Before we get into the host's of Lost in the 21st Century's views on Bridgerton please read part 1 of this piece first!
Includes some spoilers to Bridgerton
To make the discussion on race in Bridgerton a larger conversation, I asked the hosts of Lost in the 21st Century their views on this show that’s got the nation addicted. The girls also wrote a very informative piece on race in Bridgerton, posted on @lostinthe21stcentry on instagram!
With colourism being such a prominent issue in the entertainment industry, how do you think Bridgerton’s casting contributed to the issue of colourism?
Bridgerton casting contributed to the issues of colourism as there was many white families being show cased. Yes, the show had a mixed race queen and Lady Danbury a black women, Simmons father, Marina and Simmons black boxer, however, I didn’t feel like there was enough lead black casting actors. I would say I only saw about 9 black people in Bridgerton. Overall it was a good show hence why they are making a season 2, but adding my own 2 pence to this colourism issues these days the suitable black leading role is usually light skin and never really a dark skin actor/actress, which is disappointing to not see someone like yourself represented on TV or in a book and someone who is almost the same age. The media has been know for not having enough black roles. This can also be seen with Asian people as well especially south Asian who also have a huge colourism issue within their community where the light skinned Asians are depicted as beautiful, rich, smart etc are seen on a higher pedestal than the darker skinned Asians. The directors could of picked on this and included these also beautiful dark skinned south Asians. In the future I’m really hoping for more POC to cast a diverse film or a series where the main characters are predominantly POC, for example Black Panther which was a predominantly black casting movie made was able to accomplish millions in the cinema and so did Crazy Rich Asian. (Answered by Ruona)
Among those main characters who are black, we see many stereotypes; Lady Danbury as this ‘mammie’ stock character with no real purpose aside from supporting her surrogate son. Marina, the young black girl with baby mamma drama, who becomes villainized as the show progresses and Simon’s father, the show’s main antagonist. How do you think these stereotypes further misrepresent black individuals in the media?
The typical black stock characters are boring. we see show producers and writers virtual signalling by supplying diversity. However, these characters are often very one dimensional. it’s one thing to add black actors but if these actors lack proper storyline or purpose then the push for diversity is futile. This misrepresents black people in media by only showing one perspective of the characters. the stock “mammie” character lady Danbury is one dimensional and the show does not really explore any other part of her. What about the struggles she goes through as a black woman in high society? etc. Lady Danbury’s full purpose or story isn’t really known. Her character could be better if they offered more than one side to her character. (Answered by Muna)
Considering the fact that Daphne and Simon were in an inter-racial relationship, do you feel this should have been addressed, especially since Van Dusen (Bridgerton’s creator) claimed race was a key element of the plot?
From what I can remember when watching the series, Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) did briefly mention to the Duke of Hastings/Simon (Regé-Jean Page), “We were two separate societies divided by colour until a king fell in love with one of us…/ Look at everything it is doing for us, allowing us to become.” Despite this, I still do believe that they should have explicitly mentioned more towards the inter-racial relationships that were being portrayed, especially by powerful individuals like a Duke and a wealthy white woman. (Answered by Raina)
Do you think Bridgerton accurately portrayed Regency London as diverse and multi-ethnic as it was in real life?
Bridgerton did manage to use a diverse cast to kind of replicate what people looked like back in the era that Bridgerton was supposedly meant to be in. But personally this isn’t something to award the show for. One thing that I have to remind my self is that people of colour didn’t have that much power in those days when slavery, racism and homophobia was what made up British society and so was not really shown in the show. The director could of definitely included this to show people who were watching this around the world how BIPOC suffered in the British society. I believe that even though Bridgerton was able to achieve what a possible British society may have looked like the diversity in the lead characters lacked a lot of it. The diversity to me felt unnatural and forced because the show was what the director said was almost like a magical/fantasy world which wasn’t meant to portray a realistic world/society meaning such things like race wasn’t necessarily meant to have a huge impact especially how white people treated black, Asian, Latinos and other races. It would be hard to compare the diversity to what the UK looks like now since they are both completely two different eras but considering how society has changed in the 21st century I think it would have been appropriate to switch a few things in the show if it wasn’t meant to have an accurate/realistic representation of the UK or the original book. This could of been including more POC as the lead roles rather than background props, as the show mainly profited of having a ‘supposedly’ diverse cast of people of different backgrounds. In my own honest opinion I don’t think the show should have put any person of colour as the main character specifically in this show as in the original all characters were white, it just felt a little bit out of place where race was slyly mentioned but not obvious or clear and kind of fulfilled the stereotypes of many POC. I believe in order to achieve ‘real’ diversity it would have to be a book/show made to fit the many types of POC which kind of diminishes typical stereotypes rather than adding POC onto the wrong roles to make the show look diverse. (Answered by Akwaugo)
What do you hope season 2 of Bridgerton will do differently in terms of discussing race?
If a realistic approach is what they were aiming for then race should have definitely been highlighted more. However, if the typical fictional love story with a charming man and innocent woman is what they tried to predominantly capture then maybe race did not have to be the main highlight of the plot. Nonetheless, a Netflix show that garnered 82 million viewers, would have inevitably made a positive influence in our (somewhat) progressive generation; non-western countries, who may find that it is uncommon and less accepted to have relationships between different races in their own countries, would have had greater insight into the significance and normality these relationships possess. (Answered by Raina)
I hope that in bridgerton 2 they use more POC with lead roles as all I mainly saw was white people. I personally think it would be nice to see a woman or a man with a lupita Nyongo’s skin complexion. (Answered by Ruona)
I personally don’t know what to expect from a season 2 of bridgerton even though there is an 8 series book of the show, there isn’t anything else to look forward to after the show. I would say I kinda felt tricked into a show I thought was for once going to have real diversity or good representation for POC but actually really just used us as props. In terms of race, if they really want a diverse society and characters, race should be ‘very’ important to include especially during an era like this. Bridgerton was a good show but I think the main reason why their views was high was because a lot POC thought they were going to see someone like themselves on tv so decided to watch it. (Answered by Akwaugo)
It was so insightful to read these responses and the girls definitely brought up some issues that hadn't crossed my mind; like the futile nature of diversity when it's advertised and promoted just to draw in a wider audience made of POC and raise the revenue. I'm giving Bridgerton a second chance to redeem itself in season 2, where hopefully the promise of a show where race and colour are key elements will be kept.
Thank you for the host's of Lost in the 21st Century for contributing to the piece! Listen to their podcast on Spotify, Anchor or Apple Podcast, and check out their blog page https://lostinthe21stcentu.wixsite.com/lostinthe21stcentury. Make sure you follow their instagram @lostinthe21stcentury for relatable & informative content!
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