Facing a full-time student’s workload and juggling a part-time job, Ryan Manning, a Mercer Theatre major, says she loves to spend time watching Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds.
Like many other Broadway fans, Manning has also watched the Broadway hit Hamilton, about Alexander Hamilton’s life in a hip-hop retelling.
Manning says, “I love how the cast was multi-racial especially for the main characters. It made the show more fun and interesting in my opinion. We should see that more often in this world.”
Hamilton, created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and other recent Netflix series apart is that they often cast people of color in roles that were historically white.
Miranda, told The New York Times, “This is a story about America then, told by America now, and we want to eliminate any distance. Our story should look the way our country looks. Then we found the best people to embody these parts. I think it’s a very powerful statement without having to be a statement.”
Hamilton was one of the first blockbuster successes in media to engage in such controversial casting but has not been the last. Just in the last few months, Netflix has released two huge streaming hits Bridgerton and Lupin which also cast against typical racial expectations.
Bridgerton, made by Shonda Rhimes, is based in 19th Century London, focusing on the drama and intrigue of socialite life and romance.
Lupin, created by George Kay, tells the story of Assane Diop, a charmingly charismatic and sexy thief and master of disguise.
The leading men in both Netflix breakouts are played by Black actors, Regé-Jean Page as Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings in Bridgerton and Omar Sy as Diop in Lupin. This choice is known as “color-blind casting,” which journalist Micha Frazer-Carroll at The Guardian, defines as the “practice whereby race isn’t specified or overtly considered during the casting process.
“Color-blind” casting stands in contrast to the term “whitewashing,” the practice of casting white characters when the roles were written or historically other races/ethnicities.
Alvyn Haywood, a Communication professor at MCCC, who is Black, offers insight on the impact of color-blind casting saying, “The greater community hasn’t had an opportunity to really accept or acknowledge that history has been colored if you will. As a result, when they see actors who have not been in the ‘traditional roles’ it becomes rather controversial.”
Professor Haywood goes on to say, “Yet, the United States in the 21st Century still hasn’t come to grips with the ‘united’ aspect of us. And therefore, you know, shows like Lupin and Hamilton, for example, become very grating to the nerves of those who’ve been, whose history has been whitewashed.”
Professor Haywood stresses how media controversy comes from not knowing just how diverse our history really is.
Michael Griffith, another Communication professor at MCCC, says in regards to the Broadway and Netflix hits saying, “They are hugely, hugely successful across many audience demographics. We get into trouble–by we I just mean as “we” a culture, everyone–we get into trouble if we look at Hamilton, if we look at Bridgerton and go, ‘that’s not history.’”
Griffith says they are not meant to be history as we typically imagine it. Hamilton was meant to be history in an entertaining, boundary-pushing way. He puts Bridgerton in the same category.
By contrast, various reviewers have argued that these shows are still not without their faults in regards to race and casting.
For example, Lupin has been criticized for its lack of Black women in the series. The Diop character has many trysts but none with a Black woman.
Amerley Ollennu, a journalist for Glamour, quoted Creative Diversity Network’s Executive Director, Deborah Williams, as saying, “There is an erasure of Black women on screen, and this is all too evident as Lupin unfolds.”
Further, Bridgerton has faced questions about the choice to use lighter-skinned actors and actresses for leading roles, while darker-skinned cast members were in the background.
Magda Erockfor Ayuk, a writer on Medium, says, “Casting only lighter-hued Black actors in leading roles–except for Lady Danbury who serves as a typical no-love-life-having dark-skinned fairy godmother–is a glaring example of colorism.”
By “colorism” she is referring to being prejudiced to those with a darker skin tone even among actors of color.
When speaking with Professor Griffith about colorism he says, “That’s got to be addressed, but not by white people. We don’t have that right.”
