Mohamed Hashem Abdelsalam
Widespread criticism caused by Netflix's announcement of showing a 4-part series entitled "Queen Cleopatra", on May 10, 2023, produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, and starring the young black British woman Adele James. The crisis escalated in Egypt, and did not stop at the limits of criticism, denunciation, and collecting signatures, as it reached Parliament, with demands to ban the platform itself, and to apply to the Attorney General to stop or cancel the show. This also happened with the “stand-up” show by the American comedian Kevin Hart, which was scheduled to be held in Cairo, on February 21, 2023, after a massive campaign on social media as well, which refused to attend him because of his previous comments about Egyptian civilization, saying, “ “Africancentrism” or “Afrocentrism,” the latter a movement that promotes that Egyptian civilization was built by black Africans, and that the contemporary population of Egypt is not the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, but rather groups of invaders.
According to what the American platform announced on its website, the series belongs to historical documentaries. As for examining its promotional advertisement, and this is definitely not a criterion for judging a work that has not yet been shown, it confirms that it is somewhat close to “docu-drama,” as much as it is completely far from being a documentary of the conventional cinematic type. Or even of the historical documentary type, based on history, monitoring, and documentary narration that seeks accuracy and honesty.
The “ Cleopatra ” series is certainly not a pure documentary, although this type has been very widespread on European television for many years, especially historical and cultural channels, and it is usually one part, and the viewer does not deal with it seriously, but rather as general information, or as a simplification of knowledge and science. The majority of these programs do not exceed one hour in length. They deal with the secrets of ancient civilizations, particularly mysterious ones, and usually attribute the miracles and mysteries in them to people other than their people, that is, to supernatural forces or alien beings. It is accompanied by comments from so-called experts, specialists, scholars and interested parties, without passing political, social or religious messages. Works like this suffice with excitement and suspense, and present the different and the shocking, despite their danger, invention, and falsity, many times.
In this context, it is possible, easily, to include the episodes of “Queen Cleopatra,” which specifically provoked the Egyptians, in defense of the falsification of the series and its violation of the most important, famous, and prestigious queens in their ancient history and contemporary awareness, although the matter requires slowing down, watching first, and then discussing the approach, presentation, and treatment. To analyze what lies in the chain of thought or ideology, pushing them in this or that direction. Perhaps, in the end, the matter is merely an adventure and experimentation, or artistic whimsy, nothing more, and the whole matter is simpler than all of this. But the Egyptian Arab scourge of attack, denunciation and condemnation does not seem to stop soon, as long as our relationship with art in general, and cinema in particular, as a meaning, concept, vision and nature, remains deficient.
The topic is complex and complicated. Our ignorance of ourselves, our history, our current present, and even our geography makes the matter worse and deepens it. Other than that it reflects a constant invocation of the idea of a conspiracy, at every danger or threat to the identity, which reflects extreme fragility, ignorance, and lack of confidence. This is a bit similar to attempts to trace the roots of some words back to ancient Egyptian, or to compare Egyptian faces and features to those on the walls of temples and elsewhere, to confirm similarity and identity. Or reducing great architecture, or rather distorting and insulting it, into decorative monsters here and there, in buildings, streets, squares, and others. These practices are unfortunate and sad, because they summarize a civilization, and confirm that this is your relationship with it. Signs confirming the existence of a massive rift, the most prominent manifestations of which is the ignorance of the majority that Cleopatra is not Egyptian, but of Greek origin.
On the other hand, there is merit in the Egyptians’ non-racist objection, because the issue is not completely innocent on the part of “Netflix” and the makers of the series, as the platform is always looking to stir up controversy through various topics that it presents in its films and series, with specific trends, and to support specific ideas. Of course, each one has his own agenda, vision, direction and message, especially in light of the political, historical, sexual, gender, racial and other correctnesses that have swept the world in the past few years. Also, we should not forget that capital always loves the new, the attractive, the controversial, the scandalous, or the false and false. It does not matter, as long as it will generate a lot of money, by attracting millions of people to real, or fleeting, viewing, or even just curiosity.
What confirms this is the presence of the work alongside other works that explore/review the lives and heroism of prominent African queens. Of course, there is no doubt that there are great civilizations and kingdoms in Africa. But, why mess with an immortal figure like Cleopatra, whose origin is not in doubt? Something that is clearly exposed by quick conversations contained in the series’ propaganda on the lips of guests, which make it clear that there is a certain tendency to confirm and establish, perhaps, a reality, regardless of truth and history. Some of what was written on the platform’s website describing Cleopatra says that she was the last “Egyptian Pharaoh.” Is the word a passing or ignorant description that is incorrect? Or is it intended for productive purposes, in the context of productive works in this regard, for goals related to political and historical correctness, and others?
Here, the issue of “Afrocentrism” emerges once again, and its hostility to the standards that every civilization is not essentially European, including the standards of beauty: white skin, yellow hair, and eye color, for example, and pushing many peoples, races, ethnicities, and nationalities to re-read history, and see it from another angle. Other than those imposed by the white man’s power, superiority, and dominance. Afro-Americans have tried, and are still trying, for nearly a century, to adopt this vision centered on “African centrality,” in reading or re-reading history, interpreting and interpreting it, and looking at the world from this perspective.
A theory from which dozens of schools, sects, trends, visions, and propositions branched out, including academic and historical, and extreme and extremist religious ones. But it is essentially a purely academic movement, which has not extended to the arts until recently. After its scope was technically limited, it has begun to expand and impose itself in the past few years.
In his encyclopedia “Black Athens: The Afro-Asian Roots of Classical Civilization” (3 volumes, two of which were translated in 3 parts, totaling approximately 1,800 pages, and published by the National Center for Translation in Egypt, approximately two decades ago), Martin Bernal addresses the task of re-historicizing ancient civilizations and reshaping mentality. Modernism, after Eurocentrism made Europe a source of all intellectual, artistic, architectural, cultural and aesthetic creativity, despite the Greek wisdom that says that nothing is created from nothing.
Hence, it is not true that the Greeks created everything from nothing, or that no one preceded them in achieving what they achieved. Because some Europeans denied the contribution of ancient Egyptian civilization to the formation of Greek and Roman civilization, Bernal’s work does justice to Egyptian civilization and other Eastern civilizations, which caused a violent shock to some well-established axioms, creating a new reality in classical archaeological and historical studies.
Of course, Bernal's effort was not free of fallacies and bias, which sparked great controversy when the encyclopedia was published, to the point that some described his author as racist. One of the main ideas presented is that Athena, the Greek goddess of reason and wisdom, is black African. He also said that the ancient Egyptians were Negroes, and that Cleopatra was a Negro descended from the Nubian lineage. Regarding the great Greeks, such as Homer, Euclid, Socrates, and Plato, he said that they were black-skinned Africans. However, contrary to the sober proposal of Martin Bernal, whether we agree or disagree with him, there is a great danger that “Afrocentrism” poses and promotes, which must be confronted: the attribution of the history, achievements, and lands of other peoples to others, and what follows from this is their falsification of history, and their imposition of fallacies. They obscured the facts.
This is evident, a little, in “Queen Cleopatra.” The main character is not completely imagined or unknown, so he can be dealt with according to different and varying artistic visions. Since the series is presented as a “documentary,” its presentation is supposed to be completely different from dealing with feature films and “docudramas,” or those of a purely fictional nature. With Cleopatra, “Netflix,” we are dealing with farce, deception, falsification, and lying, not serious, academic, sober talk that respects minds. What is meant by misleading and lying is the presentation itself, or the main banner that was exported about the background of the work and its main heroine. As for the work itself, such as the idea, vision, techniques, aesthetics of execution, etc., we are not going to talk about it before watching it.
After the show, it will become clear whether the series has introduced anything new, other than what has been accomplished in theatre, novels, and cinema. Will the series contradict the play “Antony and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare, for example, in terms of his lack of sympathy for the queen?
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