Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn

[Bitchysideisouttoplay]

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9071763/Director-TV-drama-Anne-Boleyn-says-best-person-role.html#article-9071763
Not and AIBU really but what does everyone think if this?
Personally I think if you are making a historical drama/film etc surely you should cast a person as close in looks to the historical figure.
Before anyone says I'm.being racist I'm not I had massive issues with the casting in the Tudors due to Johnathan Rhys Meyers being cast as Henry, he is short, not ginger and really does not look anything like Henry in portraits 🙄🙄

It does look odd!

BUT it's a drama, and for me I'm actually far more pleased to see more Black prominence than historical 'accuracy' - the lovely product-enhanced hair and beautiful skin of previous actors in the role haven't been accurate either if you want to drill down into that.

HOWEVER - I'd much rather see producers/writers approach new stories about historical Black figures of which there are plenty, much ignored. And then have our Black actors play them.

Have you got a photo of him @heyjude12?

I think it's fine. I hope she's good in it. And I hope she has the strength and support to ignore all the comments about her skin colour, and can just concentrate on her performance.

@IsabelleSE19

NB Henry Cavill can play whoever he likes though

Meant to say I agree with you on this! (Still not historically accurate through )

The fact remains - they were there in notable numbers. Why would anyone go out of their way to fight hard to conceal that? Why the anger? Why the panic about actually greater historical accuracy? Why indeed?

They weren’t ‘there’ because the boundaries of proto-Chinese cultures did not encompass that region. Xinjiang was colonised much later by the Han. By that time they had disappeared or were assimilated.

You are not being very historically accurate when you lump Xinjiang with China for all of its history — just because it’s currently within the modern borders of China does not make it Chinese. Just like Tibet.

All this to say — you still wouldn’t have white Europeans appearing at the Chinese court until at least the Yuan/Ming Dynasty.

@heyjude12

Maybe if we want historical accuracy we should stop portraying jesus as white with blue eyes?

Ah, but is Jesus really a historical figure? 😂

@HitthatroadJack

I fail to see how rewriting history to try to be "woke" is doing anyone any favour, quite the opposite actually.

Well, exactly. Pretending that racism didn't exist in the past just means future generations won't learn how horrible things were. I was watching a movie from the 60s the other day, which came with a warning about racist attitudes, and I was horrified by the way people threw around nasty insults about black people and Pakistanis. It was shocking to my delicate millenial ears, but ultimately, I'm glad they left it in because it shows how disgusting these attitudes were.

I'm sick of Tudor adaptations too. Can't we obsess about some other times? I've been watching Outlander and I'd love to see more dramas based on the Jacobites. More Victorian dramas would be good too. Not more Charles Dickens shit but maybe some dramas about the black people who were starting to become quite successful in the era.

I actually find the discussion around history v historical fiction and where you draw the line on invention v accuracy fascinating. It's clear different people have different views on whether they want total accuracy or whether they will accept suspend disbelief. I do find it disingenuous though when creators claim that people won't believe their fictionalized version of history as if everyone sits down to research history after watching a film. There is much to be said for a good authors note in a book but tv drama doesn't have that luxury.

@TheCattleGrid

So with a no deal Brexit looming and mutant Covid spreading, some white people are creating online threads complaining about one black actress being cast in a show they haven't seen or read the script for. Wow.

Reading and commenting on this thread has given me a very welcome distraction on a day where I might otherwise be in a gloom spiral about those things you mentioned. Please let's not only talk about international cataclysms.

I don't really care but what I do care abut is that every actress that has played Anne Boleyn has been beautiful.
She certainly was not beautiful, she had a plain face and a thin beaky nose but she had grace and poise having spent much time in the french court.
I'd like to see more realistic castings in general.

I don't care. Why should you? What a goady thread to bring out all the racists 👏

Im just glad about anything I know will upset David Starkey.

terrywynne

I don't care. Why should you?

most MN answer ever 😂😂

@user1471565182

Im just glad about anything I know will upset David Starkey.

the man is an absolute [unprintable insult of choice ].

I don't care. Why should you?

This is such an odd attitude.

@user1471565182

Im just glad about anything I know will upset David Starkey.

Yeah, there is that!

I don't like it. It is destroying true history.

@Bitchysideisouttoplay

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9071763/Director-TV-drama-Anne-Boleyn-says-best-person-role.html#article-9071763 Not and AIBU really but what does everyone think if this? Personally I think if you are making a historical drama/film etc surely you should cast a person as close in looks to the historical figure. Before anyone says I'm.being racist I'm not I had massive issues with the casting in the Tudors due to Johnathan Rhys Meyers being cast as Henry, he is short, not ginger and really does not look anything like Henry in portraits 🙄🙄

I think they should give it a rest with this period stuff. Or maybe not, I quite like period drama. Still watching Reign, the laughably entertaining show.

I agree they should make things accurate IF what they want is accurate portrayal of history. If that's not what they're going for, then fine. It's fiction.

Rather than rehashing stories and shoehorning ill-fitting casts, there are tons of new stories (even if it's inspired by...) they could write and diversify the cast/lead characters.

They're simply giving crumbs out, imo.

The thing is there were actually a lot of black british tudors, they could make a really decent drama or something about them if they could get off their arse and work at it rather than rehashing the same old crap. Guessing we've got some dusty dickens for christmas at some point as well and another ruined agatha christie? how interesting could some of these back stories be for example from here-

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18903391

orangecinnamon

So if we get talking in the future when Nelson Mandela or Barack Obama is portrayed by a white man and some say it isn’t right, would you have the same stance and say the racists are out in force?

@tessiegirl

I don't like it. It is destroying true history.

But so does a lot of historical drama. This is just more visible which actually makes it less dangerous because you can easily tell it is not accurate. I come back to 'Elizabeth' again. I love that film but pretty much every aspect of it is innacurate. It completely destroys (if you will) the true history of Elizabeth's early reign and the reputations of several of her courtiers. But the people look right so it is to accept as true if you don't know the period. But it really isn't true. There are hundreds of other examples. If you want 'true history' (and I could debate that phrasing but I won't ), history books are a better option than historical fiction/tv/film.

[quote user1471565182]The thing is there were actually a lot of black british tudors, they could make a really decent drama or something about them if they could get off their arse and work at it rather than rehashing the same old crap. Guessing we've got some dusty dickens for christmas at some point as well and another ruined agatha christie? how interesting could some of these back stories be for example from here-

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18903391[/quote]
Now we just need a tv writer, production executive...

I presume there is some guff about what 'people's is Anne Boleyn and black stories not sell etc (Similar to how all black casts didn't sell in Holywood until Black Panther proved they did)

@Ponoka7

I think it takes any believability away from the drama. It ruined A Christmas Carol at the old Vic, for me, when they cast a black scrooge.

'Tis fiction. You're not meant to believe it as though it's real. They can change what they want.

I do think they should make new stories instead though.

I managed to suspend my disbelief while watching Queen & Slim when Jodie Turner Smith portrayed an American because she was acting and acting fantastically. I’m sure I’ll manage to accept her portrayal of Ann Boleyn since I’m not unnecessarily fixated on race as a defining feature.