Costuming Drama's video: Why Bridgerton is Problematic Colorism Race Baiting and Implicit Bias

Hello Friends! Today we have a special video for you. Some of the ladies from the Inclusion in costuming panel that we did for CoCoVid this summer came and asked me if we could perhaps record another video for you all to discuss the problematic nature of the show Bridgerton, which has pretty much everyone talking right now, for one reason or another. We would like to talk about colorism, race baiting, and implicit bias in Bridgerton, but also in modern television media today. If you don’t know what Bridgerton is, its is a show produced by Shonda Rhimes for Netflix and is based off of a book series and it is billed as an inclusively cast period drama set in the late regency era. Let me be clear, we aren’t here to trash the show. A bunch of people on this panel actually really like the show. What we did want to discuss is why calling this show “inclusive” is problematic. We are not here to tell you that you shouldn't enjoy this show, just that you may want to take a hard look at it as an example of the systematic biases that modern media engenders. This panel is meant to serve similarly to when you tell your friend that they do something that bothers you and they ask you to point it out the next time it happens. We have a live and topical example here of what is meant by problematic themes and casting in popular media and we thought we could use it to exemplify some of the things that we, as a country, have been discussing in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement this year. When it comes to topics of race and inclusion, I believe that it is my job, as a compassionate human to make space for People of Color to let their opinions be heard. While I agree with all of their points, I don’t believe that It really matters how I feel about it. My job is to make space and to hear them. I am going to set some ground rules to please be kind, and generous, as you always are, in the comments section. I’d also like to mention that this video will probably be full of spoilers, so if you are a person who wants to watch the show spoiler free, feel free to come back and join us for this conversation later. **Links mentioned in this video** Inclusion in the Costuming Community - https://youtu.be/b3tdjRLBcdo Annenberg Inclusion Initiative USC - https://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii Harvard Implicit Bias Test - https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html Refinery 29 Article - https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/12/10240235/bridgerton-review-blackness-representation **Further Reading** https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/arts/television/bridgerton-netflix-shonda-rhimes.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes https://search.proquest.com/openview/f42e756daa93638c5c9e1ee880830835/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y **We hear from the voices of** Anne of https://www.instagram.com/silkenstitches https://www.etsy.com/shop/SilkenStitchesShop https://m.facebook.com/silkenstitches/ https://www.paypal.me/silkenstitches https://ko-fi.com/silkenstitches Nami of https://www.instagram.com/namisparrow https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMs7vu9Hpf9082sxlMW4h6A GoodReads: Nami Sparow https://ko-fi.com/nekonami GiGI of https://www.instagram.com/reenactorsofcolor and https://www.instagram.com/labelladonnahistory https://fleurtyherald.wordpress.com/about/ https://www.paypal.me/Coulsons https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1Izj92BXlpjlCZbykKqVA Christine of https://www.instagram.com/sewstine https://sewstine.com/ https://www.etsy.com/shop/SewVeryStine Erika of https://www.instagram.com/erikaalamode https://erikaalamode.wordpress.com/ https://ko-fi.com/erikaalamode Maria of https://www.instagram.com/historicalgarments https://ko-fi.com/historicalgarments ★Follow Me!★ My Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/CostumingDrama My Costuming Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/costuming_drama/ My Personal Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lbc42/ My Cats' Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/gatosdepaduan/ My Ko-Fi - https://ko-fi.com/costumingdrama