New Netflix Documentary Forgets Cleopatra was Greek

[SF.Elizabeth]

I saw Cameron Diaz starring in There's Something About Mary from 1998.

[James Radov]

Queen Cleopatra is a new Netflix supposed documentary from producer Jada Pinkett Smith. While it is well known that Cleopatra was Greek, the Netflix show has decided to ignore history, prompting a lawsuit from an Egyptian lawyer who says Netflix is not respecting Egyptian culture, values or principles.

Netflix PANICS Cleopatra BACKLASH at Fake Documentary

Netflix PANICS Cleopatra BACKLASH at Fake Documentary

[Lutador Branco]

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...row-over-drama

Cleopatra was light-skinned, Egypt tells Netflix in row over drama
Casting of black actor in upcoming docudrama has angered groups in Egypt who say it is ‘a falsification of Egyptian history’

Harriet Sherwood

@harrietsherwood

Fri 28 Apr 2023 13.03 BST

She was Egypt’s last Pharaoh, a legendary leader who according to popular belief ended her life by allowing a deadly cobra to bite her breast.

But more than 2,000 years after her death, the woman who had love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony has ignited a modern-day controversy over race and representation.

In Queen Cleopatra, a new four-part drama-documentary made by Netflix, the title role is played by Adele James, an actor of mixed heritage – a move that has enraged Egyptian experts who insist the pharaonic leader had “white skin and Hellenistic characteristics”.

This week, the Egyptian antiquities ministry published a lengthy statement that included opinions from experts that, it said, agree on Cleopatra’s skin colour and facial features.


“Bas-reliefs and statues of Queen Cleopatra are the best proof,” the statement said, embellishing its text with illustrations showing Cleopatra with European traits.

For Mostafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Antiquities Council, depicting the famous queen as black was nothing less than “a falsification of Egyptian history”.

He said there was nothing racist in this view, which is motivated by “defending the history of Queen Cleopatra, an important part of the history of Egypt in antiquity”.

[steven clark]

Yeah, this is the usual b.s. I remember the Cleopatra was black thing started in the 1990's. In the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena went to help Cleopatra, and Cleo was black. It was a semi-comedy episode, though, and funny.

Two seasons later, when Xena had to impersonate Cleo, the Cleopatra they used was definitely white.

This was also when it was being peddled Hannibal was black, Beethoven was black...what's annoying is that this nigger shit never really was openly, fiercely challenged, just shrugged off.

There was a TV movie about Cleopatra in 1999 featuring Leonor Varela as Cleopatra. She's Latin American, and looked pretty good and it was a reasonably well-done movie, with Timothy Dalton as Caesar and Billy Zane as Mark Anthony. You should watch it.
The front cover makes Varela look semi-black, but she's very latino in the film. In an earlier movie she was in, she looked much paler.

I think our image of Cleopatra as being dusky goes back to Shakespeare, making her this semi-oriental siren, contrasted to Roman probity. In truth, I think she was Greek in dress and style, since the Ptolemies had ruled Egypt for a long time. I see them as being as if the British ruled India, and the Raj might have adopted Indian dress from time to time and local manners, but stayed British. So with the Greeks.
When you examine the Fayum funeral portraits done in Egypt in the 1-3 centuries, the Egyptians portrayed are definitely Greek or Egyptian, and wear classical dress.
The series Rome had Cleopatra as olive-skinned, but I think they overdid the Egyptian thing, making Egypt look really African and un-greek. She also smoked dope (??), and appeared as a kind of ditz. Again, Rome really owned all the propaganda they made about anyone.
When Charlton Heston made the movie Anthony and Cleopatra (he played Anthony), he emphasized he wanted Cleopatra to look Greek, not Egyptian.

[James Radov]

Egypt Challenges Netflix, Announcing Local Cleopatra Documentary

https://egyptianstreets.com/2023/05/...pVuvLTKIBwxLqM

[Ray Allan]

I remember that 1999 TV-movie with the spicess playing Cleopatra that Steven Clark mentioned. But Timothy Dalton as Julius Ceasar and Billy Zane as Marc Antony were believable. Even Liz Taylor in the 1963 movie was more realistic than casting a sheboon or spicess in the role.

[Gladiatrix]

Originally Posted by SF.Elizabeth

Netflix should have hired actress Jennifer Aniston to play Cleopatra. Jennifer Aniston is half Greek.

So is Tina Fey.

[Ray Allan]

Cleopatra Bombs So Actress Calls Egypt Racist

Cleopatra Bombs So Actress Calls Egypt Racist

[Gladiatrix]

Originally Posted by James Radov

Ive known a few Egyptians in SoCal and they absolutely hate that "afrocentric Egypt" bullshit.. while its offensive they tend to laugh at anything that stupid or that anyone would ever consider Egyptian anything with niggers.

A friend from prep school knew an Egyptian girl in one of her college classes in the late 80s. This "we wuz kangz" bull shit was going on even then. She told me the girl said those blacks need to create their own culture.

I know an Egyptian guy who used to go to think tank talks. He called blacks niggers all the time.

[Ole Massa]

Originally Posted by Gladiatrix

A friend from prep school knew an Egyptian girl in one of her college classes in the late 80s. This "we wuz kangz" bull shit was going on even then. She told me the girl said those blacks need to create their own culture.

I know an Egyptian guy who used to go to think tank talks. He called blacks niggers all the time.

Nobody likes niggers.

[alex revision]