Why is it so hard to get color blind casting right?

Looking at you Bridgerton

Colorblind casting is the process is when an actor is cast without consideration for their race. Meaning they’re cast solely based on their talent and not because they fit what they were looking for in the character. As someone who was raised on Brandy’s Cinderella, I’m a fan of colorblind casting. My issue, is that I feel like it’s rarely done well.

In my opinion, for colorblind casting to work, the narrative cannot take place within our reality. I came to this conclusion as a teenager when I saw a production of The Crucible at The Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. In their version, John Proctor was played by a Black man and the only other Black actor in the show was the actress playing Tituba. My classmates and I all found this confusing. It just didn’t make sense to us that John Proctor would have been allowed to live freely in this small New England town during that time period. Now if this had been a show that didn’t take place during a significant historical event but instead was a character that had traditionally been cast as White but now a Black character was playing him I think it could have worked.

As we’ve started to get more and more (and more and more) superhero films and television shows, I have enjoyed seeing characters who are traditionally white being cast with Black actors. If their race is not significant to the character than why not? Unfortunately, we’re also starting to see an increase in people of color being cast in historical works. Some completely fictional like Bridgerton and others based on history like Anne Boleyn.
Many have written about the issues with doing this to real people (*cough* Hamilton *cough*) so I want to focus on what the fictional stories get wrong. Like I said earlier, in my opinion for this to work it can’t take place within our reality. Bridgerton struggled with this when it clumsily had two of their Black characters speak on slavery when they could have simply just not included that. It was the same in Mr. Malcolm’s List. It was very issue to believe that they lived in an alternative reality where POC were involved in regency England but then it was ruined when they had Sọpẹ Dìrísù briefly say something in Yoruba and mention the place where he’s from. While it was nice to (very very briefly) include Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù heritage and it was his wishes that it was added but it just left the audience with a lot of unanswered questions and took you out of the movie a bit.

A good recent example of colorblind casting to me was Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield. In this version the titular character was played by British Indian actor Dev Patel. In this film we saw a white mother with an Asian son. An Asian Father with a Black daughter and Black mother with a White Son. It was clear that race did not work in their world like it does in ours.

I’ve gone on about this topic way more than I meant to so lastly I just want to say that if you do attempt colorblind casting it can’t just be your main character that’s a person of color. An example of this is The Green Knight, another Dev Patel film. In the film Dev’s character Gawain and his mother played by the amazing Sarita Choudhury are the only characters of color. What good is it to make your main character a person of color if they’re living in a White world?

---

I guess I must acknowledge that today is Independence Day in America. America would not be the country it is if it wasn’t for immigrants so here are 10 films you can find streaming that speak on the immigrant experience in America.

Restless City | Andrew Dousonmo
Djibril is a young African immigrant living in Harlem and trying to make it as a musician. His priorities change when he meets the beautiful Trini.
Where to watch: Tubi, Plex
As a bonus I also recommend his film Mother of George that you can find on Plex.

I Carry You With Me | Heidi Ewing
Based on a true story, Iván and Gerardo are two men living in Mexico who fall in love with each other. Unable to openly be with each other the two have a long distance relationship that spans decades before they’re reunited in NYC.A really cool mixture of fiction and documentary.
Where to watch: Starz

Which Way Home | Rebecca Cammisa
Six unaccompanied minors make the treacherous journey through Mexico to the United States.
Where to watch: Tubi

Farewell Amor | Ekwa Msangi
After spending 17 years living in the United States, Walter is reunited with the wife and daughter he left behind. The three struggle to connect in their tiny Brooklyn apartment.
Where to watch: Hulu

The Namesake | Mira Nair
After moving to the United States from India, Ashoke and Ashima struggle to provide for their kids while holding on to their traditions.Their often at odds with their American-born son Gogol who just wants to fit in.
Where to watch: Prime

First Generation | Jeannie Nguyen, Andrew Yuyi Truong
My-Linh is a Vietnamese-American girl growing up in the 90s struggling to fit in in the two different worlds she inhabits.
Where to watch: Vimeo

Lingua Franca | Isabel Sandoval
While trying to obtain a green card marriage, an undocumented trans caregiver falls in love with the grandson of the woman she cares for.
Where to watch: Tubi, Netflix

Goodbye Solo | Ramin Bahrani
A Senegalese cab driver and a depressed older man form an unlikely friendship in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Where to watch: Youtube

16 Hours | Christine Yuan
The time difference between China and L.A. is 16 hours. An exploration of what it means to be Chinese in America.
Where to watch: Vimeo

Ice Box | Daniel Sawka
A 12 year old boy from Honduras escapes to America seeking asylum only to be caught up in the immigration system.
Where to watch: HBO Max

As a bonus please watch Gordita Chronicles on HBO Max about a chubby Dominican teen who moves to Miami with her family for her dad’s new job in the 1980s.

---

Upcoming Releases 🎥

The Sea Beast - 7/8 (Netflix)
Take the Night - 7/8
Neon Lights - 7/12
The Royal Movie - 7/15
Don’t Make Me Go - 7/15 (Prime)
Summering - 7/15*
Queen of Glory - 7/15*
* I have seen both of these and you can find what I thought about them on my Letterboxd.