What color was Cleopatra’s skin? This is the subject of the controversy over the weekend, after the broadcast of the first images of the Netflix documentary series queen cleopatra.
For this program expected on May 10 on the platform, the production company Jada Pinkett-Smith -Will Smith’s wife- has given the role of Queen of Egypt to black British actress, Adele James. A choice that has provoked the violent ire of disgruntled netizens, some accusing Netflix of “canceling culture” or “rewriting history”.
The controversy is such that even a petition has has been put online to request the removal of the series from Netflix. To date it has more than 18,000 signatures. The comedian Adele James has spoken on the networks to denounce the criticism and insults that she has received since the trailer was broadcast.
“This type of behavior will not be tolerated on my account. You will be banned without hesitation. If you don’t like the cast, don’t watch the show,” he wrote on Twitter.
historical disagreements
What does the story say? According to the emeritus professor at the University of Tours and specialist in Antiquity and the Eastern Roman world, Maurice Sartre interviewed by Magazine Geo in 2021, “the texts say practically nothing” about Cleopatra’s physical appearance.
As a result, specialists are far from agreeing among themselves on the appearance and ancestry of the queen of Egypt. According to the few established reliable studies on the subject, Cleopatra reigned in Egypt but is not Egyptian, she is a Greco-Macedonian queen since she is the daughter of Ptolemy XII. And it is on these origins that some of the detractors of the series are based to affirm that the queen of Egypt was white-skinned.
“When we know that Alexander the Great was probably blond, we cannot exclude that Cleopatra was a blue-eyed blonde, since Macedonians are rather light-skinned and light-eyed people,” explained in October 2022Anne Bielman Sánchez, professor of ancient history at the University of Lausanne.
But a mystery persists: that of the identity of Cleopatra’s mother. In 2009, the Austrian Academy of Sciences analyzed the remains of Arsinoe IV, Cleopatra’s sister, whose tomb was found in Turkey and claims that her mother was “African”. However, this research is not unanimously accepted by historians, which has left room for debate for many years.
This controversy is reminiscent of the wave of insults Halle Bailey received when it was announced that the African-American actress would play The little Mermaid in the live-action adaptation of the Disney classic.
The actress and singer was then the target of racist and hateful comments that ensured, among other things, that Princess Ariel could not be played by a black-skinned woman.
In 2019, the main interested party reacted to the criticism by ensuring that she focused more on her role than on the insults against her. “I feel like I’m dreaming, I’m just thankful and I don’t listen to what people say is negative. I feel like this role is bigger than me, that it’s going to be beautiful, and I’m excited. be a part of this,” she said.
Source: BFM TV
