Netflix’s Embattled Cleopatra Docuseries Panned by Viewers in Online Reviews

The Netflix docudrama series facing backlash for casting Black actress Adele James to play Cleopatra has one of the lowest audience scores in Netflix history, with viewers panning it as “terrible,” “fictional,” and “inaccurate.”An American-based review website, Rotten Tomatoes, gave “Queen Cleopatra” a 2 percent approval rating in its average audience score. Only 11 percent of approved critics cited by the platform gave the show a positive review. The docudrama has been in the spotlight since before its release on May 10, with Egyptians accusing the production of “blackwashing” and “stealing” their cultural identity. Some of the reviews of “Queen Cleopatra” on Rotten Tomatoes say aspects of Cleopatra’s character are “very inaccurate,” that the series has been “poorly constructed,” and that production took “far too many liberties.” Many reviewers also said “Queen Cleopatra” should be considered fiction, saying docudramas are intended to be “as historically accurate as possible.” “I tried to watch Cleopatra with an open mind, given the backlash it’s received recently online BUT MY GOD… It is actually painful and truly deserved the backlash. It’s eye, and ear bleach,” one reviewer said. “Theft and distortion of the history of Egypt,” another one added.Fans usually rate films and series higher than critics, a television and movie critic, Paul Tassi, wrote at Forbes. Never has a show received the audience scores that “Queen Cleopatra” has been getting, he says, not even movies that are controversial and prone to review bombing, a phenomenon in which people post negative reviews, usually for political reasons. “Never this bad, not in Netflix history,” Mr. Tassi wrote.“Queen Cleopatra” was directed by Tina Gharavi and is part of the documentary series “African Queens,” produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, that explores the lives of “prominent and iconic African Queens.”The docudrama received backlash from Egyptian citizens and academics, who voiced their disapproval because they believe Cleopatra, who was born in 69 B.C., was Macedonian Greek and not Black. Despite the reviews and the backlash, Ms. Gharavi is celebrating the release of the show. “#5 in the UK #4 in the US: Thank you to those who helped get us here,” Ms. Gharavi wrote on her Twitter account on Friday. “Including some angry folk who need to deal with the fact that melanated folk have been doing sh*t around here since day dot. Adam & Eve? I’m not even going to get into that.”Hashtags such as #مصر للمصريين, which means “Egypt for the Egyptians” in Arabic, have been used on social media to oppose the production of “Queen Cleopatra.” A statement released by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiques says that, according to the Supreme Council of Archeology, Cleopatra was light-skinned and had Greek features. The docudrama is a “falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical misconception,” the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Archeology, Mustafa Waziri, said. He added that archaeologists should have been consulted in the making of the documentary.Some Egyptians put up petitions against the documentary. An Egyptian lawyer, Mahmoud al-Semary, filed a lawsuit demanding legal action against Netflix and its producers to preserve Egypt’s history and cultural identity, the Egypt Independent reported. A former minister of antiquities for Egypt, Zahi Hawass, also expressed his discomfort with the documentary in an article written for Arab News. “Cleopatra was not black,” Mr. Hawass wrote. He added that the empress was the descendent of a Macedonian Greek general, Ptolemy, a contemporary of Alexander the Great. In an article for Variety magazine, Ms. Gharavi defended her choice to cast a Black actress to play Cleopatra. She said her decision stemmed from witnessing how Hollywood has misrepresented the pharaoh by choosing white actresses to play her part. The possibility of Cleopatra being white “are somewhat unlikely,” Ms. Gharavi has said. While some reactions to the show have been racist, most Egyptians’ primary reason for frustration is not about Ms. James being Black, a doctoral candidate at Western University, Sara Khorshid, wrote for Foreign Policy. Egyptians oppose the docudrama because the production decided to use it to challenge anti-Black racism in America through the revisionism of the history of other people, Ms. Khorshid said. “The idea of correcting the entertainment business’s racism is welcome,” Ms. Khorshid said. Yet, she added, doing it at the expense of another victimized group and not respecting their demands “is misguided and counterproductive.” According to the Egypt Independent, the documentary channel al-Wathaeqya announced it has begun the production of a documentary about the “true story of Queen Cleopatra.”

Netflix’s Embattled Cleopatra Docuseries Panned by Viewers in Online Reviews

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