Just finished S1 of Tumanbay podcast. I really liked it but something about it kept bugging me. Just realized—even though it's fiction in a (fictional?) world, I think it's got some representation issues around race. 1/
It takes place in a vaguely Middle-Eastern world (e.g. there's a sultan), & yet almost all the main characters speak with a British accent. That seems normal for a production based out of the UK—except for the fact that the minor and expendable characters have an Arabic lilt 2/
It's def not a "British good, Middle-Eastern bad" dichotomy—there are plenty of baddies with British accents, and some good or neutral chars with ME accents. It just seems weird that they went out of their way to cast those accents for a show in that region... 3/
...but only give them to minor roles—servants, ppl experiencing trauma. The sultan himself has a primary role, and does have a ME accent, though we're meant to take him as vain and dumb and get what's coming to him. 4/
Also (spoiler) there literally is a straight up white savior—the mysterious man "from the north", with blue eyes that everyone always comments on, ends up delivering the coup de grace to the dying empire. 5/
Again, this is only re: Season 1—for all I know this has been fixed in subsequent seasons. 6/
Representation aside, I really liked Tumanbay and will get caught up on the whole show. But also trying to remember that we can't just put representation aside. It's important to think about how power works in an emergent medium like podcasts. 7/
...especially in a show that is entirely about how power works. /end
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