Any suitor wishing to gain an audience with Miss Edwina Sharma, must first tame the rather prickly spinster of a beast otherwise know as her sister.
This is said by Lady Whistledown at the beginning of episode 2 of the second season of Bridgerton, it is in reference to Kathani 'Kate' Sharma, the female protagonist of the season, a dark skinned Indian woman newly arrived in England. These words are problematic in a number of ways, and despite meaning to be a nod to Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew they have the undercurrent of sexism and racism that is unpalatable for many modern viewers. That a privileged white woman called a dark skinned woman of colour a beast in a show that prides itself on diversity shows a lack of awareness on the part of the writer and the producers. In this post I am going to look at the issues of racism with these words and how these words have impacted the way some viewers view Penelope Featherington - and why it is difficult for those viewers to root for her in season 3, causing a problem for the production as a whole.
Historically terms such as 'animalistic' 'beastly' 'savage' have been used to describe people of colour by Europeans, invoking imagery that associates people of colour with being animals. In Othello animal imagery is used to demean, diminish and insult the lead character - a Moor - giving the play racist subtext, specific to India it is alleged that Winston Churchill referred to Indians as a 'beastly people with a beastly religion' [this will be the subject of another post], in Pride and Prejudice Mr Darcy states 'every savage can dance' in response to Mr Lucas. Beast and Beastly have been used in the past as ways to insult others on their manners to imply that people are uncouth and lack the manners of refined society, they are also terms that have been associated with the devil (evil & sin), however, in the context it is used in Bridgerton it is not just a simple insult - it becomes a dehumanising racist trope.
For some viewers this description of Kate Sharma - the season 2 lead - was more than uncomfortable, it was offensive, and some have said that this was the point that they turned against Penelope as a character, many were not only rightly feeling offended, but also disappointed in the production. Bridgerton is a show that went out of its way to ensure a diverse cast in a genre that is usually not diverse, it is a show that has cast a dark skinned Indian woman as the romantic lead without turning the character into a caricature, and to have this very same lead referred to as an animal with all the negative connotations that implies for people of colour is tone deaf, and furthermore has hurt the perception of the character that will take the lead in season 3.
In context of the show what we have is an established character, who is a privileged white woman, talking about a woman newly arrived in London from India, which at the time was one of Britain's colonies. Further to this, Penelope had not even met Kate, she had never spoken to her or Edwina, in fact I don't think Penelope spoke to Kate once during season 2, so why did Penelope use such an offensive racist trope to describe Kate? And how does Penelope redeem herself for this with the viewers?
In the fan fiction story 'The Engagement of Lady Whistledown' on Archive of our own, writers hptriviachamp and orangepeelshortbreadcookies have included a scene where the Bridgertons are holding Penelope to account for the hurt she has caused due to what she wrote about them, and during this discussion (intervention?) Kate brings up Penelope calling her a beast, (excerpt below reprinted with the permission of the authors - emphasis mine):
“You did not even know me back then, did you? Of course not. I had just arrived in England after all, from India, of all places. Imagine my surprise when after mere days of being in a new country, my name already made the papers. The whole thing would have been amusing if it weren't so insulting. We had never talked until that point, had we, you and I? I cannot fathom what transgression on my part had branded me to be deserving of such treatment. Does demeaning the existence of a complete stranger make you feel better about yourself, Miss Featherington? Contrary to popular belief,” Kate said with harsh pointedness, “those with my colouring, those from my homeland, are not animals .”
This excerpt encapsulates all that is wrong with Penelope's words, especially the last part, it was a popular belief at the time that people of colour were Indians, for some white Europeans this is a view that persisted into the twentieth century - and still lingers today. Whether intentionally or not Bridgerton has perpetuated this racist trope in the words of Penelope. We can hope that there is some accountability from Penelope for these words (along with her other actions), though it is most likely that this line will not be addressed, and the viewers - like Kate - will be expected to welcome Penelope into the family with no accountability for the way she spoke about the Viscountess.
It has previously been reported that it took the director of episode 7, who was a woman of colour, to bring awareness to the optics of having Kate and Anthony engage in pre-marital sex when Daphne did not, so it is unsurprising that the writer of episode 2 - a white man - did not consider the optics of a white woman calling their Indian female lead a beast. But it is not just the optics, when you have Americans writing an historical show set in England the nuances of British relations with their colonies is brushed over, not all experiences were the same during the period of European colonisation. The writers appear to be seeing the English historical setting of Bridgerton through the lens of American history and so the more specific issues within the nations they are writing about is lost, and the result is that this line shows very little understanding of not only the optics of what is being written, but the historical implications in the context of English and Indian relations.
Whilst the whole phrase is undoubtably sexist, the unnecessary addition of calling Kate a beast added the racist undertones and completely changed both the meaning and the reception to this line. I do not believe that Penelope is racist per se, and I do not believe that the writers actually meant to write her as saying something racist, but this line - and the reaction from some fans - shows how tone deaf the writers and producers are - not to mention the executives at Netflix who allowed this through. This should have been flagged, it would not have changed the story at all to re-record the Lady Whistledown voice over for the beginning of this episode.
By writing Lady Whistledown and Penelope as if they are separate characters the Bridgerton writers have written themselves into one big problem for season 3 because Lady Whistledown's words are Penelope's words to the viewer. The real challenge is how do they turn the viewers opinion of Penelope around, how do they have Penelope atone for her racism towards Kate who is now the Viscountess Bridgerton - the most senior woman in the family Penelope will be marrying into - and how do the writers make it palatable enough for the viewers to want to have Kate welcome Penelope into her family and into her home?
