Recently, the Prosecutor General’s Office in Egypt received an official complaint regarding Netflix’s new documentary show, “Queen Cleopatra.” According to El-Watan newspaper and Sputnik news, the complainant brought up issues such as cultural insensitivity and historical inaccuracies.
On May 10, Netflix released the four-episode docudrama that ignited a debate with its leading star, Adele James, a biracial British actress playing Cleopatra. She was Egypt’s final pharaoh who ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom until it was seized by Romans in 30 BC.
Image | Netflix
The Egyptian Culture Ministry recently filed a complaint accusing Netflix of distorting a famous historic image. As a result, they are demanding the removal of the series from the streaming platform and an indefinite ban on it. This has caused quite an uproar in the media.
The complaint mentioned that the filmmakers behind the documentary should have taken advice from archaeologists and anthropologists to achieve an accurate portrayal of Cleopatra. Even before its release, Netflix’s show was causing a stir in the public domain. It had people talking and discussing the various aspects of it.
In April, a petition began circulating with thousands of signatures criticizing the decision to cast a black actress in the role of an Ancient Egyptian queen. They believed this choice promotes “Afrocentrism” and takes away from Egypt’s true history, claiming the creators are guilty of “blackwashing” it.
Image | NME
In the last few decades, Cleopatra’s racial identity has been a subject of controversy with some African-American researchers claiming that she was actually an African. This debate has sparked discussion and intrigue about who the famous queen was really from.
Cleopatra’s roots can be traced back to a Macedonian Greek family established by Ptolemy, an infantry commander of the Macedonian King Alexander the Great. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Cleopatra had minimal (if any) Egyptian ancestry and was the first ruler from the Ptolemaic dynasty to grasp the Egyptian language.
