Bridgerton, Outlander, and Empathy

*Possible Spoilers for Outlander and Bridgerton. They’re vague and minimal, but warning nonetheless.

I watched Bridgerton almost the moment it came out. I was ready to have a new favorite show! Full disclosure: it is not my new favorite show. But here, I don't want to talk about enjoyment, or even about quality. Each show brings very different things, and both are valuable. However, I believe that there is something Outlander brings that we as a society need deeply.

My argument is this: Outlander makes you a better person.

That's a big claim, but stay with me. 

While Bridgerton has some good moments of character. My personal favorites are actually about Anthony, who was my least favorite character at the start, but it is overall a fairly flat portrayal of people. The Duke's backstory adds some depth to his character, and he is probably the most fleshed out of anyone on the show, yet even his motivations are...murky.

Outlander, by contrast, has an internal logic to each of the characters. When Claire acts out and gets herself in trouble, it's because she lashes out with anger when she's threatened. When Jamie would rather die than live less than himself, that fits precisely with the stubbornness and pride we have seen over and over again. They are textured and realistic, their opinions, their fights, all come from a deeply authentic place. It is their character that affects the plot, they aren't just doing things because something needed to happen.

Put another way:

In Bridgerton, everyone's actions are motivated by the plot. In Outlander, everyone's motivations action the plot.

So coming back around to my thesis, that Outlander will make you a better person. Well, it's all about character.

While costumes are beautiful in both, and plotlines can be good and stale in both, it is the characters that make the difference. One set of characters, Bridgerton's, evokes sympathy, while the other, Outlander's, evokes empathy. Maybe those don't seem that different, but from an emotional development standpoint, they are massive.

The simplest way to put it is that in sympathy, you feel for, whereas in empathy, you feel with.

It is not hard to see why one would be more affecting than another.

While I felt for the Duke and his difficult childhood, while I felt for Daphne being lied to by her husband, I felt with Claire losing a child, and I felt with Jamie as he laid there wishing for death because he believed his trauma would prevent him from ever being happy again. The thing is, it's not the situations that make the difference. Having an asshole father, being lied to by your intimate partner, those may or may not be more relevant to you than deep depression after severe trauma, or losing a child. They are to me. And yet, my empathy is activated in situations with which I am less familiar.

The difference is the characters.

There is a reason we continue to read things like To Kill a Mockingbird. Literary fiction, not genre fiction, but specifically works dedicated to the relationships, personalities, and inner lives of people, teach us how to empathize. I wish people read more. I wish I read more. But television and movies have been around long enough that I believe they are, in certain cases, allowing us to access the same emotions, and produce the same resonance, that novels have in the past.

Shows like Outlander, with complex, nuanced, and fleshed-out characters, force us to feel for everyone. It pushes us to understand other perspectives, and wonder about the people in our lives. In a world that seems increasingly divided, empathy has to be the most important skill we are, as a society, lacking. When we practice empathy on a micro scale, such as recently in an Outlander book club I’m part of, the phrase “poor Laoghaire” was uttered (if you’re unfamiliar with the show, she’s a pretty universally despised character), it teaches us to use that in our daily lives. When we are able to dig in, when we seek to understand motivations, it is, quite literally, empathy training.

Go watch Bridgerton! There are great elements, and problematic ones too, that fuel debate and discussion. Diversity is hugely important, and such as in representation, Bridgerton succeeds where others, including Outlander, struggle. There is value in it, so if you haven't seen it yet, and want to, it might be exactly your cup of tea.

But watch Outlander, too, because, in some small way, it might be a step toward a better tomorrow.