Television shows play a significant role in exposing the realities and societal conditions prevalent in our time. Bridgerton is a Netflix series that spans two seasons. It is a story of love, passion, fashion, and family affairs set during the competitive Regency era in London, where marriageable youth and gentry are introduced into society. This philosophical paper employed an intersectional feminist film and television textual analysis to examine the representation of women in the Netflix series Bridgerton. Additionally, the paper integrates critical discourse analysis and narrative analysis as complementary methods. It also employed Bell Hooks' theory of representation that examined how the issue of gender oppression is prevalent in Bridgerton. The content was organized and analyzed through a set of thematic categories. Hence, one noticeable aspect of the show is the way women are groomed and trained to fit into the social strata, so that they can be pleasing in the eyes of the Queen, who approves them. Another is the way women are viewed as a means to save the family's wealth once they are partnered with a noble husband-to-be, disregarding their agency. Applying hooks' views, this paper underscores that women are not mere commodities. They are persons of dignity whose rights and privileges must be given due recognition equal to those of others. This is true not only among women but also to all. Equality builds justice. Justice diminishes oppression. For it is only when we start doing injustice towards others that oppression rises once again.
| Published in | International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 14, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12 |
| Page(s) | 12-20 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2026. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Women, Commodity, Bridgerton, Intersectionality, Feminist Perspective, Bell Hooks, Theory of Representation
| [1] |
Khal, K. R. (2022). The 10 most-watched Netflix TV shows of all time. Complex.
https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/most-watched-netflix-shows-right-now/bridgerton-season-1 |
| [2] | Creamer, P. (2022). An intersectional feminist look at Bridgerton. Student Research Submissions, 478. |
| [3] | DeFelice, K. A., & Diller, J. W. (2019). Intersectional feminism and behavior analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(4), 831-838. |
| [4] | Bernárdez-Rodal, A., Padilla-Castillo, G., & Zeynalova, A. (2021). Produsage and active role of the audience for women’s empowerment: The Bridgerton case. [New] Normal Technology Ethics, 39. |
| [5] | Biana, H. T. (2020). Extending bell hooks’ feminist theory. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 21(1), 13-29. |
| [6] | hooks, b. (2000). Feminist theory: From margin to center. Pluto Press. |
| [7] | Crenshaw, K. W. (2013). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. In The public nature of private violence (pp. 93-118). Routledge. |
| [8] | Rosser, S. V. (2017). Intersectionality and ADVANCE. Association for Women in Science (AWIS). |
| [9] | Collins, P. H. (2015). Intersectionality’s definitional dilemmas. Annual Review of Sociology, 41(1), 1-20. |
| [10] | hooks, b. (2015). Black women: Shaping feminist theory. Brazilian Journal of Political Science, 193-210. |
| [11] | hooks, b. (1990). Ain’t I a woman? Black women and feminism. Pluto Press. |
| [12] | Almassi, B. (2015). Feminist reclamations of normative masculinity: On democratic manhood, feminist masculinity, and allyship practices. Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, 1(2). |
| [13] | Biana, H. T. (2022). Organizing bell hooks’ frameworks for interrogating representations. Plaridel, 19(1), 1-25. |
| [14] |
Koga, L. (2021, March 7). Bridgerton: A feminism nightmare? No Rules.
https://norulescornell.com/2021/03/07/bridgerton-a-feminism-nightmare/ |
| [15] | Azeharie, S., Sari, W. P., & Irena, L. (2022). Feminism perspective on Bridgerton drama series. In Proceedings of the 3rd Tarumanagara International Conference on the Applications of Social Sciences and Humanities (TICASH 2021) (pp. 72-80). Atlantis Press. |
| [16] | Ackman, N. (2021, January 6). The women of Bridgerton: A feminist look at Netflix’s biggest new series. Fansided. |
| [17] | Dandavati, N. (2021). Of lace, race, and subtle subversion: An intersectional feminist analysis of Netflix’s Bridgerton. An Injustice. |
| [18] | Sutherland, J. A., & Feltey, K. M. (2017). Here’s looking at her: an intersectional analysis of women, power and feminism in film. Journal of gender studies, 26(6), 618-631. |
APA Style
Legada, E. L., Fernando, D. S. (2026). Women as a Commodity: An Intersectional Look at the Bridgerton Series. International Journal of Philosophy, 14(1), 12-20. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12
ACS Style
Legada, E. L.; Fernando, D. S. Women as a Commodity: An Intersectional Look at the Bridgerton Series. Int. J. Philos. 2026, 14(1), 12-20. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12,
author = {Eric Lumogda Legada and Daniel Sampag Fernando},
title = {Women as a Commodity: An Intersectional Look at the Bridgerton Series},
journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
volume = {14},
number = {1},
pages = {12-20},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20261401.12},
abstract = {Television shows play a significant role in exposing the realities and societal conditions prevalent in our time. Bridgerton is a Netflix series that spans two seasons. It is a story of love, passion, fashion, and family affairs set during the competitive Regency era in London, where marriageable youth and gentry are introduced into society. This philosophical paper employed an intersectional feminist film and television textual analysis to examine the representation of women in the Netflix series Bridgerton. Additionally, the paper integrates critical discourse analysis and narrative analysis as complementary methods. It also employed Bell Hooks' theory of representation that examined how the issue of gender oppression is prevalent in Bridgerton. The content was organized and analyzed through a set of thematic categories. Hence, one noticeable aspect of the show is the way women are groomed and trained to fit into the social strata, so that they can be pleasing in the eyes of the Queen, who approves them. Another is the way women are viewed as a means to save the family's wealth once they are partnered with a noble husband-to-be, disregarding their agency. Applying hooks' views, this paper underscores that women are not mere commodities. They are persons of dignity whose rights and privileges must be given due recognition equal to those of others. This is true not only among women but also to all. Equality builds justice. Justice diminishes oppression. For it is only when we start doing injustice towards others that oppression rises once again.},
year = {2026}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Women as a Commodity: An Intersectional Look at the Bridgerton Series AU - Eric Lumogda Legada AU - Daniel Sampag Fernando Y1 - 2026/01/30 PY - 2026 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12 DO - 10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12 T2 - International Journal of Philosophy JF - International Journal of Philosophy JO - International Journal of Philosophy SP - 12 EP - 20 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-7455 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261401.12 AB - Television shows play a significant role in exposing the realities and societal conditions prevalent in our time. Bridgerton is a Netflix series that spans two seasons. It is a story of love, passion, fashion, and family affairs set during the competitive Regency era in London, where marriageable youth and gentry are introduced into society. This philosophical paper employed an intersectional feminist film and television textual analysis to examine the representation of women in the Netflix series Bridgerton. Additionally, the paper integrates critical discourse analysis and narrative analysis as complementary methods. It also employed Bell Hooks' theory of representation that examined how the issue of gender oppression is prevalent in Bridgerton. The content was organized and analyzed through a set of thematic categories. Hence, one noticeable aspect of the show is the way women are groomed and trained to fit into the social strata, so that they can be pleasing in the eyes of the Queen, who approves them. Another is the way women are viewed as a means to save the family's wealth once they are partnered with a noble husband-to-be, disregarding their agency. Applying hooks' views, this paper underscores that women are not mere commodities. They are persons of dignity whose rights and privileges must be given due recognition equal to those of others. This is true not only among women but also to all. Equality builds justice. Justice diminishes oppression. For it is only when we start doing injustice towards others that oppression rises once again. VL - 14 IS - 1 ER -
Liberal Arts Department, St. Anthony’s College, Antique, Philippines
Research Office, St. Anthony’s College, Antique, Philippines
Information