The Hate U Give, Hairspray, and Bridgerton — a Conversation About Colorism
During the summer of 2017, I read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I was attached to that book, hanging on to every page. After finishing the book, I found out that the novel was being adapted into a movie, set to come out the following year. The movie looked good and seemed to stay fairly true to the book. There was, however, one noticeable flaw with the movie — its blatant colorism*.
*prejudice or discrimination e favoring people with lighter skin over people with darker skin
Colorism has always been an issue in Hollywood, with executives hiring light-skinned actors in dark-skinned roles. In the book version of The Hate U Give, the protagonist, Starr, is a dark-skinned black woman. The cover of the book even shows Starr’s dark black skin tone. In the movie, however, Starr is portrayed by Amandla Stenberg, a light-skinned black actress. The issue with this is that it perpetuates the idea that the ideal beauty standard is light-skinned, and to be beautiful you need to be closer to white than black.
A great example of a movie that does not use colorism is 2007’s Hairspray. This movie, set in the 1960s, tackles race and body image. One of the main characters, Seaweed J. Stubbs, a black teenager who dreams of dancing on TV but is unable to because of segregation. Seaweed is portrayed by the amazing Elijah Kelley, a dark-skinned actor. Seaweed ends up falling in love with Penny, his classmate who is played by Amanda Bynes. Elijah undeniably elevated the role, but it is not far-fetched to assume that many casting directors would have avoided hiring him due to his darker complexion.
Hollywood has taken steps to combat racism, but is Hollywood simply replacing racism with colorism? Shonda Rhimes’s popular television show Bridgerton was hailed for its color-blind casting. However, many are now taking issue with the casting choices. The main black actors in the show are Regé-Jean Page, Ruby Barker, Golda Rosheuvel, and Adjoa Andoh — who play the Duke, Marina Thomson, the queen, and Lady Danbury respectively. Adjoa Andoh is the only dark-skinned actor out of the three. There are more supporting characters of color, but the one that has caused the most controversy is the Duke’s father. The Duke’s father is played by Richard Pepple, a dark-skinned actor. The controversy lies over the fact that one of only four dark-skinned actors — three of which hold supporting roles, two of the three are very minor roles — portrays the cruel father. Indeed, the Duke’s father is awful, he is absent, he is rude, he is mean, he is hateful. This reinforces negative stereotypes about not only black men but also dark-skinned black men. Not to mention, all of the dark-skinned black men in the show were either cruel or members of the lower class — enforcing yet another stereotype.
In an age where racism is supposedly being condemned, it is time that colorism is condemned as well. Hiring only light-skinned actors reinforces the notion that to be beautiful you must be white, and that is simply not true. Representation matters. Hiring a light-skinned actor to play the queen, the pretty girl, and the handsome duke is not enough. Dark-skinned boys and girls deserve to know that they can be all those things too. Dark-skinned children deserve role models who are strong and successful and kind. Until casting is truly color blind and dark-skinned actors have the same opportunities and light-skinned and white actors, there will not have been sufficient progress.
