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Many Twitter users stunned this morning about the use of the N-word in Lucy Worsley's "American History's Biggest Fibs", which has been replaying on the BBC after its original transmission last year.
Of course it wasn't necessary for LW to use the N-word to explain John Wilkes Booth, and given that this episode featured a lengthy sequence in which LW cosplayed as a plantation mistress this was a very regrettable choice.
Why does this happen? The credits suggest that no American historians were involved behind the camera. There are literally 100s of UK-based experts alone who could have talked LW out of the show's missteps but no historical adviser is credited - just a recent-grad researcher.
TV history has a creeping tendency to use 'researchers' without detailed knowledge/expertise; the medium assumes that if the 'talent' has a PhD in History they're on safe ground with facts, interpretations & sensitivities from ancient Egypt to modern China.
Sometimes the point of having a platform is to give it to someone else when you reach the limits of your knowledge. The assumption that a PhD makes you an expert in everything culminates in David Starkey cosplaying as a historian of the slave trade, & we know how that turns out.
TBF to Lucy Worsley, the long tribute to Gone with the Wind culminates in the revelation that the novel and movie have a 'darker history' (etc. etc.). But of course the show wants to have its cake and eat it, never more so than in this breathtaking piece of hypocrisy.
"I don't feel entirely comfortable dressed like this, but let's do a quick still photo and we'll use it to market the episode."
Can't speak for the production team on this particular show, but these missteps also demonstrate the need for representation behind the camera - and for support for researchers & production staff of colour who raise concerns along these lines./
