An upside down world

[hatusu]

Jodie Turner-Smith has been chosen to play the part of Anne Boleyn in a new Channel 5 drama series. Jodie is black. I wonder what the reaction would be to a white actress playing the part of Winnie Mandela in any tv series? Mmmmmm??

[newcastle]

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I imagine there’ll be a lot of comment

I remember going to see Dev Patel playing David Copperfield in the film adaptation last year. After a few minutes you simply didn’t notice that Dickens’ creation had turned into an Indian.

I suspect it’ll be the same for Anne Boleyn if the actress performs well and the film is a worthy representation of the historical drama.

Providing it’s simply a question of skin tone. I don’t think you could get away with changing much else. We’ve seen enough representations of Anne in film and TV series to have formed a fairly definite idea of her character.

[HEPZIBAH]

I remember going to see Dev Patel playing David Copperfield in the film adaptation last year. After a few minutes you simply didn’t notice that Dickens’ creation had turned into an Indian.

I had a similar reaction to Dev Patel playing David Copperfield. I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to see it or not, but I'm glad I did finally go. The film was so eccentric anyway that having my image of David Copperfield changed, made not a jot of difference.

Many years ago I went to see one of the UK's well known opera companies perform Madam Butterfly. It was a stunning performance, but what my friend and I couldn't get over was the reference to the child which was the result of Butterfly's union with Lt. Pinkerton. Butterfly, a young Japanese woman, was played by a suitably Asian singer, but Pinkerton was played by a black man. To be fair, he had a stunning voice and we didn't really notice his colour (even though theoretically a black man would never have made it to Lieutenant in the American army during that period) until we heard them say that the child was fair and blue eyed.

[newcastle]

Madam Butterfly...a favourite of mine!

Yes, the libretto specifically refers to the golden haired, blue eyed child...when Sharpless asks if the child is Pinkerton’s .

I suppose you had to suspend belief for a moment

[carrie]

Love that opera it always makes me want to cry.

[newcastle]

The new Netflix series “Bridgerton” sets out to give actors of colour an unusual degree of exposure....particularly when it’s a Regency period romp!

I’ve watched the first episode - and will watch the rest over the next two days - and, so far, I’m impressed.

It’s certainly a surprise to see so many aristocrats of colour in those pre- Markle days. Coloured servants of course...but nothing higher.

Portraying Queen Charlotte as having African blood somewhere down the line was a bold move....but not implausible given her distant Portuguese ancestry.

[hatusu]

I watched Invictus again on tv a couple of days ago. There is no way you could have had a white actor playing Nelson Mandela, surely?

[newcastle]

I watched Invictus again on tv a couple of days ago. There is no way you could have had a white actor playing Nelson Mandela, surely?

As I said in the case of a black actress playing Anne Boleyn, there are situations where the colour of the character is so incidental to the plot that, after a while, you simply don’t notice it. Even so....I think so many of us know the history that the image must be a constant irritant.

As it would if the film industry ever took it into its head to portray Anne’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I , as black!

Likewise, I don’t think it would ever be acceptable to portray Nelson Mandela as white.....particularly as the issue of “colour” was so much part of his story.

In the olden days, I suppose we could have blacked-up Anthony Hopkins. He’s a superb mimic and would have had no difficulty in impersonating that distinctive Mandela drawl.

Now there’s a thought!