BackStage tackles the "racebending" of Cleopatra

[whosdamike]

BackStage tackles the "racebending" of Cleopatra

http://backstage.blogs.com/espresso/2010/06/angelina-jolie-is-not-african.html

...she was black on Broadway in the person of Leslie Uggams in “Her First Roman” as far back as 1968. But Hollywood’s ability to turn a deaf ear to such complaints is well documented and doesn’t appear to be changing.

Comments

[rmg]

The issue of Cleopatra's race and ethnicity is pretty complicated, so I'm just going to recycle a long comment I wrote from some other conversation about this movie

[evewithanapple]

They should make one about Hashepsut or something! She was actually Egyptian, and she owned.

But then they couldn't make it all about her relying on Teh Menz!

[rmg]

19th and early 20th century Egyptologists made Hatshepsut's narrative all about the men in her life-- she was an evil stepmother who was stealing Thutmose III's rightful throne, all of the strings were being pulled by her dastardly vizier Senenmut, etc., etc. Modern Egyptologists know better, of course.

So what I'm saying is that Hollywood is as backwards and sexist and racist as a bunch of dead Victorian dudes. :V

[emabell]

I love Hetsephsut. If a movie (or documentory)was made about her (and done right!) I'd almost die of happy.