I keep seeing the film trope of the peasant covered in filth, apparently fine with it. However in my own life I am disgusted by unclean habits and smells, from myself and other people. Would a peasant be ok with it or are the “dirty peasant” tropes exaggerated?
Dirty peasant tropes are indeed vastly exaggerated. While we might think an average medieval person a little grubby compared to the particularly germaphobic standards of our time, they still valued hygiene and cleanliness. I wrote a longer answer about it here. I also wrote a little bit about how a decline in the Roman style of bathing gets artificially conflated with a decline in washing here.
You might also enjoy /u/MikeDash's rebuttal of the idea that Elizabeth I only took four baths a year, which you can read here.