Why I Hate Bridgerton

I am only talking about the racial issues in the show, not the queer-baiting. That's a whole essay on its own. Also, SPOILER ALERT

I’m not even going to beat around the bush with you all: I knew I was going to hate Bridgerton from the moment I glanced it on Netflix. My gut feeling was that this show was a white woman’s wet dream when it came to fetishizing the Black male body, but I was hoping to be proven wrong. I mean, this show was a part of the Shonda Rhimes universe. The queen who gave us Papa Pope and Annelise Keating would never betray me (yes, me personally) by feeding into such problematic depictions of Black people. 

right?

Many of my friends had watched the show and, for varying reasons, had encouraged me to watch it and talk about my thoughts. I put this off for weeks. I innately knew that this show would bother me but I grabbed a bag of cheddar popcorn from Trader Joe’s and hoped for the best.

I got 5 episodes in before I had to stop. Here’s why:

ONE: Bridgerton provides the illusion of inclusivity while perpetuating racial stereotypes.

Colorism is rampant throughout the casting so let’s focus on that first. 

In the beginning of the first episode, most of the servants were dark-skinned people of color, none of whom had lines or even names. 

All but one of the Black women who are series regulars are light skinned and the only dark-skinned Black woman with consistent lines (Lady Danbury) is the only one with no romantic prospects. This wouldn’t bother me so much if Bridgerton wasn’t a historical romance and literally everyone else has or had someone. In other words, she is another iteration of the strong Black woman who don’t need no man and, as much as I like her acting, I’m still over it.

There are dark-skinned people in the ballroom scenes courting people but, let’s remember the Durvernay Test (if you need a refresher then go to my last newsletter here). Do they have names? Do they have lines? Do they talk to each other? No. Because they are extras and thus their presence does not make the show any more inclusive other than for ‘please don’t cancel me’ diversity points.

When it comes to flat-out racist stereotypes, this is some of what I’m talking about:

None of the young, white, hyper-puritan debutantes have any understanding of sex or sexuality, yet the only Black debutante with lines (Marina) is a whole pregnant before her character is even introduced. Plus, she spends much of her time trying to seduce a young man into having sex with her shortly after her introduction. This is a classic perpetuation of the hyper-sexualized Black girl stereotype.

There are only two examples of Black fatherhood in this series: the Duke of Hastings and Will Mondrich. Although it is nice to see Will and his family in happy and healthy relations, why must the Duke of Hastings be painted in such a one-dimensional and terrible tone? I’m sure that there is mention of this in the books, but because they chose to cast the Duke as a dark-skinned Black man and gave his character no dimension, the show is perpetuating more attacks on the image of Black fatherhood. Plus, the fact that both Will and the Duke have such light-skinned wives is another example of colorism aka the “paper bag test” aka mejorar la raza aka it needs to stop.

TWO: I got some serious issues with the genre of this mess

Ok so Bridgerton is supposed to be a “historical romance” series but how can it be historical if it so adamantly shies away from talking about history? Had someone (anyone) talked about or given validity to the historical backdrop of this show then maybe some of these choices would’ve been justified, but nope. All we, the viewers, were given was a quick side conversation between Simon and Lady Danbury in episode 4 where she said, “Two separated societies divided by color.” But what does this mean in the context of the show? What caused the divide? What happened? It sounds important. Was it slavery??? Maybe someone should talk about the effects of that in this world that is forcing people of color into dangerous spaces? No? Ok that’s fine, it’s not like historical romances need to discuss history. 

I get that a white king married a Black queen and joined these two worlds together, but there are obvious racial politics still at play in this fictional world and none of them were talked about. Why? Because color-blind artistry implies ‘Look at all the diversity! We fixed racism!! YaAAaAy!’ 

THREE: It romanticizes the dangers of white womanhood

First, homegirl uses her white womanhood to force him into a marriage to protect her honor even though she said she was OK with the repercussions because she made the choice to be with him in the garden place. 

“But Shayna, does this have to be a race thing? Doesn’t he say that he loves her?”

Ok let’s take a quick look at the dynamics of the duel in episode 4:

• Player 1: Antony Bridgerton (a white man from a noble family)

• Player 2: Simon (a Black man from a more noble family)

• Player 3: Homegirl (a white woman from a noble family)

• Player 4: The Prince (a white man from a super noble family)

One of these things is not like the other because one of these things is BLACK. Yes, gender does still come into play here, but the protection of the sanctity of white womanhood has been the crux of the demonization and hyper-sexualization of Black men historically. If you want to read more about this, check out this article (you can read the whole thing but definitely get to the section called “How the Karen meme relates to the violent history of white women”).

Even if you are on the fence about that; HOMEGIRL RAPES SIMON (in a later episode). The act on its own is disgusting, but the racial dynamics of this scene makes it very triggering in a slavery kind of way. I won’t dive into that because Yia Vue wrote a brilliant article about it on Medium that you can read here. I never made it to this moment in the show and I thank Black socialist Jesus for that.

Basically, I couldn’t stomach the rest of the series and I refuse to watch season two. I don’t care how hot Simon Hastings is (and he is hotter than a swampy yeast infection). Watching Black femmes on TikTok do the Bridgerton challenge and have the opportunity to have their Jane Austin moment in petticoats and ruffles is beautiful, and I am happy that they can celebrate that. Honestly, I wanted to like the show. I wanted to get swept away by the music and cinematography and choreography and ALL THE SEXINESS, but the blatant lack of racial sensitivity was too thick to go unnoticed by me. Unfortunately, my conclusion is that Bridgerton was not made for us. It’s a whole problem and no one can convince me otherwise.

If you have any shows that you’d like to hear my thoughts on, definitely let me know in the comments!!

Also, give me your thoughts! Do you agree or disagree? Why? Did I forget something? Did the yeast infection statement make you uncomfortable? Tell me.

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