Emily Dickinson’s life, according to the show Dickinson, had a lot more gay sex and twerking than middle school English class would have had you believe. And, from what we now know of the reclusive poet’s life, at least half of that is true. 

The cult hit Apple TV+ show—now in its third and final season—retells Dickinson’s life by pairing a modern knowledge of her lifelong relationships with a modern set of anachronisms: The 19th-century residents of Amherst, Massachusetts, twerk to hip-hop. They stay in for “novels and chill.” They hook up, curse, and use slang as if they were alive today.

But Dickinson’s not alone in its approach. With shows like Bridgerton and The Great also blending the last few centuries, why is television using period settings to tell contemporary stories lately? Does the slant of that approach bring something direct storytelling can’t?

The Atlantic staff writers Sophie Gilbert, Shirley Li, and Spencer Kornhaber discuss.

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