No Escape From Now
In the pages of British Vogue, Ms Hanna Flint is dismayed that new adaptations of works by Emily Brontë and Jane Austen have,
How very dare they.
Says Ms Flint,
Richness and relevance, and imagination, being determined by race, of course.
I’m not at all sure what historical inclusivity might mean, given the racial demographics of rural England at the time of Brontë and Austen, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Indeed, what Ms Flint seems to want sounds more like ahistorical inclusivity. And whether incongruous, politically corrected racial casting choices constitute “imagination,” rather than a following of Very Modern Fashion, is a question I leave to the reader.
“Why Is The Next Wave Of Period Dramas So White?” asks the headline of the article, with the obligatory note of disapproval. An understood tutting, one presumed of its readers. Yet I’m struggling to picture Ms Flint making demands that period dramas produced in China and set in the Han Dynasty be adjusted so as to accommodate “excluded or marginalised” actors who resemble Jack Hawkins or Charles Gray.
Ms Flint, “a mixed-race woman, of British and Tunisian heritage,” informs us that, despite her enthusiasm for the genre, “I was left somewhat cold by the news that all these remakes had cast the protagonists as white once again.” Yet this train of thought terminates before reaching the possibility that others, perhaps some larger number, might be left somewhat cold by modish anachronism and jarring contrivance.
It seems to have escaped Ms Flint that, for many, the appeal of period dramas is, as it were, a holiday in time – a brief respite from modernity, its politics and paraphernalia, and perhaps even from those “diverse, multicultural surroundings” that Ms Flint feels should be the foundation of all drama and period-specific programming.
Whatever its merits in terms of modern “workforce inclusivity,” ahistorical, racially ostentatious casting does, for many viewers, risk breaking the spell, making any suspension of disbelief more difficult, while shifting the focus away from then and back to now.
Previously and related, on sex-swapping Bond.
A box was ticked and they moved on.
Job done!
Can’t wait for the Shaka Zula remake with an all white cast!
She should just write a compelling drama about that era in Tunisian history. Problem solved.
@David:
“stunt-casting” is a brilliant term; pithy!
Instalaunch! Everyone remain casual.
[ Hands out breath mints, combs. ]
Hamas is not surrendering and Gaza is becoming a wasteland. This echoes what Hitler did as Germany lost the war. He ordered no surrender and further the destruction of bridges, factories, everything that would be useful. He was committing national suicide. Hamas likewise. They started a war and have been using civilians is shields, bringing destruction on the country.
As to “free palestine” cries: Gaza was self-governing for what, 20 years? Israel tried to wash their hands of it. The only thing the phrase can mean now is genocide of the jews.
While I am enjoying the current series of Foundation, the 30-40% of main characters that appear to be African American are anachronistic. Sure 10,000+ years of racial mixing could be where the African africans went but apart from 1? Chinese/indian/mongolian appearance. No aboriginals, no American Indians, no Polynesians,no maori,No hispanics. At least Disney likes to drop Temuara Morrison in now and then.
“Mixed race”? I didn’t know Tunisian was a race.
Meanwhile Mel Gibson made Apocalypto featuring people of the Yucatan during the 1600s, not a word of English was spoken, and it was a success. Want to make a period drama featuring non-white people? Make one that features them as how they lived back then.
I am always disappointed and left cold when the Bronte adaptations dont have any jet planes or tanks or drones.
There are, of course, parodies and pastiches – among them, the comedy horror film Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. But the audience knows what they’re getting.
It is, however, slightly surreal to see supposedly serious productions that invite us to admire the craft of the set decorators, production designers, costume designers, etc., and their detailed, faithful recreations of the period, while the people wearing the costumes and striding about the sets are demographically bizarre and utterly incongruous.
As if we’re not supposed to notice.
In truth, my concern is with the artist, not the audience. By what right does anyone alter someone else’s work in any way shape or form. You don’t like the original? Write your own. If the authors were still alive, the lawsuits would be dizzying.