The American Scholar: Black Cleopatra - Sharon Sochil Washington theamericanscholar.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theamericanscholar.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It’s the worst thing to happen to Cleopatra since that snake in the mausoleum. Queen Cleopatra is the second season of African Queens, a revisionist Netflix strand touting itself as a documentary series on black monarchs. Produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith, it is an attempt to repackage history for a contemporary audience. Queen Cleopatra
As Jada Pinkett-Smith’s voice floats in the background of a succession of images representing historical figure Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, viewers are introduced to the queen’s story in a sequence of scenes brimming with a dramatic undertone. Professor Shelley P.Haley, the first interviewee, then sets the tone for the rest of the documentary by
Queen Cleopatra is trending on the streaming platform's most-watched charts on the back of a contrived controversy over the casting of a Black actress in the titular role
The most controversial aspect of Netflix’s new drama-documentary Queen Cleopatra – not least in Egypt – was the casting of a black actress, Adele James, in the title role. After all, one of the few things that seems certain about Cleopatra’s early life is that she was a Macedonian Greek. Luckily, though, the show had