On May 10, Netflix will release a docuseries called Queen Cleopatra about Cleopatra and her legacy, including reenactments and expert interviews. The series is executive produced by Jada Pinkett Smith and stars a black woman who plays the role of Cleopatra. But there is no evidence that Cleopatra was black. In fact, there is much evidence pointing to the contrary, and Egypt is unhappy with the way that she is being portrayed in the Netflix series. In the past, Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra, and that has been retroactively criticized because many were skeptical that Cleopatra’s skin was that pale. But it seems as though Netflix has overcorrected.
Mahmoud al-Semary, an Egyptian lawyer, has filed a lawsuit with a public prosecutor because of Netflix’s distortion of history, because Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was mainly of Macedonian Greek ancestry. Her heritage is said to also come partly from Persians. Al-Semary doesn’t appreciate her history being erased for the benefit of a streaming service.
“In order to preserve the Egyptian national and cultural identity among Egyptians all over the world there must be pride in the makings of such work,” he said. He has accused Netflix of promoting a distortion of history, and he added that Netflix’s shows and movies “do not conform to Islamic and societal values and principles, especially Egyptian ones.” In fact, he says Netflix has committed a “crime” against Egypt and its culture.
[I’d call this a tempest in a teapot, but if this casting choice was made to argue that Cleopatra was in fact black, it’s wrong. Cleopatra was the descendant of the Greek Ptolemys, as Florio notes, and they married within the family — brothers and sisters married to keep the bloodline pure. (Ecch.) North Africa has always been different from sub-Saharan Africa, and even now the former is more dominated by Arabs than sub-Saharan Africans. — Ed]
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