![]() As we learned midway through the series, the show’s fictionalized version of England, once “two separate societies, divided by color,” was brought together as one by cause of King George III’s Black bride, Queen Charlotte. In the case of “Bridgerton,” what at first seemed like merely “race-blind” casting turned out to be a bit of counter-historical world-building. What does it mean-because it must, indeed, mean, and if not we will make it so-that Black people can now be found where they were least expected, among the upper echelons of these historically white mating rituals? If there is any urgency to the inquiry, for me, it is as a matter of dignity: when one is invited to the party so late, and with such fanfare, one likes to at least know whether the welcome is flattering. Both “Bridgerton” and “The Bachelor” inspired, as they surely were intended to, a blitz of pop-minded racial discourse. Right on his heels came Matt James, the star of the latest season of “The Bachelor,” who was heralded as the first Black leading man in the franchise’s twenty-four-season history, following Rachel Lindsay, who, in 2017, became the first Black Bachelorette. Winsome and hot, giving his best brood, Page swaggered into the part of the withholding love interest, skulking amid the social scenery of Regency-era London. ![]() The rake is Regé-Jean Page, the actor who plays Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings, on “ Bridgerton,” the Shonda Rhimes-produced adaptation of Julia Quinn’s best-selling novels, which was released on Netflix in December. In recent months, two brown men have assumed highly publicized roles as two mainstays of the romance genre: the rake and the bachelor. ![]()
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