This doesn't usually bother me that much ...

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diy_fun_uk said:
I obviously understand dramas can be (and often are these days) flexible/fluid with history, timeframes and social constructs. However given this film is set in 1920s England, I think it's almost farcical to cast a dark-skinned actor in the role of female policewoman when this simply wouldn't have been possible at that time. I actually find this sort of thing quite insulting to the viewer. In a way, yes I understand not an important way, you could assert it's rewriting history.
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I'd be careful about that sort of generalisation. The importance of race has varied over time and most of the time when people complain about this stuff it turns out they didn't get it right.

Having said that, it's a bloody comedy FFS. ;)
 
carmanmemoranda said:
The same argument can be made for Shakespeare too.

Do you want it all historically accurate, or making it more understandable.

There's an argument for both ways
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Your comment makes little sense within the context of my post.

Othello was set in the 16th century. If watching a modern interpretation of the play, it would be fine to see all sorts of modern references/stuff in the production. However if watching a version set in the 16th century, I wouldn't expect to see references/stuff that were yet to happen for decades or more.

Therefore to a large extent yes, I do want a production to be historically accurate if it's set in a particular period.
 
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IT Minion said:
I'd be careful about that sort of generalisation. The importance of race has varied over time and most of the time when people complain about this stuff it turns out they didn't get it right.

Having said that, it's a bloody comedy FFS. ;)
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What generalisation?
What am I not getting right?
 
I started a similar thread a few years back. It was about the fictional BBC drama the bodyguard.

The bodyguard on a train that happens to have a suicide bomber on board.

He tries to negotiate with her.

Train pull to a stand still

Police chief turns up. "Woman"

Head of terrorism turns up black "Woman"

Sniper ready "Woman."

Armed police "black Woman"

Bomb squad "Woman"

There was more to it than that, all that didn't add up, I more than likely got the wrong order, but that was the gist. And the Bodyguard was Scottish :)

It was a made up tv programme so they have an artistic license. But try to keep it real, it doesn't have to be politically correct.

I'm not saying any of the above don't exist. But would they have all been on duty that same evening.
 
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IT Minion said:
That there weren't ethnic minorities in the UK in the dim and distant past.
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Of course there was. But where they because of their colour allowed or be given the opportunity to hold such jobs or even have wealth?

Bridgerton & Ghosts are examples as been pointed out.
 
IT Minion said:
That there weren't ethnic minorities in the UK in the dim and distant past.
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Where did I say or suggest that? My (correct) assertion is there weren't any female ethnic minorities in the UK police in the 1920s.

My thread isn't to do with hating on any group. It's to do with inaccurate representation in tv progs/movies. Fine if the production is very obviously being flexible with the period, my understanding is that's not the case with the film in question.
 
diy_fun_uk said:
Where did I say or suggest that? My (correct) assertion is there weren't any female ethnic minorities in the UK police in the 1920s.

My thread isn't to do with hating on any group. It's to do with inaccurate representation in tv progs/movies. Fine if the production is very obviously being flexible with the period, my understanding is that's not the case with the film in question.
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It's a comedy, I suspect your understanding is wrong.
 
IT Minion said:
It's a comedy, I suspect your understanding is wrong.
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I get you if it is a comedy (I really do not know)

But Funk does point out that it's based on a true story.

True stories have real people. Even characters loosely based on real people need a bit of accuracy about them.
 
diy_fun_uk said:
... however last night I was watching the Graham Norton chat show. Olivia Colman was on promoting her latest film (or movie if you prefer) called Wicked Little Letters. It's based on a true story that happened in 1920s England and I think they've pretty much set the film in the same era. Note the film isn't a fantasy type affair where anything could be going on.

Cue clip of the film. Woman opens door and there's a female policewoman standing. This is historically ok as the first UK female policewoman was in 1915 with them becoming more prevalent in the 1920s. However the actor (or actress if you prefer) playing the part very obviously has dark skin. I'm not sure what ethnicity she's supposed to be in the film, in real life she's Singaporean. However when it comes to Asian/Black policewomen, the first one I can find started to serve with the Met in 1968 ... a fair bit after the 1920s.

I obviously understand dramas can be (and often are these days) flexible/fluid with history, timeframes and social constructs. However given this film is set in 1920s England, I think it's almost farcical to cast a dark-skinned actor in the role of female policewoman when this simply wouldn't have been possible at that time. I actually find this sort of thing quite insulting to the viewer. In a way, yes I understand not an important way, you could assert it's rewriting history.

Why not go the whole hog and have her drive away in a Vauxhall Viva?

I'm hoping this thread doesn't become a racist rant fest, that's not my intention in creating it. It's more the fact of dramas insulting our intelligence with things that, historically, simply couldn't have happened.
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I'm with you. I thought it was somethingorother woke, gone too far. Would they cast a tall black OR white guy as Hitler? No, that would be silly - as the casting director in your example was.
 
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