The Buccaneers and the Infantilization of Female Period Dramas (Patreon)

I love period dramas.

When I was little, my father and I would watch My Fairy Lady on television, complete with intermission, crack peanuts, and dance together (move your blooming arse).

My favorite book growing up was A Little Princess, which then led to my obsession with different adaptations of the work, but especially the Alfonso Cuarón 90s adaptation (all girls are princesses).

Growing up in the States, period dramas were often about periods in white European history or based on popular books in the Western canon. With a few exceptions (Brandy’s Cinderella/Much Ado About Nothing), the whiteness of the period drama was a given.

That has been changing.

With Hamilton on Broadway being the transformative Obama-era work towards this and the overwhelming success of Bridgerton, Six, and others, we have seen a true shift in the whiteness of the period drama.

Although the new adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility are giving recession indicator levels of whiteness.

The genre has, however, struggled with issues of how to write characters of color in a way that is consistent with the narrative they want to tell.

Some have found a way of highlighting the actual Black and non-white populations that could have existed in places like working-class London (Harlots) or just include it without explanation or need to defend that creative choice (Mary, Queen of Scots and Wolf Hall Part 2). Both choices are causing a lot of whinging about the issue.

Others have reshaped the history of how we see this period with the acknowledgement of the fact that Black people have existed in Europe for longer than many would think, and that with slavery, there is no reason to exclude Black people from the Regency era. We can talk about race while still having an escapist story with beautiful gowns (Sanditon and The Spanish Princess).

But sometimes … bullshit happens, and I can’t think of a clearer example of that than Apple TV’s The Buccaneers.

Footage used:

My Fair Lady, A Little Princess (1995), Much Ado About Nothing (1995), Brandy's Cinderella, Hamilton trailer, SIX trailer, The Spanish Princess Part One, The Buccaneers 2022, The Buccaneers 1995, The Age of Innocence (1993), House of Mirth (2000), Downton Abbey, The Gilded Age S3, Reign