Netflix Docuseries Review: Harry & Meghan Being a Bi-Racial Princess Ain’t Cool if the Kingdom is Racist
Why is the British Royal family so fascinating? I don’t know but I love watching anything about the ultimate dysfunctional family. The first three episodes of the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan premiered on December 8th and I am here for it. The couple formed a production company, Archwell Productions, after leaving the UK and the docuseries includes screenshots of the couple’s facetime dates, and is full of personal iphone photos that make the series even more intimate.
The structure of Harry & Meghan is solid. The couple’s intention is to tell their story in their own words from their perspective while educating white audience members the nuances of imperialism, slavery and implicit bias. The first episode begins with a disclaimer that says members of the Royal family were contacted to be a part of the docuseries, but they refused to be interviewed. Director Liz Garbus gives the audience a beautiful love story from the first frame. Even the opening title music reminds me of the Downton Abbey theme. The structure of episodes one through three is geared to make the audience fall in love with this couple’s love story.
The production value is top notch and the structure works well. There’s a blend of footage of Charles and Diana, and Diana’s struggles, William and Harry growing up having to deal with the press, Meghan’s origin story and rise to fame, how the couple met and fell in love with the history of the British monarchy and their relationship to slavery, the impact of empire and how Harry and Meghan gave the country a sense of hope for inclusion for British citizens of color.
We hear the surprising way Harry met Meghan and see how a Millennial couple documents their love with selfies documenting every moment and the couple’s take on the various scandals released in the press connected to Harry and Meghan.
It’s interesting that the majority of Meghan Markle’s close friends shown in this documentary are white women. I mean, Serena Williams makes a cameo in the third episode, but she’s the only Black female friend featured. It made me wonder what if Meghan had more Black female friends while she was going through all of this. But looking at the second episode that shares her upbrining, I could see that Meghan wasn’t the kind of biracial Black woman who fit in with Black folks. She was a theater nerd. She wasn’t cool, she was a super smart child of divorce with the heart of an activist. Learning this facet of her upbringing made me feel protective of her and have empathy because I understand what it feels like to be an outsider. I also understand how hard it is to be a Black woman in a in a relationship with a white man having to deal with his family, and only having white friends who don’t have the capacity to give real support.
It’s also striking how in episode two Markle’s mother shares that she never talked to her biracial daughter about the racial challenges being a Black woman and living in the modern world. Well I guess it makes sense because Meghan Markle is very light skinned and in LA at the time even though she was in a Black neighborhood, (I’m assuming) organically attracted white friends and wasn’t thought of as being Black. My take from the first three episodes is that you have this biracial woman who had mostly white friends, and even though yes she worked hard to land a role on a TV show lived happily as a racially ambiguous actor who never really had to deal with the blatant racism Black women experience daily. Meghan’s introduction to being mistreated for being a Black woman was when she got involved with Prince Harry. The documentary clearly highlights how much that situation would and did suck.
There’s a point in the documentary where Markle says she was in a happy place just before meeting Harry finally being single but doesn’t mention her first marriage. Side note, her first husband is a former actor now producer, and they had been together seven years before they married. Meghan left him aburptly after two years leaving him heartbroken. But, he’s got a sitcome project greenlit for Fox. A story about a guy whose wife leaves him for a British prince. Original huh? Side note I find it very interesting that her first marriage isn’t mentioned. The filmmakers choose to tell a story of Meghan rising in Hollywood by the sweat of her own auditions. But, the fact that she had a partner for seven years before and they were married makes me assume that she was able to audition full time because she had a partner who could help with expenses while she worked her ass off to book work. I think omitting her first husband leaves the audience with more questions than answers. Hopefully this relationship will be mentioned in the upcoming episodes.
When Meghan’s relationship with Prince Harry goes public, she’s blindsided by being hated because of her Blackness. She mentions how we never get to hear the perspective of biracial people, but particularly the past few years is that really true? Watching the documentary I find it hard to believe that Meghan as such an intelligent person, could be so naive about racism in the world. Perhaps it’s because she lived in this safe bubble surrounded by white people? I guess the benefit of being racially ambiguous is that you can create a bubble Who knows. It is a trip though to see that the people who really showed their ass and contacted the press for money were the white side of her family. The part about her dad is just a downright shame. Shame on that man.
All and all the first three episodes are worth watching and episode three has a nice cliffhanger effect that leaves the audience wanting to watch what happens next. But (if you’re reading this on December 8, 2022) you gotta wait until next week to see the wedding and the aftermath. The miniseries is like an extended version of the Oprah interview with lots of historic footage and personal iphone video content. And boy do Meghan and Harry document every part of their lives. But I guess most of us do. Don’t we? Do we? The docuseries does a fantastic job weaving in the complexity of the race based caste system we all live under using the Royals as an example of how and why these systems of oppression work so well. Harry & Meghan is a compelling documentary especially if you are intrigued by the British monarchy and if you’re interested in seeing laid out what it takes to educate the privileged to be anti-racist.
Oh and by the way… we need to warn little girls about wanting to be a Princess.
Harry & Meghan now streaming on Netflix.
Stay safe
J9
