Bridgerton Race History

Bridgerton takes on race.

Bridgerton race history. Bridgerton is an american streaming television period drama series created by chris van dusen and produced by shonda rhimes it is based on julia quinn s novels set in the competitive world of regency london during the season when debutantes are presented at court it premiered on netflix on december 25 2020. Although the show is set in 1813 it does. In the late 2000s a show about an interracial romance in a fictionalised regency era with a black monarch might have gotten away with a colourblind approach.

The netflix hit departs from the homogeneous casting of most period drama imagining a 19th century britain with black royalty and. The first season of show centers around the relationship between a white future duchess daphne bridgerton phoebe dynevor and a black inheritor of dukedom simon basset regé jean page. But its core is escapism.

So when it came to adapting bridgerton which is executive produced by shonda rhimes and betsy beers charlotte s real life background gave them an opportunity to influence the adaptation with more. To translate bridgerton exists in a fictional 19th century london society where unlike today queen charlotte s race was never up for debate. Bridgerton was was made for white women who like historical romance but are open to some diversity.

But what sets the show apart from other color conscious period casting is that this has been written into the fabric of the show making it part of the alternate history or canon of bridgerton. Bridgerton premiered in the wake of these movements yet categorically fails at a nuanced or even justifiable approach to its handling of both race and consent. In the show she is a black woman who ascended the throne resulting in a more accepting world filled with equal opportunity where it wasn t radical to see black elite and middle class people.

The drama centers on the bridgerton family. It s possible to start out believing that bridgerton is an alternate fantasy version of history in which a magnificent black queen sat solo on the british throne and handed out dukedoms like candy. Bridgerton follows daphne bridgerton played by phoebe dynevor the eldest daughter of the powerful bridgerton family as she makes her debut onto regency london s competitive marriage market.