we also know that they can be reprinted. There is time for the posters to be redone.

And if not, we're calling out bad marketing.

(I’ll try to keep descriptions as brief as possible)

1. Lighting. The first and last episode titles are “Out of the Shadows” and “Into the Light”. So, all lighting, particularly on Pen, will be very significant. Throughout seasons 1 and 2, she is often cast in shadow, while the Bridgertons shine in the light. In season 3, we’ll see more direct light on her.

2. Mirrors. Yes, I know, but it’s not just about sexy times. Mirrors have been used to tell us about Pen’s secret identity, LW. Her mirror self is the true, brave, witty, brilliant self that she keeps hidden. While you’ll often see the other ladies of Bridgerton checking themselves out in mirrors (in addition to the Featheringtons, I’ve also seen Daphne, Kate, Edwina, and Violet looking into mirrors), you’ll never catch Penelope doing so. That’s the deeper significance of the mirror sex scene- Colin encourages her to confront that self.

3. Greece. This is Colin’s big symbolic element. Greek mythology will be all over the costume and production design. Obviously, we know on a base level that he loves Greece. On a deeper level, Grecian symbols will be used to reference Ancient Greek stories and mythology that will add layers of depth to the love story. Ex) Homer’s The Odyssey is about a man who must journey throughout and around Greece in order to get back to his wife, Penelope. During his journey, Penelope has to fend off a bunch of suitors who are trying to get with her. Even though she thinks Odysseus is dead, she still loves him.

4. Yellow/Blue/Green. I mean, c’mon.

5. Swans. The Bridgertons are mute swans (the regular kind). Pen is a black swan.

Sir, that is a swan.

6. Flowers. Pen is a wallflower. And actually, the meaning of flowers have always been directly explained to us (lilacs, “symbolic of first love”, tulips “they symbolize passion”). Maybe we’ll get another quote about the symbolism of flowers in season 3?

7. Writing/letters/quills/journals. A Polin love language. 🪶💌📔 Literally though, when Pen first asks anyone about sex (yeah, it was Marina, awkward, I know but 🤷), she’s made to equate it with letters.

That’s all I got for now I think.

If you’re just watching Bridgerton because it’s pretty and cute and sexy, totally fine. Watch it however you want to watch it. If you want to go further, really feel things, maybe get a greater sense of catharsis, or at least get more of the ‘oh, damn!’ factor out of it, pay attention to the above elements. They will be shown and not told. If you are stuggling to understand what the symbols mean, hmu. I’m happy to help. I’ve only been on Bridgerton tumblr for a week and a half, but I can say I’ve already seen great analyses from @bingiessm @ktbeets & @sea-owl .

Mark your calendars! The BONUS Polin Week 2024 begins July 15th and concludes July 21st. We invite all fans of Colin and Penelope to participate and join us ONCE AGAIN in celebrating the love we all share for these wonderful characters and this glorious couple!

RULES:

reblog this post so everyone can see it!

tag your posts #polinweek in one of the first five tags so that we can find it.

we will reblog ( and tag ) everything posted in that tag.

search through this blog, following the tags, to find all of the Polin content from that week

If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please just ask!