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Queen Charlotte & The Bridgerton Problem (Patreon)

Published:
2023-03-01 13:30:01
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

While I overall support the efforts of bringing people of color into period dramas—mainly because they are a significant part of Western European media and therefore, I want talented actors of color to be included. The particular expansion of Charlotte makes me feel a bit uncomfortable because once you get past a certain period with the British Royal Family—or any royal family—slavery becomes an unavoidable reality.  Let's talk about it.


Other Videos Mentioned:

✨ History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp2N4AHCDHY

✨Bridgerton and the Problem of Pastel Progressivism: https://youtu.be/GiD_yqfqCoo

✨Broey Deschanel's The Liberal Escapism of Bridgerton: https://youtu.be/F_CAK_yj5JM


Sources: 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_IV#Early_life

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Charlotte:_A_Bridgerton_Story

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/in-defense-of-king-george-180978852/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/dirty-little-secret-115579444/

https://georgianpapers.com/2019/01/21/uncovering-royal-perspectives-on-slavery-empire-and-the-rights-of-colonial-subjects/

https://slaverylawpower.org/george-iii-slave-trade/

https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2021/01/bridgerton-and-the-real-queen-charlotte/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiento_de_Negros

https://slaverylawpower.org/queen-anne-speech/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/23/british-royal-family-monarchy-historical-links-to-slavery

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Comments

Meaghan Cloherty

Loving this and oh my gosh, so many links 😭 thank you I’m very excited to research and then rewatch!

What's_Left

Great points were made! Giving Black and Non White performers financial longevity being one of them. Thanks for the video

DUNIA ALMERDAIE

Love the video. I too felt that way when they introduced the topic of race on Bridgerton because 1. Haters will try to pick it apart black characters and their legitimacy 2. Some times we want things just to be fun and not always bring up painful topics.

Selene

I’m so glad you made this video. I feel so conflicted about watching a romance with freakin King George. I wish it had just been a prequel with Lady Danbury and how she got together with her husband.

Hermione

I feel the same way about Bridgerton. I enjoyed the series as a fun escapist fantasy, but the way they chose to explain the mixed cast and the implication that interracial love somehow solved racism in this very stratified privileged society - I just can't suspend my disbelief that far. It actually kind of pisses me off. As you said, it's important to have stories of actual black people who lived in these time periods and societies, like Belle and Chevalier, but we also need our light entertainment as well and you can't really do that if you choose to comment on the social issues that come with it. I think Sanditon is the only period drama I've seen that balances that (I've only seen season one though). The other thing is that while traditional eurocentric period dramas get so much play, I wish there were other non-eurocentric historical dramas getting made. Watching Bridger ton Season Two made me long for a flashback to when the two sisters were in India and what that society would have looked like in that same period. If you've ever seen a Bollywood movie centred around rich families and love stories, it fills that same escapist fantasy as your typical Jane Austen adaptation, complete with beautiful costumes, high society hijinks and a simple, silly love story.

Aubrey and the Universe

Shonda Rimes really could have easily, used Beverly Jenkins romance novels. I am going to watch queen charlotte. I definitely prefer when it’s all white people and no mention of race. Or all Black people doing their own Black thing. But I just roll my eyes all that and keep it moving. Colorblind casting only works if everyone pretends that race isn’t a thing.

Cara Rowen

So after watching season one of Bridgeton I was determined to read the books and see how bad they were. It's was interesting. The editors didn't care, white Simon is actual kinda worse, but the relationship between Simon and Daphne was kinda of better. Instead of constantly jealous lovers their friends, Simon isn't sleeping around and Daphne is genuinely trying to get to know him, which ultimately makes the sting of his lie worse and the SA scene almost becomes just a "nevermind they're both garbage, throw them away" moment because he has also been sexually exploitative of her at every opportunity knowing he could absolutely destroy her reputation and her families. Collin was actually one of the better parts of book 1 and 2,but they gave his personality to clearly chaotic bi sexual Benedict. I don't think the show has really thought much through other than how absolutely fantastic Kate was. And how they definitely fixed Anthony because I hated him in book 2. I still haven't finished it.

Allison A Walker-Elders

thank you for making this! excited to watch--I really enjoyed the Bridgerton books and have a love-hate relationship with the show (I love to hate watch it haha) and I'm so excited to watch Queen Charlotte, but it absolutely is an uncomfortable thing they are doing given the nature of the British Empire over the last 500 years. I get the sense this is gonna be a mess so we will see. Bridgerton is my Game of Thrones and Queen Charlotte is no doubt my House of the Dragon.

Stephen B
>>103120856

Uhh, Daphne straight up rapes him in the books. Their actions aren't equal. You think being a douche is a qualifier for rape being allowed?

Stephen B

I have some questions with your takes: Not sure is I can comprehend what you mean by criticizing Quinn getting money off of this show despite not dealing with the diversity part(which isnt much diffrent than most authors in these costume dramas). It's her showing her property how can she NOT get money off of that she came up with the story? It just had white characters. Works are often adapted different for certain reasons from what book authors wrote, should they not get paid? I also take slight issue with your issue of the adaptation. Imo, the entire show dresses up black peoples as our oppressor class, so what does it matter that they are using queen Charlotte. Colonialism cast a wide net, even if this show ignored race these characters Quinn made come from a certain time in history. I understand your point about ignoring race, but thats not easy for a lot of people because there was demarcation of race as there was a gender, the latter the show doesn't also ignore. To say there was black nobles would be like saying there were black Slave/Landowners Owners in America. I mean, there are books on it, but theres no adapting that in America because it (1) too close too home (2) there's were way more whites and it was whites who drove that culture as much as they did in the regency era portrayed in Bridgerton. The point I'm tryna make is is the regency era portrayed is not exempt from the exploitation that happened from the high classes that black people are dressing up in. In this tv show, unlessyou choose to turn your brain off, you'll probably conclude Lady Grantham gettin her fine cloth off of black people as much as lily white Lady Daphne. Like your work btw, just not sure I'm following you here

Princess Weekes
>>103183422

I mean, yes on a purely it is her IP of course she should get paid. My issue is that she says (as she said in the quote) that she struggled to include POC in her stories because she didn’t know how to write non racist white people in those stories and that is … what Bridgerton has become. The books are re-printed with BIPOC leads on them when that doesn’t reflect the source material AND now she is making a tie in book based on something she admitted she didn’t have the range to create herself. And she has yet to (at least in my knowledge) address that or at least show growth feom

Cara Rowen
>>103120856

Whoa that's 100% not what I meant, nor what I said. I said they were both awful like him sexually assaulting her in the garden isn't better. Not better does not mean equal. And I don't need someone coming at me in bad faith about anything.

Princess Weekes
>>103183422

Add: I didn’t see the rest of your questions as you edited it. I will respond to the rest later since I’m in the middle of something.

AlyssaMakesArt

I just wrote able Quinn's comments again (TMS) and this is the most frustrating part of it all. She said this in 2017 - that is not that long ago. In that clip you showed, she referenced an earlier convo. It is because she said worse comments early that month in a smaller event in Atlanta next to Beverly Jenkins. I was curious as to how they were going to tackle Queen Charlotte—considering the foundations from the first season. They obvs saw the criticism because the weird Talented Tenth ass plot point was silenced in the 2nd season. Now they are stirring the shit again for a prequel series. It's very tiring. I would rather in "between the ton" season. Or something that doesn't go backwards in time and further establishes their weird alt-history.

Laura K. Watson

Great video! I also loved the David Copperfield movie from a few years ago with Dev Patel for actually letting actors of colour play the leads and just approaching it in this playful, non-historical, Brandy-Cinderella way. I would love to know what you thought about how the Enola Holmes movies deal with this. I thought they were really fun, but it felt weird in movies so much about the actual history of the women's rights movement to seemingly pretend race is not a thing.

Samantha Rey

I will say, for the Jodie Turner-Smith Anne Boleyn series, I feel like her blackness enhanced the metaphor of Anne Boleyn as an outcast who has taken the brunt of history's criticisms despite behaving relatively normally for any woman in that situation and modernizing that idk implicit bias/understanding(??) (I'm a math major not a words person) for the viewer and the series doesn't really address her as canonically black, so it sits much better with me than bridgerton. I agree that the series was pretty boring, but I think that it exemplifies the kind of model that can be used for bringing meaningful representation and utilization of poc actors for playing historically white monarchs. But I'm a Boleyn stan and the death scene ate so I'm biased.

sunlit_music

I haven't seen Mr Malcolm's List, but I'll look it up. Thanks for recommending it! :) I agree Catherine of Aragon is terrific.