Re:Steven Spielberg: ‘No film should be revised’ based on mo...
by causi on Thursday April 27, 2023 @10:04AM
(#35728262)
I agree completely. It's especially relevant because as a political leader of a conquering dynasty, Cleopatra's differing heritage from her subjects may have, probably did have, effects on how her people thought of her and how she was able to wield power. The way the Ptolemy dynasty interacted with the people of Egypt is something I know almost nothing about and would have been very interested in seeing depicted onscreen.
Agree on everything else you said, but Cleopatra is different from the other 6 you mentioned, because it's not presented as fiction.
It's not "a show about Cleopatra, where the actor happens to be black". That's fine, whatever, artistic license.
It's "a show that presents itself as historically accurate, and makes the specific claim that you, the viewer, were mistaught in school and they are historically accurate in claiming Cleopatra was in fact black".
When something presents itself as an accurate documentary and then holds up something false as truth, that's a huge difference and is held to a different standard.
Imagine if James Watson funded a documentary saying "actually I discovered DNA alone, Rosalind Franklin had nothing to do with it". It would be rightfully criticized, because it's made up.