Awful PC Nonsense

A lot of idiots on here seem to suggest this is acceptable because Dumas was not white and his father a general was not white. However his father was born in 1762 whereas this series is set in 1630. To make you realise how stupid the argument many on here propose it would be setting a historical drama in the US in 1870/80s and having a black president, and using as the excuse, well Barack Obama was president in 2008

Europe was not America. While historically, Porthos may not have been of mixed race, the idea isn't inaccurate.

In 1441, a group of Portuguese in West Africa discovered a village of black natives and, to make some money, attacked them and kidnapped as many as they could. As a result began the European traffic in black slaves. By 1854, the Portuguese were importing thousands of Africans per year into Portugal to work as indentured servants. This traffic, however, was far different from the character of the later slave trade. Technically, the Africans were not slaves; they were indentured servants. After a period of service they were freed. It was not possible to be born a slave in Portugal. The children of indentured servants were free.

This would be the case throughout the sixteenth century. Also, slavery was not racially based. The Africans kidnapped by the Portuguese were baptized, many were educated, and they all integrated into the lower classes of Portuguese society. Africans and Europeans intermarried; to this day, most Portuguese are of mixed blood. This early trade in human lives was relatively small.

Two things, however, would change history. The discovery of America precipitated the need for huge amounts of subsistence labor, and the development of high production agricultural economies in America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries greatly changed the face of the African slave trade and its aftermath.

This is from: http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/black-history-europe-short-story

I like the guy who plays Porthos, I don't care he's not white. I'm European and somewhat of a history buff. I think Howard Charles owns the character. Frankly, I prefer him to the real Porthos, who was fat and sometimes a buffoon. Yes, they chose him as a homage to Alexandre Dumas whose father was half Haitian. The actor, Howard Charles, declared that. It's not just speculation made by "idiots".

And for what it's worth, I don't think the show would have been the same without him.

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Of the 4 musketeers, three of them are not of pure european descent as would have been absolutely necessary in 17th france to joint he King's musketeers

Luke Pasqualiano (d'Artagnan) is Italian (born and living in the UK). Last I checked, Italians are pure europeans.

Santiago Cabrera (Aramis) is Venezuelan. He could pass 100% for a Spanish guy, so maybe he's of pure european descent. Or close enough.

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It's not PC you idiot, it's just not trying super hard to be historically accurate. It's crazy how people jump to conclusions when they see fancy costumes and swordfighting. This is clearly a romp through through the past with modern sensibilities. It's going for swashbuckling adventure, not dour realism. There are so many things that are historically inaccurate about the show, from the manners of address, to their dumb accents, to the locations and the mannerisms of court, why is race THE MOST striking element of that inaccuracy that bothers you?

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The OP is a troll. I took a glance at his history and apparently this is his obsession.


Another of his posts:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2539953/board/nest/244315181?d=244813067#244813067

"She has nowhere near standard Northern European skin tone, if you are saying that, you are delusional. You will find various skin tones in Northern European countries due to migrations of people. Olive skin is not typical of 100% northern europeans"



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3706628/board/nest/242829222?d=242829222#242829222

British clubs pretty much stayed all white until the end. In 1947 a Eurasian girl who was the date of a British officer, and who also looked white, but had partial Indian ancestry was kicked out of a club in the middle of a party, much to her great embarrassment, once someone realised she had indian ancestry and this was someone who was white enough that they appeared at first to be completely european!




Being a 'non-white' yourself, why are you so obsessed with the whiteness of Europeans?

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I see the board is full of silly apologist morons

The series has English actors because it is aimed at an English audience, I would be perfectly happy with a French production with French spoken with subtitles for those who can't speak French

It doesn't take away from the fact the principle defence of Porthos being black on these boards is that Dumas was part black. Tom Burke whilst English, is clearly northern European and so could pass as a French man of the 17th century.

See original rebuttal as to why that hold no water

The idea that slavery was around for a long time so he might still have been black in the 17th century is moronic if you have ANY historical knowledge. There is no chance in a racist culture of the 17th century, that in Royal France he would have been able to be raised to that status.

Anyone arguing that there would have been loads of blacks around in 1630s and so everything is anachronistic being lilly white clearly knows sod all about the timeline of European exploitation of the African continent for slave labour .... but go a head none of you has probably read a history book since school, if you even did then

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