BRIDGERTON; Pride, Prejudice and Black People
Bridgerton takes color blind casting in period drama to places it has never gone before
This is the midweek what-to-watch edition of Snarky Senior — the newsletter from Erica Manfred, which you can read about here. If you like it and don’t want to miss an issue, you can get it in your inbox by subscribing.
I was expecting to hate Bridgerton. I gave up on the book after a couple of chapters out of sheer boredom. It read like Jane Austen for 6th graders.
I admit to having no patience for Austen’s novels. I find her language too convoluted, and Regency romance is not my favorite genre. I do appreciate the films made from Austen novels, especially the wildly satirical Love and Friendship which was close to farce.
I’m also not fond of period pieces which employ color-blind casting because it’s so jarring. I was so distracted by a black character in the 18th century court of Queen Anne in The Favorite with Olivia Colman I lost track of what was going on, even though it was a total spoof to begin with. I’m hoping to eventually get so used to it I won’t notice but it still makes me nuts.
Bridgerton is an exception. It takes color blind casting in period drama to places it has never gone before—to all levels of society--royalty as well as servants. And it works!
I credit that to the genius of Shonda Rimes who seemingly can pull off just about anything in the soap opera adjacent space. Bridgerton agilely skates the thin ice between comedy and tragedy, interracial relationships and gay sex, romance and soft core porn, and somehow manages to not be totally ridiculous though it is somewhat ridiculous.
Maybe it works because Bridgerton is such a colorful spoof of Jane Austen to begin with, taking place in a fantastic alternative past where London is a theme park for the rich. The aristocracy wears candy-colored costumes with wallpaper-inspired prints (did they even have printed fabric in 1800?) making everyone look like they’re in an alternative historical reality.
The costumes alone signal that we are in a fantasy, so why not black dukes and duchesses? It’s not even that far-fetched. The actual Queen Charlotte supposedly had African ancestry (QOC?) which is a remarkable historical fact in itself. Unfortunately her position didn’t lead to the integration of the court as the fantasy invented by Bridgerton asserts. It just led to that unfortunate woman having to deal with her husband, mad King George.
The comic talents of Golda Rosheuvel who plays the queen sets the tone for the series. Her sneering comments, plus her two foot high wigs decorated with colorful gew gaws, elaborate costumes and Pomeranians alone make Bridgerton worth watching. Rosheuvel is an opera singer and we can only hope that next season she will break out in song.
The leads, Phoebe Dynavor and Regé-Jean Page as lovers Daphne Bridgerton and Simon, the Duke of Hastings are disappointingly dull IMHO, although they have their ardent fans. Regé-Jean Page admittedly is a hunk but his smoldering silences seemed more like sophomoric sullenness. He would benefit from taking a few smoldering lessons from Idris Elba, who knows how to make this girl’s heart flutter.
Supposedly the “diamond” of the season, Phoebe Dynavor as Daphne is no Gwyneth Paltrow. She looks more like a skinny, flat-chested schoolgirl. Her hairdo alone was weird. I couldn’t stop wondering who came up with those silly split bangs. Her rival, a tall blond with a regal bearing was much more attractive IMHO.
If I snoozed during the main love story, including the sex scenes which featured a lot of bare butts and few side boobs but were tame by pay cable standards, I woke up for the plot twists featuring the supporting cast who are worth the price of admission. My favorite was Nicola Coughlan as Penelope, the plump Featherington daughter with fetching ginger curls, who wears her heart on her bright yellow sleeve. She and Eloise, the rebellious Bridgerton daughter who has no desire to marry, are a pre-feminist BFF duo who plot to help poor pregnant Marina Thompson who has been “ruined” by the lover who seems to have abandoned her. Ruby Barker as Thompson is another standout, who out-acts Dynavour by a mile. Too bad they didn’t cast her as Daphne.
I won’t even try to summarize the plot, which involves jockeying over social status, duels, boxing matches between hot guys, unrequited love, financial and social ruin, and love both conquering and not conquering all, with a lot of sex in unlikely places including staircases.
If you need to binge something totally without redeeming intellectual or social value, you could do worse than Bridgerton.
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