Quasi-color consciousness: Casting, race, and sexual violence in Netflix's Bridgerton

Abstract

The hit Netflix series Bridgerton (2020–) updates the period drama for the twenty-first century with its racially diverse cast. Despite the series' potential for subverting racial hierarchies, this article argues that Bridgerton does not fully account for racist social structures, replicates racial stereotypes, and, most crucially, delegitimizes Black men as victims of sexual violence. These representational quandaries stem from Bridgerton's use of the casting and narrative practice “quasi-color consciousness.” Quasi-color consciousness provides more nuanced language beyond colorblind casting to account for television producers' efforts (and shortcomings) to create racially diverse contemporary television programming.