Sanditon and the pineapple.

I’ve been wanting to discuss the British show, Sanditon, currently airing on PBS in the US.

It’s an adaptation of Jane Austen’s incomplete manuscript of the same name, the last thing she worked on before her death. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

The most notable aspect of this incomplete manuscript is that one of the main characters is a black girl, Georgiana Lambe (played by Crystal Clarke in the show), who is not a servant or enslaved but is in fact a teenage heiress to a huge fortune. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

The presence of a black character in a Jane Austen story alone is huge, but the creative team behind the Sanditon tv show dove headfirst into all the implications and complications of being black in Regency-era England. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

This is best illustrated in episode 2, when a wealthy white woman, Lady Denham, throws a dinner party in honor of Ms. Lambe and chooses to make a pineapple as the centerpiece and theme of the party. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

I found it interesting that the show goes to great lengths to not only show that Lady Denham’s motives are selfish and gross, but link this to the racist colonial history of pineapples and Britain’s own complicity in racism and slavery. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

In scenes leading up to the dinner party, the dialogue and editing choices make it is clear that Lady Denham’s motivation in throwing the party isn’t to honor Ms. Lambe but to provide her nephew with an opportunity to marry a rich heiress. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

Then we get a scene where Georgiana herself makes the connection explicit. Linking the pineapple and the racist view of her “exotic” blackness as something to be gawked at and consumed by white people who don’t see her as a person. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

At the start of the dinner party we’re reminded again that Lady Denham views Georgiana as a prize for her nephew to hunt down, like an animal. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

As Lady Denham shows off the pineapple to the rest of the party, she demonstrates how empty the “welcoming” gesture is by shrugging off where Georgiana is from and even acknowledging that the pineapple isn’t even the species native to Antigua. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

Note: Antigua black, to which Georgiana is referring, is a species of pineapple that can rarely be found anywhere but Antigua.

While enslaved African people were brought to the islands to farm sugarcane, that was used in British tea.
#SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

After Georgiana makes it clear that she knows Edward is after her fortune, Lady Denham punishes the “uppity black girl” for presuming she’s too good for a shitty white dude like Edward.
#SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

If there is any doubt that the pineapple represents the pretty face of racism, the pineapple in the show is cut open to reveal it’s rotten full of maggots. Like, the show isn’t at all subtle about the pineapple being a symbol of racism. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

Even if you don’t know the pineapple’s racist colonial history, the show makes it clear within the context of the story that it is a symbol of thinly veiled racist microaggressions Georgiana has to endure, despite her social & economic privileges. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

Knowing this about the pineapple. It’s painfully embarrassing, but not at all surprising that many fans of the show use the pineapple emoji to talk about the show and represent their appreciation for it. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

Also not surprising was how many fans got upset and even harassed a black woman for pointing out the obvious connection between the pineapple and racism. Twitter search “sanditonsisterhood pineapple” to see it all. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

It’s just so frustrating to see a show, in a genre that so rarely showcases black characters/actors, doing real work to engage with the complexities that come with blackness in a period piece and see the fans be so willfully ignorant. #SanditonPBS #sanditonsisterhood

I’m going to keep watching #Sanditon and do whatever I can to try to make the fandom a place that welcomes and LISTENS to black fans. I can only hope other fans do the same.

Sanditon is a great show, that deserves a second season. #sanditonsisterhood #SanditonPBS