GREGORY BRIDGERTON COULD (AND SHOULD) BE GAY: A LONG ASS THINK-PIECE
︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹
so i'm currently obsessed with bridgerton and i've spent a fuck ton of my free time thinking about gregory's story and why i believe making him gay, adapting his love story into a queer one, could create one of the most meaningful endings possible for bridgerton... be prepared for lots of rambling beneath the cut!
if you aren't aware, gregory's book comes last in the eight-book romance series by julia quinn. these books are admittedly trash but ultimately are the foundation of which the show bridgerton is built from.
the show has already switched up the order of seasons in comparison to the books, but i think it is reasonable to assume gregory's season will be last, as going into s5 we know s5 is fran's season and 6 will be eloise. we can expect s7 to be hyacinth's time to shine, as they've already begun to dive deeper into her character in s4.
to be clear, this idea for a gay gregory does not come from any kind of dissatisfaction with fran and mich's story. quite the opposite! fran and mich's romance is clearly, if you've seen my twitter, the storyline i am most excited to see adapted because it explores themes that are close to my heart
grief, second chances, endurance of love... their story has enormous emotional potential which speaks to me personally on multiple levels, and I believe it will be incredibly important especially for queer audiences.
the thing is that queer stories are not a single genre and should not be treated as such. they are not interchangeable. "you already have a gay bridgerton" well, good thing all queer people are different!
a lesbian story about grief and rediscovering love is fundamentally different from the gay coming-of-age story about identity, expectation, friendship, and self-discovery that i propose
one story's existence does not diminish the value of another. if anything, bridgerton's willingness to explore multiple forms of love only strengthens its central message
for me, the strongest argument for a queer gregory is its thematic impact
at its core bridgerton has always been a story about love conquering fear, expectation, duty, so on and so forth. it continuously asks the audience the same question
what happens when a person chooses love, despite the obstacles they encounter?
if gregory's season is the final season of the series it presents a reallyyy unique opportunity. gregory is not the youngest sibling (that's hyacinth), but he IS the last one to fall in love.
unlike his siblings he has spent his entire life watching love stories unfold around him. he has witnessed all his siblings form love matches in their own unique ways.
by the time his story begins, he has inherited generations worth of romantic wisdom from the people he loves most. he's watched his mom matchmake every single one of his siblings. growing up that way, you're bound to have an expectation for what your future romance will look like
this is why I find the premise of his original story far more compelling when viewed through a queer lens than a hetero one ever could be. listen listen
gregory enters society believing in love at first sight. he expects that one day he will look across a ballroom, see a beautiful woman, and immediately be enamored. he believes he understands how love works because he has watched it happen for everyone around him. that's his mindset
now hear me out
imagine instead that he meets a young man, a gender-swapped version of lucy, renamed something similar just as they have done with michaela, and the two set out to help one another pursue what they believe are their respective love matches
they spend time together, become confidants, vulnerabilities, and slowly develop a friendship unlike anything either has experienced before.
meanwhile, both continue chasing the relationships they believe they are supposed to want... but nothing feels right
the more they pursue these idealized versions of romance, the more they find themselves returning to one another
what if the reason gregory's grand expectation of love is failing is because he never considered that his story might not look like the stories he grew up watching?
it fulfills all the lessons that have been weaved throughout every previous season, coming to a culmination in his own story
gregory's journey would not be about learning that everything he believed about love was wrong but rather would be about learning that everything his family taught him about love was right. he had simply misunderstood what those lessons meant for him personally.
as a final season, i would structure gregory's story almost as a reflection of every sibling who came before him.
the season could draw upon the themes of a previous season, creating a sense that greg's journey is built upon everything that came before it.
inspirations from daphne's story could explore excitement, family, reputation, and the dreams we carry into adulthood, the things explored in s1.
inspirations from anthony's story could focus on conflict, duty, passion,the difference between obligation and actual connection
inspirations from colin's story could look at friendship and the realization that love may have been beside you all along. ahem.. nearly exactly gregory's story
inspirations from benedict's story could challenge societal expectations and explore the courage required to love outside accepted norms
inspirations from fran's story could explore grief (specifically edmund) queer identity, vulnerability, and the realization that love often arrives unexpectedly. he could realize he's queer this episode perhaps
every single one of these themes relates both to gregory, and also the queer experience especially in the time they live in. it would all tie together so naturally
gregory would be confronting versions of the same questions his siblings once faced. their stories would become guidances through the last season that brings everything to a close
the final season would ultimately prove that all eight stories have been asking the same question from different angles
for a series that has always celebrated love over convention i can imagine no more fitting ending.
now let's tackle the gender swap
i believe that if greg's love interest were a gender-swap, it would need to be done with great care
in our current abysmal cultural and political climate, replacing a female character with a male one and giving that role to a man should never be approached casually and usually i would be wary of that choice
it should not come from a belief that male stories are inherently more important than female stories nor should it diminish the significance of the original character
if such an adaptation were made the female characters surrounding the story should remain fully realized individuals with their own motivations, desires, and choices. the bride's arc would be especially important in this regard. her agency should matter just as much as gregory's and male-lucy.
ultimately this vision is about what kind of ending best serves the bridgerton themes. after years of watching siblings choose love over whatever the hell, gregory's story could become the place where every one of those lessons converges, which is most strongly enhanced by a queer story rather than a traditional hetero one.
THE END!
