Netflix just released a new original show called Ginny & Georgia. In the show Ginny is the biracial (black and white) daughter of her white mother Georgia. Their family moved from Texas to Newbury, Massachusetts where Ginny finds herself in the in between of two worlds. I like that the show focuses on the difficulties that many biracial people face, not knowing where they fit in because they are to black for the white kids and too white for the black. However, Netflix has a pattern of only casting mixed, lightskin, or racially ambiguous people to play the roles of black youth in their shows. On the rare occasion they do cast a darker skinned black person they tend to put every minority group into that one character while still not developing them on the show.
For example, in Never Have I Ever, Fabiola, the only black character is played by a light skin black woman, who is also a member of the LGBTQ community and is socially awkward/ a nerd. In Sex education, Eric is played by a dark skin man and is also a part of the LGBTQ community and is socially awkward. I believe they made the right casting decision for this show but it almost feels like they are using the paper bag test to cast female leads in their original shows. I would not change the casting for Ginny and Georgia specifically because it works there. However I do believe that Netflix needs more representation of all the beautiful brown/black skin that exists in this world and to stop type casting every black person they put on their shows.
Keating, S. (2021, March 19). “Ginny & Georgia” is a Wild mashup of a show. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/shannonkeating/ginny-georgia-netflix-season-1-review
Saraiya, S. (2020, April 16). Charming and Bright, never Have I ever Is Mindy Kaling’s best show yet. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/04/never-have-i-ever-review-mindy-kaling
