This author’s heart has been stolen by the second season of Netflix’s hit show Bridgerton. The stunning enemies-to-lovers story has captivated audiences, sparking fashion trends, taking over social media and starting conversations about race and equality. The reason for their global success is simple: Bridgerton features the ideal combination of romance, drama and beautiful South-Asian representation.
Growing up, watching and enjoying films like Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, seeing someone who looked like me (a South-Asian woman) in such a show would have seemed like an impossible dream.
Hollywood has always perpetuated the notion that there was no place for persons of color in the realm of romantic period pieces, but how could this be? Romantic dramas are simply just stories and fantasies that can and should be performed by everyone. The limits imposed by Hollywood were nothing more than disguised prejudice and racism, Bridgerton finally broke those horrible walls down.
The season’s main characters are Indian immigrants Kate and Edwina Sharma. Despite their racial and cultural differences with the rest of the ton, they never had to justify their beauty or their worthiness of love. Their culture was never mocked or treated as “strange” but plainly as natural occurrences. Their fond nicknames, distaste for English tea, jewelry choices and wedding ceremonies were all presented in this normal way that I never knew I craved. It was refreshing to see.
Before Bridgerton, Hollywood’s representation of South Asians often felt wrong because everything special and unique about our culture was always overemphasized and forced.
Our accents, names, everything. Representation, however, should not be a caricature of the people it represents. Bridgerton did a wonderful job understanding and portraying this.
In conclusion, I was very pleased with the representation in this show. It rejected the white aesthetic that so many period pieces cling on to. The fact that I could genuinely see myself in the characters was revolutionary and something I hope will become the norm in western media.
Have you seen Bridgerton season 2? Let us know @HerCampusSJSU