TELEVISION SERIES

HARLOTS

20th century women problems in the guise of 18th century disasters

By Coco Fan 

It's a tough life

On March 15, 1848, the young Hungarian poet and revolutionary, Sandor Petofi, read a poem in a crowded central Budapest square. At the end of the poem, everyone joined in to chant the refrain: Freedom and love my creed!/These are the two I need/For love I’ll freely sacrifice/My earthly spell/For freedom, I will sacrifice/My love as well. People marched around the city, demanding the freeing of political prisoners and declaring the end of Habsburg rule in Hungary. Perhaps what Petofi is trying to say is that life is precious, but love is the spiritual and emotional force that everyone craves. In a world full of rules, people will sacrifice anything, including their lives for love and freedom. The poet lived in a period of great political change and his exhortations to his readers and audience were to live life to its fullest possibilities, no matter what. I believe that the television series Harlots is demanding the same sacrifices and joys that Petofi is.

In an interesting way the Habsburg Empire is very much like the patriarchal system of 18th century England, an overarching power that controls how people live and what they can accomplish in the world. The prostitutes of Harlots are like the Hungarian revolutionaries in Petofi’s poem, people who want to be free to live and love in the way that they choose. All the women of Harlots want the world to change, but really the series is about the negotiations that they have to make in order just to live, because it’s clear that they aren’t reaching any type of female utopia soon. This is what makes the series so apt for the 21st century: we are always in negotiation between our utopian ideals and everyday life.

The dangers of being a "free" woman

Harlots is a three-season series with eight episodes in each season. Directed by Coky Giedroyc and China Moo-Young and written by Moira Buffini and Alison Newman, the series tells the story of London prostitutes in 1763. The low status of women and the backward economy make women’s lives quite limited. If they want to survive, they have to marry a rich husband or become a prostitute. What we see in the series is that unlike Petofi’s poem, you can’t just yell revolution and make it happen. We can see it is a kind of brute, economic reality. Margaret and Lydia run competing and most famous brothels in London. They are in the same situation, but that doesn’t make them comrades in arms, but vicious competitors. This isn’t a revolution, but a fight for the basics of survival: money and freedom.

The Problem of Having it All

Margaret Wells, a woman running a SoHo brothel, is a mother of two daughters, Charlotte and Lucy. She believes money is a woman's right; and for money, she asks her eldest daughter Charlotte to sign a contract to become a baron’s legal whore and is proud to sell her youngest daughter Lucy's virginity, twice. She pursues a female utopia, but the reality is that when her rebellion threatens men and nobles, it does more harm to women and prostitutes than before. Margaret and Nancy lead a protest against the injustice of the sentence, smashing the Windows of the judge's house, but because of it, Nancy is flogged. She is tied to a pillar in a square, whipped until she is beaten and bloodied. It is a warning from the court: you more you resist, the more people you will be punished. So, Harlots makes us realize how difficult it is to change unjust systems, especially unjust systems that have so much institutional control.

A desperate, difficult situation

Again and again, the show demonstrates how difficult it is to be a woman, especially one desperate for money. Fanny, a prostitute, accidentally gets pregnant. Pregnant prostitutes are not allowed to stay in the brothel, but she needs the money to take care of her children. Just like the way some modern women have to have a career to support their family. This is partly an ideal life because it's hard to do both and do them well. The inner contradictions of women in modern society are reflected by their unfair employment of women in the male-dominated society. Though the world in some places has gotten better, Harlots shows that women do not get absolute freedom and care from society. No matter what the situation, women are still under pressure to continue working because of adverse economic situations. Fanny and modern women do their best to juggle work and family, but as Harlots makes abundantly clear, that’s never easy and sometimes dangerous.

Women and Race: A Double Problem

Harriet is originally a slave, providing sexual services to slave owners in order to survive. But when the slave owner dies, her children are still slaves. Since there is no money to redeem them, she has to turn to prostitution to make money. For her, prostitution is preferable to slavery. Because she is black, she gets less money than her white counterparts. Therefore, in the world of Harlots, Harriet has to go to fancy brothels to satisfy the idiosyncrasies of certain aristocrats who view blackness as an interesting and elicit perk. It is the only way that she can survive and continue to feed her children.

The question is always: what to do?

The series makes clear that her situation is made worse because of her skin color. I often hear people say that women of color struggle more than white women. In 18th century London, women of color are treated as a male fetish, and in 21st century today, these women face all kinds of discrimination in the labor market. It’s another moment where Harlots makes an uncomfortable comparison between the past and the present.

A Good Madam is Hard to Find

After Emily runs from Margaret's brothel to Lydia's, she discovers Lydia is a fierce, cruel madam. She tries to escape back to Margaret's brothel. Emily is a common type in our society. She puts her interests first, which can be called selfish. However, I like her exuberant vitality, and the fact that she is not willing to let Lydia manipulate her. She resists and escapes. Even when she is caught and bullied, she retaliates and hits back, and because of that she is often beaten and her face is black and blue. Still, she always negotiates with vigor and vitality. It’s a kind of small person's toughness. I think this is a way that she resists social norms. In fact, what we learn to understand is that both eras, the 18th century and the 21st century, are equally difficult when it comes to money. That’s what makes Harlots so powerful.

Who is tougher?

When Sir George dies, Charlotte goes to the other lords. But as she grows older, she cannot satisfy the nobles' desire for virgins and young girls. It reminds me of the culture of leftover women in China today. Leftover women are over 35 and not married, which shouldn't be a stigma. Nonetheless, society has little tolerance for older women, believing that women should marry and have children when they are young. This is why the character of Charlotte is so charming and inspiring. She takes over her mother's business. She brightens rooms wherever she goes. She has what we could call wonderful social skills. Underneath her hardened exterior, she remains kind, warm, and straightforward. Perhaps this is the characteristic of a truly noble person, a person who is transparent and naturally good. She echoes Petofi's words, "I will sacrifice my life for love," and ends up falling down some stairs and dying in a pool of blood. Her death inspires not because she died, but because she died pursuing what she loved.

Inner Conflict

I remember the horror on Lucy's face when her virginity is auctioned off for the second time. She is like a caged animal, unable to cope with the strange proclivities of those in power. She always says she's ready, but inside she's scared and conflicted. Lucy is the most ridiculed character of the series. Lucy is sold when she is 12 and allowed to go to school. She has been well-protected and has such a good family. One thing I like about Lucy is that she chooses her virginity. She wants to be as popular a prostitute as Charlotte, but deep down she seems unwilling to compromise to such a life. It is a wonderful depiction of a young woman’s contradictory feelings towards the world she finds herself in.

She is confused but understands

Wong Kar-Wai says of his film, The Grandmaster, “In the world of prostitution is more emotional, brothels or the male power of the world a demon mirror”. I agree that all people are not equal, especially women and prostitutes. One hopes that people at the bottom of society do not lose the courage to resist and change their fates. Under the social stratification of England at that time, the proliferation of prostitutes is an unending problem. Even under such a social environment, these prostitutes cannot prevent their efforts and strength to break out of these cages, to fight against evil forces, and fight for freedom.

©Coco Fan and the CCA Arts Review