Queen Cleopatra Is Not The Little Mermaid – OpEd

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By Faisal J. Abbas*

You can joke with Egyptians about almost anything, except when it comes to their history and culture. Indeed, the most humorous and easygoing people of the Arab world will definitely draw the line if you dare insult, belittle, or misrepresent their icons and monuments; some of them pre-date the birth of Christ by over 3,000 years.

This is why the ongoing controversy over the recent Netflix series, Queen Cleopatra, might fly over the heads of many Americans. After all, their country is only 247 years old. This includes the series’ executive producer, Jada Pinkett Smith. She cited her motivation for the series by rightly pointing out that stories about black queens are underrepresented.

As noble as her cause is — and as much as Smith may be knowledgeable or interested in ancient Egyptian civilization — the topic will never mean to her or any American as much as it does to the average Egyptian. Indeed, Egyptians are taught from a young age that it is almost a patriotic duty to be proud of their culture and rich history.

For those who have missed the cause of this heated discussion — here is a summary: The show casts Adele James, a brilliant Black British actress, in the role of the historic Egyptian queen.

So, what is the problem? Well, had the series been fictional, I would say absolutely nothing — as I mentioned, Adele James is a brilliant actress (and although I am no film critic, I would say she played the role extremely well).

The only issue is that Netflix labeled the series as a “docudrama”. This by default means viewers expect it to be as factually accurate as possible. Given that all we know of Cleopatra suggest she was of Macedonian-Greek origins, she would have more accurately been played by a white actress. (So, not even an Arab would have been the most accurate for the role).

This by the way is not my personal view, but it is the informed opinion of Dr. Zahi Hawass, a world’s leading expert on Egyptology. He recently penned a column for Arab Newssummarizing all the historic evidence that Cleopatra was, in fact, of European — not African — origin.

“Cleopatra was many things, and well deserving of having her story told to modern audiences, but one thing she most definitely was not was black,” he said.

As a critical reader, when I am presented with a renowned expert on the subject who cites his own excavations — which uncovered ancient statues and coins — to prove his point, I am inclined to believe him. And this is exactly what Dr. Hawass did in his column in this newspaper a few days ago. His argument was much more convincing than that of actress James who argued rather simply, “If you don’t like the casting, don’t watch the show.”

Needless to say, the nature of the discussion — given the current heated racial politics of the US — has resulted in ugly, insulting and completely unnecessary racist comments online. There is no question that this should be condemned, and had there been more adults in the (chat) rooms, the debate would never have been allowed to go so far.

In fact, I remember experiencing this myself last September when I was in New York around the time of the UN General Assembly. Then, the big story was the release of the trailer of Disney’s new Little Mermaid film, which cast black actress Halle Lynn Bailey in the role of Ariel the Mermaid.

I could not believe the fuss and anger I saw online at the time, and more importantly how an innocent cartoon character can turn political and bring out so much hate. Again, I am not American, so my position is still the same: She is a cartoon character, so what if she is portrayed as black?

In fact, I thought it was a wise decision by Disney, who like many other big producers in Hollywood have historically scored low on inclusion. Marvel also experimented with a black Spiderman, and more importantly — for us in this region — we are finally seeing Arabs and Muslims being cast as heroes as opposed to villains.

However, the issue here is very clear and very different: Queen Cleopatra is not the Little Mermaid. The first was a real, historical figure who is thousands of years old, the latter is a work of imagination which dates back to 1837. Furthermore, we Arabs — and Egyptians specifically — are not part of America’s racial politics nor do we want anything to do with them. Neither I nor the many Egyptian journalists and artists I spoke to imagine Queen Cleopatra would have raised eyebrows had the series been simply dubbed as a work of fiction.

The problem — at least from our perspective — seems to be an intentional attempt to drag a glorified, historical Egyptian icon into the muddy waters of current US divisions. This is not an accusation as much as it is what the series’ British-American director, Tina Gharavi, insinuated in a column for Variety magazine two days ago confessing that the casting was indeed political.

“Doing the research, I realized what a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a black actress,” she wrote.

“The hunt was on to find the right performer to bring Cleopatra into the 21st century,” she added.

Excuse me? Cleopatra is believed to have reigned over Egypt between 51 BC and 30 BC — that is where she belongs. If you bring her into the 21st century, then it no longer is a docudrama, but a parody and you might as well have her wearing jeans and a pair of sneakers!

It wouldn’t be accurate to produce a documentary on Joan of Arc which cast her as a man, nor a biopic about President Barack Obama and cast him as a Cuban or Chinese-American. Queen Cleopatra should have been no different.

• Faisal J. Abbas is the editor in chief of Arab News.

Arab News

Arab News is Saudi Arabia's first English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1975 by Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz. Today, it is one of 29 publications produced by Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG).

2 thoughts on “Queen Cleopatra Is Not The Little Mermaid – OpEd

  • May 9, 2023 at 11:52 pm
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    Well, you choose your experts. Dr. Zahi Hawass is not the only expert in Egyptology. Now, it is easy to complain about what the director, Tina Gharavi, who was born in Persia (Iran), says. But sorry, once you have decided Cleopatra was not black, where are you? Her ancestors lived in Egypt for about 250 years before she was born. Gharavi and others argue that Cleopatra probably had some Egyptian or other blood, and so probably was not white. So despite what else Gharavi said, this is a good argument. And in a Tudum article, the executive producer, Jada Pinkett Smith, proposes she may well have had some Egyptian ancestry.
    One big assumption you and others make is that Adele James is black. She is biracial, with a black father and a white mother. Why does her black ancestry override everything, including what she actually looks like? She does not look black, and her skin tone is a sort of medium brown, and might be close to Cleopatra’s skin tone. Her skin tone would seem to be more relevant for casting than her ancestry. Of course, she identifies with her black African ancestry but also her white ancestry, but that is irrelevant for casting for the part. She may identify in some way with some part of black culture, whatever that would be, but that, too, is irrelevant for casting for the part. So why do you say Adele James is black, in this context, and why do some say she portrays Cleopatra as black? As you say, she seems to be a good actress and is simply playing a part.

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    • May 16, 2023 at 4:03 pm
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      Interesting use of the “one-drop” approach, if her family was in Egypt THAT LONG she must have at least one black ancestor, *therefore she’s black!* Oh and Zahi Hawass isn’t the only Egyptologist, however he is far and above the world’s LEADING Egyptologist by a wide margin. It is incredibly tiresome to have such ideologically-driven nonsense injected into history.

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