In Netflix’s upcoming docudrama “Queen Cleopatra” the iconic Egyptian queen will be portrayed by a Black actress and this is sparking an uproar in Egypt. Anyone who knows a bit of ancient Greek and Egyptian history will not be surprised.
Egyptian academics point out that Cleopatra, who was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and belonged to a Greek-speaking dynasty started by Alexander’s general Ptolemy, was of European descent and not Black. An Egyptian lawyer has reportedly filed a complaint demanding that legal measures are taken to block Netflix outright in Egypt, to prevent the show from airing. The complaint claims the docudrama, which drops May 10, violates the country’s media laws.
Regarding the choice of casting British actress Adele James as Cleopatra, Netflix’s promotional website Tudum in February quoted Jada Pinkett Smith, who is the show’s executive producer, as saying that since the queen’s heritage has been debated, it was “a nod to the centuries-long conversation about the ruler’s race.”
“We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them!,” she noted.
However, there is no doubt among scholars that Cleopatra was Macedonian-Greek on her father Ptolemy XII’s side. But since the ethnic origin of her mother is not known, some historians say it’s possible, though unlikely, that the Egyptian ruler’s mother was African and, therefore, that she could have been of mixed heritage. But this is highly questionable since the ingrained practice among Egyptian rulers was to marry within the family. She did have some Persian and Sogdian Iranian ancestry as her Macedonian Greek family – the Ptolemaic dynasty – had intermarried with the Seleucid dynasty that ruled over much of West Asia before Ptolemy was given Egypt to rule on the death of Alexander, when his vast empire was divided into three parts.
Last week’s trailer drop for “Queen Cleopatra” has caused a stir in Egypt where Zahi Hawass, a prominent Egyptologist, was quoted by the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper as strongly disputing the possibility that Cleopatra was of mixed race. “This is completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not Black,” he said.
Meanwhile, actress Adele James has taken to Twitter to tell critics: “If you don’t like the casting, don’t watch the show.”
Debates over how Cleopatra is represented on screen aren’t new. Plans for a movie that was set to be initially directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Israeli actor Gal Gadot as the iconic Egyptian queen prompted debate, with critics saying the time had come for the role to go to an Arab or African actor. The movie has not been made.
Pinkett Smith’s claim about choosing a Black Cleopatra in order to affirm ethnic representation can be seen as another example of the current woke practice–especially common on Netflix– of having Black actors portray white historical figures, a trend that was started by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the Broadway play, “Hamilton” where some of the American Founding Fathers were portrayed by Black performers.
The same woke practice has given us a Black Queen Charlotte and Black Dukes and Duchesses in the highly improbable setting of 18th century England in the PBS favorite, “Bridgerton”.
