There are few characters in the history of humanity that everybody knows about. Their knowledge of them might be basic, but their existence isn’t ignored. Cleopatra is one of them; however, she might as well be one of the most misrepresented characters in history.
Hollywood, hasn’t helped much to change Cleopatra’s narrative (created in her own time) of the machiavellian seductress who enticed two of the most powerful men of her time. It seems this industry isn’t willing to change on that matter, and the new docuseries Queen Cleopatra keeps portraying an inaccurate depiction of the witty pharaoh.
Jada Pinkett-Smith’s new docuseries has sparked all sorts of backlash that has even prompted legal action against Netflix. The portrayal of the iconic Queen has been considered one of the worst depictions of the character, and audiences and critics have both shown their discontent over the four-episode series. Only in RottenTomatoes, Queen Cleopatra has only 10% of positive reviews from the critic’s side and only 2% regarding the public’s approval. The main reason, the actress portraying Cleopatra is black. She was not.
Why Has the Series Gotten So Much Backlash?
Since the release of the trailer, people got angry about the depiction of Cleopatra, even forcing Netflix to block comments on the video. The series aims to celebrate Cleopatra as a strong, independent, empowered, African ruler, and as we’ve seen, a black woman. However, historians and even Egyptians have deemed this representation as inaccurate and offensive. They claim that this false representation in a documentary only erases Egyptian history as badly as previous Hollywood productions.
Egypt doesn’t beat about the bush on this matter, and many productions that portray Ancient Egypt have been banned in the country for decades. This isn’t the exception. Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, the agency in charge of protecting Egyptian heritage, has said that Queen Cleopatra is a “falsification of Egyptian history,” and a lawyer has already filed a complaint to make Netflix erase the docuseries.
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Was Cleopatra Black?
Although there’s no scientific way to determine Cleopatra’s ethnicity, historical evidence has proven her lineage. She was the last of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a lineage of Greek-Macedonian kings that ruled Egypt from 323 B.C. to 30 B.C. This particular dynasty was known for marrying within their blood, meaning that it’s very unlikely that Cleopatra would have indigenous Egyptian blood.
Not only that, contemporary depictions of Cleopatra show her with classic Greek features, as was declared by the Egyptian Government on social media when the docuseries was announced. Still, the series opens up the question about her origins since there’s basically no information regarding Cleopatra’s mother or grandmother. Again, it’s very unlikely they would’ve been other than Macedonian.
Now, does her skin color matter? It seems that the series is forcing a modern narrative into the life of Cleopatra rather than focusing on her deeds. The matter of ethnicity or skin color wouldn’t be a matter in her days as these concepts were not seen as we understand them now.
Tina Gharavi, director of Queen Cleopatra, tried to defend her docuseries asking “Why do some people need Cleopatra to be white?” No one does. She added that besides making a series that presents Cleopatra as a black woman she intended to ask the Egyptian people to consider themselves as African, which obviously sparked even more backlash. Why? Egypt is located in northeast Africa, and although they belong to the African continent, their culture and history don’t even match with that of other African countries.
In Ancient times, Egypt was considered part of the Mediterranean world and the entry to Africa but not precisely as part of the territory. Moreover, Egypt was conquered by the Arabs in the 7th century, introducing the country to that culture, language, and even religion. Historically, Egypt has had more in common with the Middle East than with Africa, and for that matter, despite the geographical location, they identify more with the Arab world than Africa.
Also, as mentioned, back in Cleopatra’s days, the idea of ethnicity wasn’t perceived as we do today about skin color but rather culture and heritage; thus, her skin complexion would not have been relevant to her identity. This series inaccurately tries to build a narrative of a woman proud of her roots which wasn’t really the case. As Egyptologist Monica Hanna says, “This use and abuse of the past for modern agendas will only harm us all, because it will give a distorted image of the past.”
Afrocentrism and the Core of the Inaccuracies
What many Egyptian critics and historians have claimed is that there’s an insistence on considering Egypt and its history as grounded in that of Central African cultures. Afrocentrism was born as a need for African Americans to connect with their heritage and roots, but somehow it got too far on the way.
Some Afrocentrists have claimed that Ancient Egypt is the black civilization that gave birth to the history and culture of Africa; that it was THE global civilization until it was looted by Europeans. This is quite a reductive and inaccurate idea. But this urge to try fitting Egypt’s grandeur into that narrative ends up erasing the diversity and multiculturality that made Ancient Egypt the important civilization it was. Moreover, this school of thought has replicated the story that today’s Egyptians are descended from Arab invaders who ravaged and displaced black African Egyptians. Again, this only attempts to erase centuries of history and identity and quite rightly what makes Egyptians angry today.
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“For an African-American who has never been to Egypt to say that ‘this is our heritage and modern Egyptians are those Arab invaders’ is very insulting,” said Yasmin El Shazly, deputy director of research and programs at the U.S. Research Center in Egypt. Regarding Queen Cleopatra, she added, “How can someone who is not even from my country take credit for my culture just because of the color of their skin?” Which is one of the main issues with the series. It was created by Americans and has only one Egyptian expert.
Jada Pinkett-Smith, producer of the docuseries said about the project that “we don’t usually see or hear stories of black queens, and knowing those stories was very important for me, for my daughter and my community, because there are so many stories of black queens.” We couldn’t agree more, but wouldn’t it make sense to actually talk about unknown black African queens instead of inventing that one of the most famous rulers in history was black? There are tons of amazing black female rulers you can actually talk about, like Queen Arawelo from Somalia, Queen Kandake, Empress of Ethiopia, Yaa Asantewaa of the Ashanti Empire, and many more. Why force modern ethnic views on Cleopatra, who was clearly not black?
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