I think by now everyone has heard about Netflix upcoming “Documentary” about Cleopatra and the outrage about the casting.
People say that it doesn’t matter and people just racist and if they were ok with Elisabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra, so can a black women.
But the thing is one came out during a time Hollywood didn’t cared about the voices of minorities and them releasing insensitive movies back to back. And it was fiction, it wasn’t supposed to be historically accurate, it wasn’t a biopic.
This one here on the other hand is a “Documentary” in 2023…it’s supposed to be historically accurate, it’s not for entertainment but education. It claims to be the truth and this makes it far worse than having Elisabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra.
The producer even said that the casting was political and she didn’t cared if Egyptians will be mad about it. So America (once again) used the history of another nation and culturally appropriated it for their sociopolitical agendas.
And Egyptians aren’t allowed to have a say in this… again. In fact they are being called colonizers, land stealers, not real Egyptians and so on by people who believe ancient Egypt was black and current Egyptians are invaders and this documentary is pushing that conspiracy theory. This is why they even sue Netflix because they are tired of this nonsense. But are now called racist and colorist because they don’t allow their history to be rewritten again.
I know representation matters, but is it really ok to do so by inserting yourself into a history that is actually not representative of your own people. If it’s fiction cool whatever, but if it’s supposed to be historically accurate then this is false representation.
Idk why Hollywood keeps doing this.
