OPINION
Much was made about the diverse casting of the Netflix period drama Bridgerton, where a number of Black actors played major roles, including the much-talked about Duke of Hastings played by Regé-Jean Page and Queen Charlotte portrayed by Golda Rosheuvel.
The drama takes place in Regency London, and while there were some who pointed out that diversity like this didn't exist in Royal circles in 1813, at the end of the day it didn't matter because the show was a thumping success for Netflix and its production company Shondaland (headed by the formidable producer Shonda Rhimes).
Nicola Coughlan, the Irish actress who played Penelope Featherington, underlined how the diverse cast didn't impact the success of the show, by tweeting: "You know the way some people were like ‘Diversity in period drama doesn’t work’....63 million households thought it did tho so"
It's not just Bridgerton. Last year's remake of the David Copperfield story, The Personal History of David Copperfield, had Dev Patel playing the title role of Copperfield - a role that had previously only been played by white actors like Daniel Radcliffe in a BBC adaptation.
“In all our conversations, we never spoke about another actor to play our lead than Dev,” the producer of the film, Kevin Loader, .
Loader went on to say: "I was standing on the side of the set the other day, watching a scene between three of the younger characters. I suddenly realised I was watching three young black British actors in a Dickens adaptation, none of which were written as black characters. And it didn’t seem odd. It’s just another scene in the film.”
And that perhaps is the crucial bit to realise - that any ethnicity could play a role and make it seem like "just another scene in the film." But it needs to take powerful advocates like Kevin Loader and Shonda Rhimes to get behind such a move.
Previously, shows like Downton Abbey with their all-white casts were excused because they were considered to be reflecting a so-called authentic vision of the time.
Previously, shows like Downton Abbey with their all-white casts were excused because they were considered to be reflecting a so-called authentic vision of the time.
Julian Fellowes, the man who created Downton Abbey, as well as a West End musical based on an H.G. Wells book that had an all-white cast, : “You can’t make something untruthful.”
But diversity did exist in Britain and the US in historic times. It's just been whitewashed out of existence.
The academic Dr Miranda Kaufmann, author of the '', found that Black people existed in Britain for hundreds of years.
"I think the racist people who want an all-white Britain assume that black immigration is a recent phenomenon," she said. , "there’s no reason why you couldn’t have black characters in shows set in the 16th, 17th, 18th centuries." (In fact, as some Bridgerton viewers asked, was Queen Charlotte really Black? )
But is the authentic truth what's at stake here or is it something more insidious?
As the novelist N.K. Jemisin recently: "I've read novels set in historical periods that featured no women, children, or elderly; none of the reviews noted this. Watched shows set in big American cities -- MY city -- that turned it into young cishet Whitelandia."
It's funny how some film critics will accept almost anything in a fictional film, except perhaps an ethnically diverse cast in a period film. The 2019 film Mary Queen of Scots, for example, featured a diverse cast, with , "I was really clear, I would not direct an all-white period drama."
Some critics, however, thought this was an "ideological" choice, with one : "The director may feel she is practising affirmative action but when applied to historical events in which sets and costumes are intended to be convincing, this is a deeply ideological gesture. Although bathed in the glow of political correctness..."
Perhaps to some, diversity in period drama is about appearing woke. But to audiences it seems, as Bridgerton proved at least, it doesn't matter.
Perhaps to some, diversity in period drama is about appearing woke. But to audiences it seems, as Bridgerton proved at least, it doesn't matter.
Fictional shows, whether they be set in the past or in the future, are about suspending our disbelief. We either go with the world that we are presented with and get lost in the show, or we don't. The diversity of the cast may at first appear as something unusual, purely because we aren't used to seeing diverse actors in period costumes, but as with any film, the more we watch, the less likely we are to notice things such as whether the actor is Black and the actress playing opposite him is white. We are more in that instance, interested in their chemistry as a couple.
The more we see diverse actors costumed up and playing the roles of Kings and Queens, the more we as audiences become used to them, and the less critics see such castings as ideological decisions, accepting instead that it simply came down to the best actor for the part being given the role.
