Unpacking *Those* Lady Danbury Scenes In Queen Charlotte Why People Think They’re Messed Up

You’d think after the backlash season one of Bridgerton endured for its callous treatment of marital rape

Shonda Rhimes Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Queen Charlotte Bridgerton Phoebe Dynevor Regé-Jean Page adored its nuance and attention to detail Queen Charlotte

Lady Agatha Danbury and her husband Lord Herman Danbury. (Source: Netflix).

Bridgerton Adjoa Andoh Golda Rosheuvel Queen Charlotte Arsema Thomas Cyril Nri

shonda did not just make me watch lady danbury getting raped in every fucking episode like what the hell #QueenCharlotte pic.twitter.com/dmNwGBtQ8W

— midead (@beys_dany) May 4, 2023

i mean 4/6 episodes and i think last two had a flashback but i‘m not sure but honestly it was too much. what pissed me off was that it was portrayed as some comedy bit like wtf

— midead (@beys_dany) May 5, 2023

@j_watches

Gross …. #j_watches #queencharlotte #queencharlottebridgerton #tvshows #netflix #booktok #fy #fypシ

♬ Cartoon Eye Blinking Sound – Anna

Bridgerton Bridgerton Bridgerton

its still a very sensitive and disturbing matter to say at least whether its on regency or modern era..

— ZjqKhsSA Happy Jonny Day (@eunnie201) May 4, 2023

and has already faced accusations of Queen Charlotte India Ria Amerteifio Corey Mylchreest Queen Charlotte Bridgerton Help is available. If you require immediate assistance, please call 000. If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online .  Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.

The post Unpacking *Those* Lady Danbury Scenes In Queen Charlotte & Why People Think They’re Messed Up appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .

, and the Shondaland writers would learn. But, if you’ve watched , you’ll know the series has actually regressed. I was as excited as the next person to watch . I liked season one enough — though I am yet to forgive the show for letting Daphne () get away with sexually assaulting the only Black man in the ton, her husband Simon () — and I absolutely season two. Giving us two Indian leads, played by dark-skinned Tamil women, who were both proud of their heritage, was incredible for me as a fellow brown gal. It was the representation a lot of us had been seeking (and lacking) on screen and I was impressed with , especially given how inconsistently race has otherwise been handled in the series. I wish I could say had the same respect for its characters, but instead the series left me not only disappointed, but genuinely disturbed. I am, of course, talking about Lady Danbury and the increasingly graphic scenes of marital rape she (and we) were subjected to. To give you a quick recap, in , Lady Agatha Danbury (played by ) is a headstrong, wealthy and powerful widow who rules over the Ton and is a close confidante to the queen. She and Queen Charlotte () are the only recurring Black women in the series — and it’s worth noting Lady Danbury is the only dark-skinned Black woman. In , the first time we meet younger Agatha (), she is staring vacantly and slack-eyed at the ceiling as her husband, the much older and revolting Herman (), violently thrusts in and out of her, causing her head to rhythmically bounce off their headboard. While watching the graphic scene (which goes for longer than you think), I felt nauseous, jarred, but not necessarily angry — women were forced to have sex with their decrepit older husbands IRL, and I guess it had to be tackled eventually, right? However, it’s immediately clear after the marital rape that we are supposed to find this all kinda funny, like some ill attempt at dark humour. After all, Herman is so disgusting it’s comical. After he uses Agatha for his whims, she has a bath drawn where she scrubs Herman off her body and complains to her staff that they should have given her warning that he was coming. Her ritualistic cleansing, repeated after every “session”, is reminiscent of how sexual assault victims IRL cope with being violated, and so it’s confusing to me why Agatha is not really written as someone who has been sexually assaulted and is dealing with that trauma. Instead, she often laughs off Herman’s violations of her and seems to bounce back, completely unaffected by his advances, which we as the audience are also expected to move on from. It’s treated to be annoying but not traumatic — like someone’s dog humping your leg. After the first scene, jaunty, fun music plays as Agatha eyerolls and complains, and similar quirky music appears after the other (multiple) bouts of marital rape she is subjected to in the series, as if this is all some funny subplot. We actually watch Herman assault Agatha in various positions in almost every episode in the series (four out of six, not including flashbacks), all of which are treated as funny, and none of which spark any dialogue in the show about consent. Things get even grosser when (spoiler alert) Herman dies mid-thrust in yet another graphic marital rape scene — something which doesn’t seem to phase Agatha even a little. At this point, surely she is in a constant state of disassociation? But nope, it’s just the way things were back then, amirite? The thing is, the show wanting to be realistic about marital rape seems out of place given we are expected to suspend our disbelief for other similar issues like racism and misogyny, which don’t really exist in the world. These incessant rape scenes feel strange because of the show’s modern values — literally every other sex scene in the universe centres female agency and pleasure in a way that’s meant to be radical for its audience, and not at all “of the times”. These hot, steamy, sexy, feminist scenes are what people like about — the show gives us the pining glances, flouncing gowns and biting dialogue we associate with historical fiction, without all the heavy bits that would remind us it was a pretty shit time for women and POC to exist in. Given this modern reimagining of relationships, it makes no sense that some things like marital rape are still treated as just “of the times”, even while other issues are conveniently forgotten for the sake of the audience. It also leaves a sour taste in my mouth that Lady Danbury is the only female character to be graphically used like this, the only dark-skinned Black woman. It’s giving colourism, something Shonda Rhimes — who is involved in the writing for every episode — . While Agatha does eventually get to have a positive sexual experience, the way seems to relish in showing all the times she didn’t seems insensitive and weird given this is created for a progressive, mostly female audience. The whole saga with Lady Danbury feels uncomfortable given the show’s bizarre depiction of racism — I’m really supposed to believe racism ended in Georgian England because the King married a light-skinned Black woman, yet not having marital rape is unrealistic? The show’s shortcomings with race and sexual agency are truly tragic given the rest of the show is so damn good. Queen Charlotte () and King George ()’s  explosive relationship and tragic ending is ~cinema~, and aside from these issues, I actually really enjoyed watching the show. It’s this that leads me to think , and by extension , needs to figure out what TF it wants to be — either stay a fluffy, mostly apolitical show with racially blind casting that exists purely as escapist romance, or meaningfully tackle the racism and misogyny that affects characters in a setting that isn’t race-blind. This inbetween situation doesn’t work — it just leaves issues handled unseriously and offensively, and weakens the show as a whole. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.