An Asian Mozart is all well and good, but if you’re going to introduce the Russian poet Pushkin into your show, why not reflect reality and cast a Black actor?
Alexander Pushkin was the great-grandson of Abram Gannibal, who was born in Africa, kidnapped as a child, made a slave and gifted to Tsar Peter the Great as an amusing novelty. (Unlike its European neighbors, Russia practiced indentured servitude instead of owning foreign-born slaves, so Black people were rarely seen.) Freed by the Tsar and made his godson, raised and educated in a style befitting royalty, Gannibal eventually became General-in-Chief of the Russian army and married into European nobility.
(The show’s casting being colorblind, I realize that few people would bother checking whether the greatest Russian poet was actually Black, but still…)
To my understanding for the first season Bridgerton made an "explanation" for it's colorblind casting, but it's bullshit and kinda more racist than having an all white cast; but from what I'm seeing later season have some actual diversity, by which I mean the brought in the Asians, and that doesn't match with their BS explanation so I'm guess we're just gonna not worry about history and have a racially diverse cast
idk how to tell people this but taika waititi playing blackbeard doesn't inherently alter the subtext of the show into a commentary on how indigenous men are treated by white men
this is what critics mean when they talk about colorblind casting vs color-conscious casting, where OFMD falls into the former category because the backgrounds of the actors themselves do not meaningfully or tangibly alter the text of the show nor the dynamics of the characters therein
with the way blackbeard is written, he can 100% be swapped out for a white actor with no changes to the script, and this is the most basic litmus test for whether or not your writing includes actual political / racial commentary or if you simply threw an actor of color / character of color into a part of your narrative without considering how it informs or is informed by the world of the story
OFMD is at its core a dramedy that did not set out to convey any particularly poignant messages on race, and an executive producer wanted to play a leading role in it, and he did. that's it.
So sick of the current trend of colorblind casting for shows with White creative teams, yall really think you are doing poc a favour with this 🙄🙄 I admit, I thought it was good idea at first but the problem comes when White writers think that their experiences are universal.
This is about casting and physical attributes, not about development. This is about a show I truly love, and not one that I hate. These are all observations and thought processing about the casting of the Tremont/Dunn family in the series.
Daisy: Kyliegh Curran | Ashley B. Jones
So! Our girlie Kyliegh played her great grandmother (or great great grandmother? - I forget, Daisy, as a kid) And, I was like, "Well... it's not perfect.
You can't tell how much darker this woman is than Kylie in her photos, but on the show, she looked a tinge too dark for me to fully invest in the idea that she was well cast, but I rationalized that maybe she was inside more as a kid and then you know, was just lightskint like a light skinned biracial because of that when she was young. (I have met people whose parents tried keeping them inside on sunny days so they wouldn't get too dark), which is wild and off topic, because I don't think that would happen with Daisy, but saying IF she was simply inside a lot more as a kid, she could be that much lighter than the child actress vs the adult actress.
Harper's mama is biracial, I think. I feel like the kid that played her mom is, though Idk if the lady is or not. I do know that Kylie's character is supposed to be fully Black, even though the actress is not, irl. And her ancestor, Daisy, who she played had two pretty unambiguously Black parents and her and her little brother came out light skinned. Him, looking like his mama, her looking like the milkman's child..
Grace (Daisy's Mom): Kenneisha Thompson
Now... this happens sometimes in real life. But like I've said before - it don't happen nearly as much irl as it do on TV. So, Kyliegh as that woman - meh. Not a great casting choice, if not a bad one.
I understand they needed them to be identical to make the plot work, but I don't understand why everybody in the family is clearly Black then come her, actually biracial, and then here she come again a couple generations later, as Harper. Lol.
Her mama though Jess Dunn: Izabela Rose | Diandra Lyle
They did better in skin tone, but I would love sometimes for productions, especially big money bitches to try to do some side by sides every now and then and be like, "Are we sure this is the right choice?" or acknowledge some of the wild changes.
Where is a wide nosed sista to play this mama? Did she get a nose job at some point? We just supposed to imagine her nose was always that dainty? It has nothing to do with the plot, but Idk how I would overlook that you have such a drastically different nose in your adult life than you did as a kid. The grandmother had a wide nose (scroll up) and she had one as a kid, then it just... went small when she grew up?
I am a big nosed bitch... and my nose was SMALLER as a child, because I was smaller. I actually was quite aware of Izabela's nose when she was Young Jess because we were going back and forth in time, from her nose to Diandra's nose. BEAUTIFUL WOMAN! They are both so lovely. They just do not look like people who grew up to be that person! Ma'am you didn't contour away all that nose. (I love both these actresses).
The fact that I dwell on this casting has nothing to do with their performances and everything to do with how badly I want casting to try to get people who actually look alike when they are playing the same character, unless for some reason within the story, they somehow look different. This Is Us only magnified my fixation on this subject. Most of them people looked just like them kids.
This is the man who plays Harper's daddy, FYI:
But like we said, we rationalizing that Mama Dunn is biracial, or at the very least so lightskinned that a biracial girl could be her daughter, especially since her negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils turned into one of them Vogue Magazine joints in her adult life.
Now this one... Baby...
It's just absurd. This is where we gotta draw the line, throw in the towel, stop rationalizing that there is a phenotype at play skipping generations or whatever else we could do with our earlier casting choices.
This photo is lighter than the woman is and you can still see that this is a whole nother human that would not in this universe that we currently know of, under any circumstances according to our knowledge of science, would this beautiful biracial baby girl grow up to be this absolutely unambigously Black, dark skinned woman!! She just wouldn't!
Two very lovely people who acted they asses off and earned them Disney paychecks and Disney better had paid them what they was worth. Because they both said that they was gon' out act whoever in this scene when Ruby got onscreen.
Whoever did this casting said, "F**k it, Girl. Call who we know," because ain't no way, Chile. Ain't no way y'all was putting no kinda thought or planning into this woman growing up from that girl. When she said she was Ruby, I said, "RUBY WHOOOOOO?"
Ruby: Jaidyn Triplett | Joyce Guy
I won't go into any further tangent about how the darkest ones cast in the family were the ones we didn't see much of, or in Ruby's case, She was the literal Magical Negro that had to save the day........................
I truly enjoy the show. It's a fave. But, yes. It has it's issues and I have mine and now that they are out of my head, because as a wise friend once said, "Misery loves an audience" (Shoutout to Noah, a Queen of Quotes) - I can now live in peace. Yes, and continue watching this, even though they have this problem in casting.
Sometimes, people think that colorblind casting only applies to when you just cast anybody for any role, willy-nilly, but this is an offset of colorblind casting, as well. Colorism casting, maybe. Where any Black person will do, despite looking nothing like the same character that they're supposed to be portraying. Or where certain skin tone versions of that character has more screen time. Sometimes, this is done through photos or short flashbacks...
But this show had these people onscreen talking and had us getting to know them and then colorblind casted them in different eras of their life. And perhaps I only notice it in Black people, because I don't have any type of face blindness when it comes to us. If that is the issue they're having, maybe they need people who can tell the difference between Black people and their skin tones and facial features to handle that aspect of a job.
That's all I have for now. Do watch the show, though. If you can handle fw with Disney. I mean, it's out there free, but I know some people are even not for that and I commend you. I be watching some of they stuff for free still, and this lil' rant? Ramble. This lil' ramble has been sitting in my lil' brain for a time.
Idk what it is called or if there is a name for it. Whenever they do the colorblind casting or the colorism casting within the same character. It feels like it needs it's own word. It's different from when they simply change the character from one medium to the next, to be within the same universe and have a person that simply does not share that character's physical characteristics, even though they're the same character.
End ramble.
Wait. Last note: This is a Black and Black biracial people's post. Anybody else who pass through, don't get cute. I'll blast you right to the block.
While I get why people appreciate Ariel being cast as a black women, there’s always going to be a little part of me that’s going to be uncomfortable whenever they decide to change the race of a character from white to POC in these types of adaptations. Not because they aren’t “being true to the source” but because that’s what they believe diversity on television is— letting POC playing originally white characters.
This is also why the whole notion of “color-blind” casting will never make sense to me. Theoretically, that could never work out. Because you know what happens if you expect a screenwriter to write a story with characters whose races they have no idea will be casted as? They’ll turn to writing characters as the only race they know personally: their own. And considering 9 out of 10 times these writers turn out to be white, all you get is a cast of all races, playing characters who are written to be white. You can’t call that progress.
Sure, there’s nothing wrong with adding more diversity to classic works for the sake of progression, but I just feel like with big corporations like Disney, they only do it to pander to audiences and use it as a way to defend themselves when anybody tries to accuse them of racism. Not to right their wrongs. They think just by changing the races of their characters, somehow that’ll make everything right. But what they don’t realize is that when people ask for more POCs of screen, they mean they want to be able to see themselves in those characters. You can’t be colorblind to skin, that’s not the point. Whether you like it or not, one’s race and/or ethnicity has effect on their experiences and how they view the world. You just can’t ignore the fact that racism exists and try to pretend that the world on the screen is a place where none of that happens. We don’t go through life the same way and we want that fact to be acknowledged.
Take Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse for example. Miles Morales is considered great example diverse inclusion in adapted media because it’s not like the writers just took Peter Parker and turned him black— they wrote an entirely new character for Spiderman and not only made him black, but wrote his character in consideration of his race, which influenced his personality, home life, and his relationships with others. You don’t like Miles because he’s “Spiderman but black”, he’s “black Spiderman”. People see themselves in Miles and as a result, as Spiderman, who was previously on viewed as a white-only character.
When we ask for more diversity on screen, having us play originally white characters is not the solution. It’s a step forward, for sure, just not enough. We deserve our own characters; our own stories; from our own creators.
When will we move beyond eurocentric mythology and allow our Black mythology to take center stage?
What is the aversion to creating Black princesses with their very own story origins?
Black girls can be princesses and mermaids. Black girls are princesses! Black girls are mermaids! What's a concern of mine (and for some others too) is that with everyone we've gotten so far, it's a replacement. The idea of "here, take this" kind of energy about it. Like it's a concession of already established stories and just sliding us in to say "look, we are diversifying our portfolio. we made (insert character) Black".
Now, the little Black girls who see Halle as Ariel definitely deserve this! Because they feel seen. This has nothing to do with the kids. Black children deserve to see themselves in these fantasies. And I'm joyous that they do and it's joyous to see them so happy and even emotional about it. Black and non-Black kids.
But as an adult, it's so noticeable to me now.
"Bailey’s casting in a role typically given to white actresses is a milestone whose long-term cultural impact could be seismic. But the news also presents an opportunity to have a larger conversation about colorblind casting in general, which — no matter how well-intentioned — can have adverse effects on the already-marginalized humanity, history, and creativity of historically underrepresented groups. The emphasis on colorblind casting over investment in original black characters and stories only assists in the continuous sidelining of significant creative expressions of black history and culture, which risk being entirely forgotten." ...."But if there is any genuine criticism to be leveled at Bailey’s casting, and ultimately colorblind casting in general, it’s that it risks sidelining and even erasing black history and culture, specifically black folklore and fairy tales. There’s a rich tradition to draw from, but Hollywood has mostly passed it over. Likewise, instead of a black James Bond, why not create a black action hero franchise of equal caliber? Or, better yet, adapt the work of black authors like Walter Mosley, who has an extensive library of detective novels, notably the Easy Rawlins series." ..."Instead of reimagining traditionally white heroes as black characters, stripping them of any cultural lineage and sociopolitical heft, the multi-billion-dollar industry could turn its attention to already-established black characters."
^^^In line of what we have with the franchises of Shaft, Cleopatra Jones, Get Christie Love, A Man Called Hawk. Why not continue these?
Makes me the think of Annie as well. The Wiz. (Carmen Jones I'll mention too).
Do these studios not want to invest in original stories for Black folklore and mythology? Or even allow new, original fairytale stories with Black princess to be created? If they absolutely wanted to keep a mermaid as the center of the story, there are folklores of African and Caribbean mermaids that they could've pulled from.
And it also doesn't have to be so diverse that it doesn't feel as authentic. The much adored 97's Cinderella and the equally adored Jingle Jangle both fashioned the diverse casting method for the main (Cinderella) and background characters (Jingle). Back then, I didn't even think twice about it but now as a grown up, it's very questionable. But as a child, it didn't matter and was normal. And that's what's important for Black children to see. I was a young kid and I know how affirming it was to see Brandy as Cinderella. I don't want to take that away from the little Black girls today. I was ecstatic just as they were when I was younger seeing Brandy and Whitney (and Whoopi) on my screen. And as a whole grownup seeing Tiana. And to add, Jingle Jangle did exactly what I'm saying here. A completely new, original story of a Black character in a fantasy! A young, little Black girl in make-believe!
[Along with both the Broadway Dreamgirls and the film. Original stories of Black characters.]
It's not that a Danish mermaid can't be Black because there are Black Danish people. It's not that a German princess can't be Black because there are Black Germans. It's the fact that they aren't telling stories of original Black animated characters to stand alone.
I'm excited anytime Black actresses get an opportunity to play in these roles because of the representation they bring! But I also wonder why the lack of investment for Black original characters isn't the first idea.
As someone said, "...Black versions of white things..." isn't as progressive as we think.
