im sorry but bridgerton's worldbuilding is probably their worst flaw. particularly their handling of multiple cultures/ nationalities.
you have poc but there's no actual discussion of race. sure it was there in queen charlotte but somehow the show just ignores the fact that it's been like what? 50 years? since the great experiment. and black people were clearly struggling to achieve the same level of power as their white counterparts at that time. systemic racism isnt something that can just be eradicated in 50 years? ofc having a black queen is a huge move in their favor but how are there no undercurrents of racism?? no snide comments? no microaggressions? it's barely been a few decades. but yes ofc it's always better to sweet things under the rug and pretend our problems dont exist because yay! representation!
and a major problem with this is that representation that comes out of this is inherently flawed. like honestly they should have just done some real worldbuilding and just made an alternate reality where race didnt matter or was some non existent thing. but implying that years of discrimination can be fixed with a political alliance and pretty balls and some girlbossing is laughable. like sure, it all contributes, but it doesnt eradicate.
and also. speaking of bad worldbuilding. at least they tried to explain the coming together of the black and white communities. what of the others? is india a colony? why are east asians here? not that they shouldnt be, but there should be an in world reason.
representation is all well and good, but all of this really just shows the lack of thought and care that goes into poc rep in bridgerton. because if these were actual issues brought up in the writer's room, im sure they could have had a more fleshed out world.
i know bridgerton is just escapism, that it's not meant to be taken that seriously, that it's not making a political statement, yada yada. but honestly. everything is political. we SHOULD be analyzing escapist media, and what they say about society. just because something isnt trying to be political doesnt mean it wont end up politically influencing, however subtly, those who consume it.









