Period pieces are fan favorites for their aesthetics, nostalgia, and ability to transport us to another time. Emerson College Visual and Media Arts professor Tom Cooper says they also feed into humans’ innate curiosity.

“People are interested in their ancestors and their roots,” he says. “Period pieces are part of finding out about ourselves, not just about others. It’s part of human curiosity to wonder about the past.”

But for films revered for their grandiosity and extravagance, there is often one thing missing: diversity, especially when it comes to race.

A common excuse for a lack of diversity in period pieces is its “historical inaccuracy.” White people were the royalty, the political leaders—not BIPOC. But why should we let that dictate how we cast films and TV series?

There is more to accurately representing an era than race, such as set design, costuming, makeup, and language. With countless talented BIPOC actors and actresses, there is no excuse to exclude them from these pieces simply because that’s not how the story originally was. As we’ve seen in shows like Bridgerton and musicals like Hamilton, it is possible to seamlessly weave BIPOC into these roles without any question of accuracy or suitability. 

This should be the norm going forward. Films like 2019’s Little Women—which notably had no people of color on the main cast or crew—may be great films, and even great representations of women, but we should hold Greta Gerwig and other filmmakers accountable for continuously creating all-white casts, or only introducing BIPOC as servants or enslaved characters.

In Bridgerton, for example, the 2021 Netflix series that caught viewers’ attention for its regency era aesthetic—and for Regé-Jean Page’s looks—the queen is Black, and they don’t make a big deal out of it. You could certainly argue that the show doesn’t do enough to talk about race relations at the time; however, it’s a solid start for how we should approach these types of media. 

Cooper believes that this type of seamless integration should become the norm because it pushes back on outdated standards, and “shak[ing] up our expectations” can have a large impact on the audience's belief systems. If viewers are surprised or upset about a casting choice that seems inaccurate, they should reflect on why they may feel that way and where they can change that line of thinking.

“It’s important not only for people to be shocked occasionally, but to be shocked perpetually,” he says. “So if all-Black casting, or all-female casting, helps us to see an area where we had a preconceived expectation, that’s part of learning. It shows us that we have racial expectations, gender expectations, that we need to look at.”

Many period pieces take creative liberties in other areas, such as Little Women’s or Pride and Prejudice’s costumes. So why are creators willing to bend the rules in some cases, but not others? As long as prominent elements—like speech patterns, architecture, and societal structure—remain intact, the audience will still follow along. In fact, Cooper says that as long as viewers understand the general expectations of what is and isn’t real, we’re still able to enjoy the piece without being confused.

“We as audience members have been taught to accept a sort of quasi-reality from the media that isn’t entirely realistic,” he says. “For example, you almost never see a lot of insects, or you don’t see people going to the outhouse—all kinds of things that would’ve been normal, daily activities for them at the time.”

Some Disney fans were outraged to discover that Halle Bailey, from the R&B duo CHLOE X HALLE, was cast in the live action remake of The Little Mermaid because she is a Black woman, compared to the original, where Ariel is portrayed as and voiced by a white woman. However, race is not a central theme of the piece, and the more important part—the singing—is something the Grammy-nominated musician has proven she can do. In fact, original voice actress Jodi Benson welcomed the casting in 2019.

“I think that the spirit of a character is what really matters,” she said.

The more we continue this type of diverse casting, the more normalized it will become. What’s important is that we continue holding filmmakers accountable for their inadequacies and lack of inclusion so these issues don’t get swept under the rug. Slowly, we will see the dynamics of these pieces of media shift.

“The pushback is only increasing over time,” Cooper says. “Breakthroughs are happening more frequently lately. But we’re still far behind.”