The reason for the complaints about the "woke" casting has less to do with racism and more to do with the ability to allow the viewers to suspend disbelief.
Let me explain; having people of color in a film with a location and time period in which there would be few, if any, confuses the viewer and makes the casting more important than the story. For example, it would be nonsensical to have a cast of mostly Caucasians in a film about an African family experience or perhaps an origin story of the Maori. People would understand the nonsensical casting of predominantly white people in films like those, but do not understand the complaint of having POC in the Regency time era. People are simply asking for reality in casting.
Yes, having more POC in modern day films with interracial relationships makes definite sense. But asking, no forcing, viewers to believe people of different ethnic backgrounds existed in locations and eras where they did not exist is simply unrealistic. Portray and cast people in the eras and locations as they truly existed, white, brown or black and let viewers enjoy tales as they would have actually occurred.
