by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
I have something of a celebrity crush on Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She did one of those goofy gimmick interviews and in it she said the best advice she ever got was to “Always to always smell nice, you don’t know who you’re going to hug.”
Well, I’ve watched a lot of interviews with Ms. Waller-Bridge about her hit show “Fleabag,” and it seems as though some more advice would be: British press is going to treat your show different than American press. One thing that keeps coming up in British interviews about the show is how “feminist” it is. I don’t recall an American interviewer mentioning it once.
I think that it is a testament to where the two cultures are right now. As I understand it, the UK never really went through the late 70s women’s movement like America did. There’s a reason why Page 3 girls are continue to linger in British culture. So the American audience for Fleabag doesn’t even think about if the show is meant to be “feminist” or not. They just think it’s funny.
I know I, at least, did not even think about the “feminist” aspect of the show until I kept seeing poor Ms. Waller-Bridge asked about it again and again and again by her British compatriots.
Anyway, I bet she does smell great.
