When the Netflix period drama, Bridgerton debuted in 2020, it had the kind of splash that TV executives love. Viewers binge-watched it, people it, fans made memes and Buzzfeed ran about the show. Mostly, people were intrigued that Shonda Rhimes’ version of 19th-century Britain had Black royalty and aristocrats. Was it a re-imagination or a nod to theories that Queen Charlotte of Britain was ?
Bridgerton may have raised more awareness about Black aristocrats in 18/19th-century Britain, but it is not the first pop culture piece to do so. Back in 2013, Amma Asante’s movie Belle showcased the true story of a mixed-race aristocrat, Dido Elizabeth Belle, navigating a world that does not accept someone like her. Perhaps it did not have the gloss of a Shondaland production or perhaps it was ahead of its time, because it never quite got the attention or reception it deserved.
Year 2021 might be a good time to revisit the movie, as it is also part of a growing movement in pop culture to reverse the erasure of people of colour from selected times in history.
Dido (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is an offspring of a Royal Navy man and an African woman. When her mother dies, her father sends her to live with his wealthy extended family. His uncle, Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and aunt, Lady Mansfield (Emily Watson) initially have some pearl-clutching moments over this ‘mulatto’ child. But they soften enough to house her, introduce her to her sister-cousin Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) and educate both girls.
The moral reckoning starts when the girls are ready to be presented to society. This is the point when the movie could have resembled a Jane Austen adaption with its commentary on society, gender and financial security. But with Dido, there’s the additional complexity of race. She’s not white enough to eat at the formal dinner table with her family and guests, but she’s too affluent to eat with the maids in the kitchen.
Dido (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon). Source: Icon Film Distribution
She is lucky though, as she gets a hefty inheritance from her late father, thus providing her with leverage in the marriage market. But this is meaningless when she realises that her uncle and aunt were never going to present her to society anyway because it’s unlikely that any man would want to marry her. Turns out, Dido’s options are to either be a rich spinster or a poor spinster.
Separately, Lord Mansfield, a judge, is presiding over a landmark case involving a slave ship, , and the question of whether human beings can be insured like cargo. Dido follows the case and for the first time, the brutality of the outside world starts to permeate her own sheltered life. She is forced to acknowledge that although her family loves and cherishes her in their own way, people who look like her are treated like chattel and are worth more dead than alive for insurance purposes.
Burdened with this new realisation, she navigates her place in this aristocratic society she is part of, but peripherally.
Mbatha-Raw delivers an impressive and breakout performance in this movie, showing both vulnerability and defiance in a world where her gender and race mean “we are but their property”. Marvel fans may recognise her as Ravonna in the series Loki where she carries herself with the same defiance and commitment to the cause. Or in The Morning Show, where she held her own alongside Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon and played a woman who was sexually assaulted by a famous news anchor. In all these movies, she plays a strong female character with very different approaches.
Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson), the uncle of Dido’s father, with his niece (Mbatha-Raw). Source: Icon Film Distribution
Some of Mbatha-Raw’s best scenes in Belle are also the most restrained, as opposed to action-packed or quick-witted. It’s the ones where people’s unkind remarks hurt her deeply but instead of lashing out, she visibly stands taller and responds measuredly. We can see that she is seething but she refuses to be smaller or accept the ‘shame’ of her colour to mollify society. The only time she allows herself to feel grief and rage is when she’s alone in her room. Then, she beats her chest and claws her skin to rid it of its dark tone. It’s a powerful and unflinching scene that shows how even strong female leads can experience self-loathing.
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Belle: Amma Asante interview
Although the Zong legal case became the catalyst for Dido’s self-actualisation, she played a very small role in it, both in the movie and in real life. She did not deliver a rousing monologue or create a safe haven for enslaved people. In fact, the movie recognises that power sits with the noble lords and focused on them, their roles and conscience. This may be an accurate reflection of its times, but it is also a bit deflating that the main character has so little autonomy.
Instead, Dido had small wins. She had enough leverage and inheritance to secure the life she wanted, she had choices in the marriage market, and she forced her family to face their prejudices.
And that is a triumph befitting a main character.
Watch 'Belle'
Friday 2 February, 4pm on SBS World Movies
NOTE: No catch-up at SBS On Demand
Belle
PG
United Kingdom, 2000
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Amma Asante
Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Matthew Goode, Tom Felton, Emily Watson, Sarah Gadon
What's it about?
This period drama is inspired by the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, who was the illegitimate daughter of John Lindsay, a Captain in the Royal Navy, and a Caribbean woman named Maria Belle who gave birth to their child in 1762. Belle's racial background renders her an outsider in her high society circle, and her uncle's role in a slavery case places her in the spotlight.
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