More Eloise meta ( this is the last one I promise)
So some days ago I answered yet another ask from a fan who wants to Fix Eloise. And it really got me thinking about the appeal Eloise has a character. The univeral call she seems to make to the world " please fix me" or "please fix my circumstances" that all her fans seem to want to answer. Attributing this to something we cant pinpoint that just seems to be fundamentally 'not right' with her as a character. And if only we could fix that mythical "it" then she would be happy.
It took me a bit of soul searching to figure out what I think is the problem is for Eloise and came to the conclusion that it all goes back to the genre of the show
Romance
Eloise Bridgerton as she is portrayed in the show was NOT written for the fate of a Romance Genre heroine. An action girl? Absolutely. A political thriller? Even better.
If she could break the fouth wall she'd be begging to be transferred to Enola Holmes. She would love to be a character in How to Get Away with Murder or Scandal. Instead she's stuck in freaking Bridgerton and of course she hates it.
Honestly after four seasons it's become painful to watch
She fits in well with characters like Lara Croft, Natasha Romanoff and Kim Possible. Characters who have a fling here and there but their main genre of being and reason for continuing plotlines is something other than romance. But not with the likes of Daphne, Kate and Penelope. Or even Francesca who from their introduction in the show have shown in one way or another that they welcome their role as a Romantic genre Female Lead.
And it's sad because you see every Eloise fan wants her somehow to be something that she's not. Trying to fix her as though with the right storyline or the 'right' sexual orientation somehow her characterization will make sense within the parameters that have been set around her. Exactly because she is in the wrong genre of show.
The collective sentiment that if only we could fix her or fix things for her, then she would be happy. Carrying the implication that there's something inherently wrong with the way she is currently written.
Sadly for all of us who enjoy her journey. The genre of the show and the books they were based on just so happens to be romance.
And the laws of the world building of Romance are as old and unchangeable as Literature itself, these laws dictate that main characters MUST have a love interest and MUST fall in love, then they MUST enter in a romantic relationship and therefore they MUST find joy and fulfillment in the concept of romantic experiences.
And yeah Eloise hates all of that, but Those are just the laws of the universe Eloise currently lives in. However much she fights against it, and gets angry at it and is this close to breaking the fourth wall just to escape from it. She has been saddled with the fate of Female Lead in a romance show.
That's why there's no repairing of her.
In fact if a fortune teller showed up at Violet's house one day and told all the Bridgerton daughters that their destiny has already been decided because they're the Heroines of a Romance tv show and the very universe will conspire for them to find true love. Daphne, Francesca and Hyacinth would be happy. Eloise would cry.
What a cruel fate for our unfortunate square peg in a world of circles. To be forced into a circle peg anyway because it's what her Genre of show demands of her.
Even more heartbreaking? Phillip, the guy destiny claims is her soulmate in the show? Is a perfectly written Romance Male lead. With no known flaws ( in the show at least) or desire to break away from the role he was cast into: that of a man meant to love and treasure Eloise. If only he knew his destined heroine wants to escape the Bridgerton universe with the intensity of an inmate planning a prison break.
Come to think of it, Every single main character around Eloise is content with their existence in a Romance Genre universe, all except Eloise. So of course there's something wrong with her, of course she gives off vibes that she doesn't belong. However much she keeps trying and trying to somehow break her loved ones out of it so they can see other genres available to them, they weren't written the way she was.
Furthermore as a modern audience proxy ( because that's what she was written as) she's rightfully terrified that the plot and the writers of the world she lives in are going to conspire and force her into being the romance heroine everyone says she should be.
Because make no mistake she IS going to be forced into it, there's no other way. Bridgerton wrote themselves into a dead end with her character development. And the only way the universe, the viewer and the reader see to improve the situation is to change Eloise to fit the parameters of her Romance Genre destiny.
Truth everyone finds hard to admit? Like I said at the beginning of the post: Eloise Bridgerton is only appealing to us as a character because she represents a project to repair. Nobody, me included, likes her just as she is. And it's about time we stop pretending otherwise.
As for me? It's already season 4 and I'm really too tired to keep doing mental gymnastics over how she's going to get her happy ending. It's time to go with the flow and accept whatever the show sees fit to give me.
But rest assured dear reader Netflix will make her plotline-personality lobotomy look painless and completely voluntary. Just wait and see.
Side note, I'm actually rooting for Phillip next season, maybe the Romance universe will be merciful and give him the Ron Stoppable sidekick to lover trope as a compensation package. Maybe not.
Moral of the story here for me is that I should learn to love main characters just as they are, bad character development included. And if I find myself making too many excuses for them after 4 seasons of being confused. Maybe I should just let the subject drop
And that's the tea for today