Bridgerton: new Netflix series

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Love the diversity of the cast, too!

I read that Julian Fellows (Downton, Belgravia) defends only casting white people. This shows that a diverse cast in a period piece works!

It totally works. It’s a little odd at first to put race aside especially in this historical context, but it doesn’t take long and then it’s fantastic to see a mix.

I don't really understand the forcing of a diverse cast into non diverse rolls. People would be shouting to burn the network down if Roots was re shot with a diverse cast. This just seems like exceptional jumping on an issue and timing. And at the end of the day, fluff. Which is fine.

What do you mean “non-diverse roles?” Its pure fiction. The roles are whatever the creatives decide they are. Unlike Roots which is specifically about Black people.

And don’t tell me it’s historical fiction because it’s Regency. There was no queen during the Regency period and Katy Perry melodies didn’t exist then. Black people being Dukes is no less out of keeping with a Regency drama.

Queen Charlotte was a real person, wife to the mad king and mother of the prince regent. The real life queen was of course white. I loved the Bridgerton casting and that it shows race blind casting works fine. It does not in any way harm this story to have her played by a black woman. In the same way, it would be fine for Mr Darcy to be played by a black actor in Pride and Prejudice. The "inaccuracy" is not a problem for the story.

There are stories specifically about race where doing that doesn't work. But I would argue that for most stories, even "serious" ones, it works fine. Also, there were plenty of black people in England at the time, they were mostly impoverished but they were there and it's not weird to see them in period drama.

There were not plenty of black people in Regency Britain. That is what we call historical revisionism to satisfy woke modern ideologies. Just to use as a reference point, in the 1940 census (living memory) there were only 40,000 non whites recorded in the entire UK out of a population of 40+ million.

You did have a very, very small number of people of African heritage who had been brought to Britain in individual capacity, as household servants. But it doesn't lend legitimacy to passing off British aristocrats as Africans or Asians. Having a black Mr. Darcy would be incredibly unrealistic and undermine the entire story because it would be as silly as casting a white actor to play an African chieftain.

Bridgeton is silly tv and will be forgotten so it's no big deal, but future efforts at colorblind casting in more serious historical productions will be more problematic without seeming silly (which certainly includes Austen's books for the reason that the person's non white origin fundamentally changes the character and how the world reacted to that character that cannot be glossed over).

But Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra.

Cleopatra wasn't black, she was Greek.

I didn’t say she wasn’t I’m saying that my Egyptian friends had a problem with Elizabeth playing her. Not everything is black and white.

[Anonymous]

Simon is smokin hot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Simon is smokin hot.

Yes he is!

I cannot accept Daphne’s bangs or her werewolf looking brother.

[Anonymous]

I had no idea I was missing Regency smut from my life! I liked it and would watch a second season. The unmasking of Lady Whistledown was obvious to me. That was my first guess. I love her character, though. I hope good things happen for her.

[Anonymous]

For all the people saying she was plain, she wasn't. She was average. That was the issue, perfectly average and perfectly ok but nothing to make her stand out. I will continue watching future seasons. Kate, Antony's heroine is my favorite of the series, so even if they just make it to Season 2 I'll be happy. . I'll grit my teeth and get through Colin/Penelope and Eloise/Sir Phillip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Simon is smokin hot.

Yes he is!

I cannot accept Daphne’s bangs or her werewolf looking brother.

Same. I want Daphne to fill out her dress and have better hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love the diversity of the cast, too!

I read that Julian Fellows (Downton, Belgravia) defends only casting white people. This shows that a diverse cast in a period piece works!

New poster.

I STRONGLY recommend you stream the 2019 movie "The Personal History of David Copperfield" if you want to see colorblind castithat is so well done it...doesn't even draw attention to itself. It's a gorgeous film in every way -- the script, the cast, the visuals. I'm a big admirer of Dickens novels and think the casting is great. Dev Patel is David and there is a LOT of other colorblind casting. It. Doesn't. Matter. Maybe it helps that the style of the movie is such that it's got surreal touches, so it's not obviously going for any "we're accurately reproducing actual history here" vibe. It really is a lovely film and the performances are terrific.

Full disclosure, I haven't seen any of "Bridgerton" yet so this isn't a comment on that series or its casting. Just wanting to let people know about this film.

You can stream it legit but cheaply on Vudu. I'm becoming a big fan of Vudu-- you do NOT have to pay for a subscription but just pay per movie or TV show and it can be quite inexpensive!

Off-topic I know, but I HATED this version of David Copperfield. I have no issues with colorblind casting and like Dev Patel pretty well in it. His David was a little manic, but overall well done. But oh what they did to Agnes. I loved Agnes because she was smart, steady, but had a backbone when she needed to. And in the end she won the day. Agnes in this movie was some alternate character. And I didn't care for how Dora was written out. I just thought it was a mess - an attempted improvement on a story that didn't need it.

[Anonymous]

I loved this, and accidentally binged it. Kind husband must have bathed and put our kids to bed because at some point no one was around 🤣

The Duke is super hot. I kept getting the Bridgerton brothers confused as they all looked alike, but I want to know more about the middle one. Daphne looks like she is 12, which was a low point. I did appreciate that the women were shown as smart. This was totally fun watch.

I hope there is a season 2 ASAP! This is what I needed for the end of 2020.

[Anonymous]

It is not meant to be actual history, but an alternate history. There was a few lines here or there that explained why there were black aristocrats. In sum, that a conscious decision was made when Charlotte married George III to have a society with racial equality and black men were entitled to foster that.

[Anonymous]

My biggest issue was how Penelope sussed out all of the salacious gossip as a sheltered teen girl and wrote it up with innuendos, but somehow had no clue how babies were made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For all the people saying she was plain, she wasn't. She was average. That was the issue, perfectly average and perfectly ok but nothing to make her stand out. I will continue watching future seasons. Kate, Antony's heroine is my favorite of the series, so even if they just make it to Season 2 I'll be happy. . I'll grit my teeth and get through Colin/Penelope and Eloise/Sir Phillip.

But there were comments about her beauty. I could’ve dealt with her look more if they had done something better with her hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just watched the first 2 episodes. I love it! And the Duke is smokin’ hot!

Ew. I hate arrogant people like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else felt bad for Penelope? I knew there had to be a reason she always got the worse of everything.

+1
She may be short and plump, but I found her to be the prettiest of the sisters.

[Anonymous]

Its explained more in the books. Her mom had her debut when she was really young and immature, and dressed them in the same color all the time so people could tell them apart.

I was getting a bi vibe from Benedict

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the people saying she was plain, she wasn't. She was average. That was the issue, perfectly average and perfectly ok but nothing to make her stand out. I will continue watching future seasons. Kate, Antony's heroine is my favorite of the series, so even if they just make it to Season 2 I'll be happy. . I'll grit my teeth and get through Colin/Penelope and Eloise/Sir Phillip.

But there were comments about her beauty. I could’ve dealt with her look more if they had done something better with her hair.

Well when they dressed her hair up she looked really pretty! Also her face kind of reminded me of Renaissance paintings. It may have been the standard for beauty at one point.