When Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) feels the embarrassment of his rejection, she devises a plan to cut Mr Malcolm\u2019s ego down to size with the help of her good friend Selina Dalton (Frieda Pinto).<\/p>\n
The plan: Selina will show him how she is the perfect woman, but will ultimately reject him, citing her own list of what she wants in the perfect husband. Of course, unforeseen circumstances and human emotions threaten to ruin the plan.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The vision of Regency society presented in Mr. Malcolm\u2019s List<\/em> is different to that of other recent dramas set in the era \u2013 of which Bridgerton<\/em><\/a> is perhaps the most obvious parallel. This story largely excludes the people and institutions that control the social and political hierarchy. Though there are several characters with royal titles, there is no mention of the monarchy \u2013 so no George III<\/a> or Queen Charlotte<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the whole, Mr. Malcolm\u2019s List<\/em> recreates more features of the elite marriage market than other aspects of life in 1818. But that doesn\u2019t mean a there is a lack of real events that are tied into the story.<\/p>\n Cartoonists played an integral part in Regency print culture, and this aspect of life in the 19th century manifests early on: Julia\u2019s embarrassment, which kickstarts her scheme, comes from a pamphlet containing a sketch that mocks a failed night she spent at the opera with Mr Malcolm.<\/p>\n There are plenty of surviving examples of such cartoons from newspapers and pamphlets, many of which represented major political events<\/a>, with the Napoleonic Wars<\/a> being especially popular. There are also examples of cartoons from the time making fun of the upper echelons of society<\/a>. Julia\u2019s on-screen humiliation rings true even today with the proliferation of social media gossip and tabloid news.<\/p>\n The \u201cmost eligible bachelor in England\u201d certainly wasn\u2019t shy when it came it setting out his demands in a wife. The requirements on his list are:<\/p>\n Mr Malcolm, perhaps, might benefit from this guide on how to succeed in Regency courtship<\/a>, as explained by historian Emily Brand\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> The film also depicts Mr Malcolm\u2019s strict requirement to have a wife who is educated, allowing the screenwriters to drop in a number of contemporary historical details. Julia points out to Selina that while men want women who can conduct an elegant conversation, they do not want a woman who is smarter than them. Mr Malcolm tests Julia and Selina\u2019s knowledge by quizzing them on current events, including the Corn Laws<\/a> or the building of churches.<\/p>\n The 1815 Corn Law would have been one of the most divisive pieces of legislation of the day. When asked, Julia improvises that it was a positive thing, as a way to moderate the diets of the less fortunate. While the real legislation did affect diet, Julia\u2019s view is a simplistic reading of a complex situation. The 1815 Corn Law prohibited the import of grain until the price of domestic grain passed a set threshold (corn in this instance referring to all cereal grains, not just corn). It raised the price of bread astronomically for the working class and was incredibly controversial at the time.<\/p>\n Whereas Julia\u2019s answer reveals that she was not keeping up with current events (or even paid attention to household expenses), Selina fares much better when answering Mr Malcolm\u2019s question about the Church Building Act, noting that the money allocated to the buildings themselves would be better reallocated to support charitable efforts.<\/p>\n The real Church Building Act of 1818<\/a> established a \u00a31 million fund for the building of new churches, as well as a commission to oversee its distribution. But her answer only tells part of the story. Population growth in cities and newly established centres of industry meant there were more Anglican parishioners than spaces in existing churches. Though Selina\u2019s father is a clergyman, her answer suggests her family lives in an area where this was not the case.<\/p>\n While the plot references these two concrete political events within England, it is far more elusive about political events overseas. Captain Ossory (Theo James) mentions seeing death at Waterloo<\/a>, and presumably fought there, but the Napoleonic Wars are otherwise glossed over. The absence of the monarchy also means a noticeable absence of many of the issues around the expanding British empire. There is a brief reference in a conversation about family connections (another quality from Mr Malcolm\u2019s infamous list), which is the only clear reference to issues of immigration, race, and ethnicity.<\/p>\n There is a moment in the film when Mr Malcolm quotes a foreign proverb, which he then translates into English: \u201cA man who marries a woman marries all of her relatives.\u201d Up until this point, the film treats the major and minor characters played by actors of colour as a normalised phenomenon.<\/p>\n It could be said that Mr. Malcolm\u2019s List<\/em> is being derivative by using racebent casting (which refers to casting actors of colour as characters that were described as white or no ethnicity in the original novel or script). However, it pre-dates Bridgerton<\/em> in this regard. In February 2019, long before it was optioned as a feature film, a short-film adaptation of Mr. Malcolm\u2019s List<\/em> debuted on YouTube<\/a>. Some of the cast are played by different actors, but it established the precedent of racebending several characters from the novel. It is important to note that diversifying cast opportunities does not invalidate other forms of historical recreation on screen such as costuming, set design, and reenacting historical events.<\/p>\n The proverb segues into Mr Malcolm asking more generic questions, effectively normalising the presence of non-white elites in Regency England<\/a>. Likewise, Mr. Malcolm\u2019s List<\/em> purposely chooses not to reconcile real events regarding race and colonialism in 1818 in order to maintain the alternate history escapism for the characters of colour.<\/p>\n In reality, 1818 was the year that Chile declared its independence from Spain and that British forces and the British East India Company<\/a> conquered the Maratha Empire in India. It also signified an increase in effort on part of the Royal Navy\u2019s West Africa Squadron to enforce the ban on the international slave trade<\/a> enacted in British law in 1807. Such events would likely have affected real families living in early 19th century English society \u2013 but on-screen, the impact on the Dalton, Thistlewaite and Malcolm families are invisible.<\/p>\nThe real history of Mr. Malcolm\u2019s List<\/em><\/h2>\n
What is on Mr Malcolm\u2019s list?<\/h2>\n
Race and colour-blind casting in Mr. Malcolm\u2019s List<\/em><\/h2>\n
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