I love period pieces. I have a minor in American History and growing up my two favorite shows to binge-watch were Reign and The Other Boleyn Girl (nobody can do it like Natalie). So when I saw the trailer for the Shonda Rhimes Netflix show, it would be an understatement to say that I was excited. After watching it though I was left feeling unfulfilled.
The show is an adaptation of the book series by Julia Quinn and was produced by Shondaland. The coming-of-age story explores the themes of sexism, gender roles and class as the characters are forced to reconcile with the ways that they contribute to a patriarchal system.
Bridgerton is a new take on this particular story because the audience is being exposed to both the men and women perspectives on what it means to marry, produce an heir and influence their social status. And for a few reasons, the show is quite beautiful.
The mystery, the drama, the witty banter between characters is incredibly well-done. But for all the themes that the show explores, race seems to be intentionally glossed over. And because of this, I am left to wonder the extent to which colorism played in the creation of this show.
Colorism is defined as the prejudice or preference for people of a different complexion, usually between members of the same racial group. An example of this in American culture is when white slave owners would have mixed-race children with slaves who, because of their lighter complexion, received fairer treatment by society.
The first issue for me is that the show is being hailed as racially diverse because of the color-blind casting. Which it is, you can see people of color playing a multitude of roles. But one of the problems arises when race is almost completely ignored until halfway through the show, and even when it is acknowledged we only get a brief reference. Not only that, but the three Black characters with the most dialogue are Lady Dansbury (Adjoa Andoh), Marina Thompson (Ruby Barker) Simon (Rege’-Jean Page) who are all light-skinned.
In the show, the two darkest characters are the Duke of Hastings Sr, who’s abusive to Simon, and Will, who is one of Simon’s best friends. The show frames the Duke of Hastings as a special type of evil not only because of his abuse to Simon but also because of how he treated Simon’s mother, who is also light-skinned, in her final moments after giving birth to Simon.
As audience members, we’re supposed to agree that this man is the monster of the story and Simon’s mother is the perfect wife which is mentioned several times. On the surface, this may not seem like an issue, but by placing the lighter-skinned on a figurative pedestal, signals to the audience that light is good and dark is bad which in itself already has racist origins.
Will’s involvement in the show ends when he throws a boxing match with the help of Mr. Featherington who’s attempting to use the profits to pay his gambling debts. At the end of the show Mr. Featherington is caught and killed, but we’re never given any insight into what happened to Will once his relevance to Simon ceased.
No matter the medium, it matters when Black characters are given nefarious storylines that run the risk of negative stereotyping without having a deeper conversation about how race works. Common stereotypes associated with Black people in the media are that they are scheming, selfish, aggressive, or magical in some way that only relates to their ability to help the main character.
A common trend in the media is to cast light-skinned leads as the love interest of the main white lead to convey diversity and racial tolerance. When Black people are being cast for certain roles white directors, producers, etc. tend to go for lighter-skinned people because it’s easier for audiences to relate to them despite being light-skinned having its own set of challenges.
This is the result of many factors including Eurocentric beauty standards which have deemed white people as the standard of beauty and anything else as abnormal. This has led to the creation of several “race” tests such as the One-Drop Rule and the Paper Bag Test which still have ramifications today.
In the end, the beauty of the set and costume design wasn’t enough to satiate my desire for more emotionally complex performances from the Black characters in this show. Hopefully, we can look forward to this in season 2.
DeVonte Smith can be reached at [email protected]