To me the real problem is it is called a *documentary* instead of making a historic novel aka a fanfic. One of the most famous archeologist said he offered Jada a tour on egypt so he could explain cleopatra history to her and she passed. Thats like Mick Jagger offering you to tell you about his life and you declining because you already know more about the Rolling Stones than him.
@IncredibleMet
Жыл бұрын
I remember growing up that my grandmother said, I don’t care what they teach you in school, the lead vocalist for the Rolling Stones was a deaf black Jewish trans women of Antarctic descent.
@freedone.
Жыл бұрын
@@IncredibleMet deaf black HASSIDIC Jewish trans women of Antarctic descent - let's get it right, shall we? 🤣😂
@timkinss
Жыл бұрын
It's also entirely possible she passed because she has almost a splinter of self-awareness and foresight left and rightly predicted that the truth would inevitably not be the fantasy she required
@creed8712
Жыл бұрын
That’s the thing. Hamilton doesn’t get this kind of shit because it doesn’t play itself off as a historical drama
@kuroyuri04
Жыл бұрын
@@IncredibleMet Holly wings bro!! You've made me laughing so hard!! 🤣🤣🤣
@quatreraberbawinner2628
Жыл бұрын
I cant think of anything more dystopian than reimagining history
@vespenegas261
Жыл бұрын
Unfortunately there is a step past that. Doublethink. And we're almost at the end of the line
@rbu2136
Жыл бұрын
They don’t care. They want attention.
@O1OO1O1
Жыл бұрын
@@vespenegas261 there's a step beyond that. In Ghost in the Shell, they change someone's memories such that they don't know what is real anymore
@vespenegas261
Жыл бұрын
@@O1OO1O1 GitS Memory alteration is direct "intervention" while doublethink is an established code of conduct. I find the latter much more nepharious and pragmatic
@O1OO1O1
Жыл бұрын
@@vespenegas261 Ghost in the Shell is one example. You're not paying attention if you think it's the only one
@Sound557
Жыл бұрын
“My desire is to bring Cleopatra into the 21st century.” Lady, Cleopatra was alive in the first century….BC.
@t-shirtedhistorian
Жыл бұрын
As I have posted elsewhere: Rather than focus on ACTUAL Nubian Pharaohs such as: Piye, Shabaka, Shebitku, Taharqa, Tantamani, and Atlanersa, they chose the one with the name recognition. Because she's not the only female Pharaoh (Look up Hapshepsut or Merneith sometime), she's just the most well-known due to Hollywood outside of Rameses, and Tutanhkamen, and maybe Akhenaten. She's not the only "white" Pharaoh either because she was the very last of the Ptolemaic Dynasty which was founded by Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's generals. He and his progeny ruled Egypt as Pharaoh's for 275 years. But they chose to go after the white woman because of the name recognition in Hollywood. If someone pitched to one of the ignorant producers at Netflix, "Hey let's make a film about Pharaoh Semerkhet!" they'd have gone, "Who?"
@mikedangerdoes
Жыл бұрын
You are right. There is an almost endless amount of interesting stories for talented, passionate writers to draw inspiration from, and many of which would suit whatever message or agenda you are trying to push. But at the end of the day it is about the money, and the effort they want to put in (not a lot, apparently).
@AdirondackRuby
Жыл бұрын
True. It's about her name. And the proof lies in the fact that this is season TWO of the African Queens series...had anyone watched the first? Can they name the queen? Had they heard of her at all?
@zer0homer
Жыл бұрын
as should be expected from quota-hired talentless and ignorant hacks from half across the globe
@Peter-oe2fe
Жыл бұрын
@@AdirondackRuby Njinga! Pinkett-Smiths 'documentary' on this African 'Queen' was also deeply disingenuous, to say the least. It was unadulterated anti-white propaganda!
@diamondlife120
Жыл бұрын
@RubyLovesRocket Never heard but will look for it
@mikex3908
Жыл бұрын
"Re-imagined" implies she was imagined to begin with, which she wasn't.
@laughingbeast4481
Жыл бұрын
Past is always imagined. Characters of the past are never accurate and partially made up. World would be much better place if people realised that. A lot of historical documents and relics we have is plagued with propaganda.
@AllegroRubato
Жыл бұрын
It’s not “colorblind” casting. Calling it that is virtually propaganda at this point. It’s very much color-aware. And it’s only ever in a single direction.
@the_absurd_hero
Жыл бұрын
Colorblind casting is a phrase used in theatre-the “high arts” mentioned in the video-to cast the best actor for a given role (to uphold character credibility) regardless of race. It’s how you get a black or Asian Hamlet, in spite of Hamlet being a Danish white guy. With colorblind casting, the race-swapping usually, though not exclusively, cuts in one direction because most of the characters in theatrical repertoires are white while excellent actors can be found among all races. This is different from the more recent black-washing that’s taken over Hollywood, which demands racial equity regardless of character credibility. It’s more noticeable now because Hollywood productions, long since creatively bankrupt, are (re)making productions with clear character precedents or historical conditions that necessarily specify race/racial relations. Tl;dr: The intent behind casting actually does matter, and the way contemporary Hollywood chooses its cast is fundamentally racist.
@melinda6921
Жыл бұрын
@@the_absurd_hero In some arts a color blind cast is necessary, such as in opera. You cannot have a majestic and perfect Aida without using the best singers on the planet, so you must ignore their physical appearance and choose them solely on the basis of their talent. There are hundreds of millions of black people in the world but if none of them can be a good Aida then you have to choose a singer of another ethnicity, otherwise it will be a disaster. A color blind cast is practically never necessary outside of the high arts where talent and ability of the highest level are needed, because it would only be opportunism and falsehood. There are thousands of beautiful and talented white actresses who could play a great little mermaid, there was no reason to hire a black actress, but there are very few opera singers in the world who can play a great Aida so her role must go to one of them, regardless of the color of their skin. For a documentary a color blind cast is not only unnecessary, but also a historical error because it is not necessary to use the best of actors to interpret a historical character, but it would be better to use a good actor who physically represents the person whose story is being told as best as possible. The documentary about the life of Cleopatra does not need extraordinary actors, in fact it is entrusted to barely decent actors like hundreds of thousands of others in the world, so there is NO sufficient or decent reason that justifies the choice of hiring only black actors to play Egyptian characters EXCEPT the precise will to convey the message that Cleopatra and the Egyptian people of which she was queen were BLACK!
@David-hc4xh
Жыл бұрын
Modern Egyptians do not want to be identified as black because Eurocentrism invented only 3 races; White, Brown (Asian) and black, where middle East and Egyptians do not neatly fit. The question is not whether Cleopatra was black but why they don’t want to acknowledge the possibility she was black - they cant bear to admit in their folly that modern civilization might have started with black people.
@janach1305
Жыл бұрын
Colorblind casting works in opera because opera is a strange world where people sing at each other and move around on symbolic sets. In that sort of the universe, it is easy to look at a black man and see a German, or a Chinese man and see a Venetian gondolier. This absolutely does not work in the more realistic world of mainstream film. A black man in film is always a black man; he is never a 19th-century middle-class German with a white daughter, as in one excellent production I saw of The Tales of Hoffmann.
@marvelprince
Жыл бұрын
It only ever works in one direction? So no white person has ever portrayed a minority in anything ever? Yikes
@LauraTheRed
Жыл бұрын
Orwell warned us of this "reimagining" process in his infamous book, 1984. Now there's a work of fiction slowly becoming a documentary..
@laughingbeast4481
Жыл бұрын
The problem is that people think it's only happening NOW. Nope, it's always has been like that, just in different way. After all Orwell wrote based on what he saw. People are doomed, we always really notice when it's happening to us.
@alwaysplotting2096
Жыл бұрын
We have to preserve the past as is. Especially the parts that make us uncomfortable. Otherwise, we're doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
@darrengordon-hill
Жыл бұрын
Conservative unite!!
@MrMuaythai84
Жыл бұрын
Stop trying to make everything black it’s annoying and it makes people dislike blacks people
@Kemet3.0
Жыл бұрын
Know your history... The ancient black Egyptians were dead thousands of years before the Arabs invaders. After the 25th Dynasty, which was known as the Kushite or Nubian dynasty, Egypt experienced several invasions and changes in rule. Here are some notable invasions and rulers that followed: 1, Assyrians: The Assyrians, led by King Esarhaddon, invaded Egypt in 671 BCE and established control over the region. They appointed local rulers known as vassal kings to govern on their behalf. 2, Persians: The Persians, under the rule of Cyrus the Great, conquered Egypt in 525 BCE. Egypt became a part of the Achaemenid Empire, and Persian satraps (governors) administered the region. 3, Greeks: In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquered Egypt, bringing it under Greek rule. After Alexander's death, one of his generals, Ptolemy I, established the Ptolemaic dynasty, which lasted until the death of Cleopatra in 30 BCE. 4, Romans: Following Cleopatra's death, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire in 30 BCE. It remained under Roman rule for several centuries, with occasional revolts and changes in administration. 5, The Arabs conquered Egypt in the 7th century CE. The Muslim conquest of Egypt took place during the time of the Rashidun Caliphate, specifically in the year 641 CE. The Islamic forces, led by the general 'Amr ibn al-'As, successfully invaded Egypt and brought it under Muslim rule. This marked a significant turning point in the history of Egypt, as it transitioned from Byzantine (Eastern Roman) control to becoming part of the expanding Islamic Caliphate. The Arab conquest of Egypt had far-reaching implications for the region's culture, religion, and political landscape, as Islam gradually became the dominant faith and Arabic replaced Greek and Coptic as the primary language. kzitem.info/news/bejne/uKiGk6itgodmnmU
@OddityDK
5 ай бұрын
Nothing about the past makes me “uncomfortable”. I wasn’t there, why should the actions of other people make me uncomfortable. I can find them wrong, abhorrent even evil, but I don’t accept that it should or could make me uncomfortable, that implies responsibility and I’m not responsible.
@jackielogan9104
Жыл бұрын
Portraying one country as multiracial and multiethnic, especially in a historical setting, makes Earth feel SMALL
@akl2k7
Жыл бұрын
That reminds me of controversies years ago about video games such as The Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come Deliverance not having anything but white people. Of course, that ignores that both take place in either a Medieval fantasy setting or just plain Medieval Central Europe and were made in countries (Poland, Czechia) that are still not particularly multiethnic today.
@blakem.2611
Жыл бұрын
The last half of the video where you talk about the conflict that progressives will inevitably run into when trying to say that certain experiences are lived in and can't be emulated versus those that can, was so well put. I honestly want to write down what you said in order to present it to somebody the next time this conversation comes up. Haven't heard anybody put it so well into words before. Love your insights!
@akashnagar8694
Жыл бұрын
Yup that was great
@neji667
Жыл бұрын
Completely agree. Something I've always thought about but was never clever enough to put into words.
@brock232
Жыл бұрын
💯
@miaferrari958
Жыл бұрын
I don't even think progressives are actually in favor of this so-called "representation" via blackwashing. They just repeat this narrative of inclusion pushed by entertainment companies who only want the diversity cookie points without actually bothering to: a) let minorities tell their own stories, with their own racially-accurate characters and b) creating something original. I've noticed that when it comes to wokeism there's this psychological tendency in people that once you claim to be "anti-racism" (or anti-homophobia, or what be it) you have to adhere to whatever ideals that general group presently holds, no matter how irrational. "You call yourself anti-racist but you don't like a black actor playing a white historical figure? That sounds a bit racist to me..." The gaslighting that goes on in these groups has pushed me away greatly from any form of social activism or awareness these past few years.
@EasternRomeOrthodoxy
Жыл бұрын
Stop making it about your stupid politics, Americans - you are all sick mental patients, both on the right and the left 😆 🇷🇺❤🇪🇬
@nicholastotoro7721
Жыл бұрын
I loved that biopic on Shaka Zulu starring Liam Neeson
@jbkerns
Жыл бұрын
I was about to post wanting Shaka Zulu with black British soldiers and white Zulus.
@codiak2680
Жыл бұрын
A biopic about Mao Zedong starring Danny Trejo would be the goat.
@mapachem4828
Жыл бұрын
😂😂😂😂
@Ciborium
Жыл бұрын
Denzel Washington also played a nobleman from Messina (Sicily) in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", directed and starring Kenneth Branaugh. I didn't mind at all. Maybe because Denzel is a great actor. Maybe because it is a work of fiction. But I am bothered by the "black washing" of actual historical figures like Anne Boleyn and Cleopatra.
@shawna620
Жыл бұрын
I agree-- fictional stories are fine, I didn't mind the Bridgerton series & didn't care in Much Ado-- one of most favorite movies!
@DatcleanMochaJo
Жыл бұрын
I mean merit is important but just because it is fiction doesn't mean it should compromise historical accuracy. Unless that is the point. Like an alternate universe kind of deal. Or if it is live action and there is a short supply of the actors needed of the race for the setting. Like Japanese Superman.
@runajain5773
Жыл бұрын
@@DatcleanMochaJo or Japanese spider man his megazord
@skyintatters
Жыл бұрын
Because it's a stage play to begin with, there's a layer of unreality or distance already.
@creed8712
Жыл бұрын
@@runajain5773to be fair and this goes for pretty much every spider man they are all named different. It’s the same identity but rarely are the gender or race bent spider people directly Peter Parker.
@oliverh3538
Жыл бұрын
You cannot reimagine the past, you cannot reimagine actual people! These people were once alive. Show then respect
@OwO377
Жыл бұрын
Equivalent of the past is like the parent from the past and people still alive is the child. Remove the past people in present day never existed and it already tell in multi media.
@NormieNerddom
Жыл бұрын
I can't wait for Netflix to cast Ana de Armas as Mansa Musa, one of the richest, most powerful African kings in history. After all, Africa isn't very racially diverse and a latina woman would absolutely give some much needed representation for that time period. If that made you sick, you're on the right track.
@angelocoll7802
8 ай бұрын
Come on, Mansa Musa was a patriarcal muslim man, he could be the bad guy who destroyed animist pacifist african kingdoms but nothing more!
@mitchryan257
Жыл бұрын
Neolithic people from the Levant migrated to Egypt about 8-10,000 years ago. Menes was the first Pharoah when he United the upper and lower kingdoms 5,100 years ago. Egypt was conquered by west-Asian Hyksos 3,600 years ago, then Assyrians conquered it 2,700 years ago, then Persians conquered it 2,500 years ago, then Greeks conquered it 2,300 years ago, etc. Only at one point, the 25th dynasty which lasted a hundred years, were pharaohs black when Nubia briefly conquered Egypt.
@PoopaChallupa
Жыл бұрын
We don't get to 1984 all at once. A little by little.
@WebOSDevelops
8 ай бұрын
Stalinist Russia did the same thing as Ingsoc when it came to history. Kinda scary…
@Roy-jj6hk
Жыл бұрын
If we don't preserve the past as it was, we will cease to learn from it.
@trestianb
Жыл бұрын
I am curious to see a production of Little Women with an all men cast.
@the_absurd_hero
Жыл бұрын
Drag Little Women. It’ll be celebrated near and far for its stunning bravery.
@fabiana.4640
Жыл бұрын
I would love to see Morgan Freeman playing Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar named Desire.
@MariaIsabellaZNN
Жыл бұрын
Jada: "I wanted to tell stories about black queens but I couldn't be arsed to research if those actually existed, so here's black Cleopatra instead, have fun and eat shjt!"
@O1OO1O1
Жыл бұрын
7:30 I don't know, Robert Downey Jr did a pretty good job 😂
@edmontonboy99
Жыл бұрын
That dude playing a dude disguised as another dude?
@John-rn1nm
Жыл бұрын
I didn't even know that was Downey until someone pointed it out. He was that good, I though it was an actual black guy.
@rzn2258
11 ай бұрын
I didn't know Lincoln Osiris was based on an actual person........ Doofus
@underworldguardian704
Жыл бұрын
I would love to see someone “re-imagining” MLK Jr as a white guy.
@RocksOff72
Жыл бұрын
Since progressives are ok with race swapping historical figures, I nominate Ryan Gosling to play President Obama in a movie. That's ok, right?
@mayloo2137
Жыл бұрын
Race-swapping only goes one way. Diversity apparently only applies to non-white people. The implication being that whiteness is all the same and therefore, there is no diversity. The same applies to sexuality. Who wants to be a bland heterosexual person who believes in the binary when you can imagine yourself as numerous genders and sexualities.
@mariasophia383
Жыл бұрын
The apocalypse would happen 😂
@ironpulcinella3586
Жыл бұрын
@@mariasophia383 good
@bigduke2140
Жыл бұрын
That is a very good argument you make. It should be said every time this race swapping occurs.
@miaferrari958
Жыл бұрын
The most amusing thing about this debacle is that we probably wouldn't even be talking about Jada's new show if it wasn't for the controversy, because, let's be honest, who would give a sh*t about a show produced by her? I think this pseudo-controversy is fabricated to get us talking, and maybe to get some people to hate watch it. Meanwhile we're all on social media calling each other "racist" and "woke", indulging these media companies who couldn't give any less f*cks about us, representation, or historical accuracy for that matter. I hope for the day we realize we only do their bidding by engaging in these arguments.
@mikedangerdoes
Жыл бұрын
I'm not a fan of "white guilt" or paying for the sins of our fathers, per say. But it does annoy me to see period pieces seamlessly integrate different ethnicities and cultures in unrealistic ways, because it kind of overlooks the racism, prejudice, and oppression that existed in those periods. I think it's a bad message, and it starts a move towards forgetting or glossing over undesirable facets of our history. It's that old adge; "those who do no learn from history, are doomed to repeat it" and the first step towards that is pretending it didn't happen.
@Acolyte47
Жыл бұрын
Remember: this is all coming from the nation that thinks Africa is a country...
@anne-marie2972
Жыл бұрын
Also every must be black because Africa 🙄🙄.Some people even teach their children this Afrocentric pseudoscience 🙄🙄. In America ofcourse.
@OwO377
Жыл бұрын
Guess they don't know other countries than generic countries.
@zephyrerazortail5478
Жыл бұрын
I can't believe me, a Greenlander from one of the tiny villages, who didn't even finish higher education, knew about that and they don't... What's the world coming to?
@randomdude2832
Жыл бұрын
if a black kid wants to play erik the red n a school play, or a white kid wants to play shaka zulu that's ok and we should let them, but for profesionals in tv or movies, it's their job to make me think I'm watching erik the red or shaka zulu and not only should look like them as much as posible, that includes melanin content.
@emademad3435
Жыл бұрын
You cannot change history, but Hollywood will always do this
@SacClass650
Жыл бұрын
I'd like to see Tommy Lee Jones play Nelson Mandela.
@Micchi-
Жыл бұрын
Ryan gosling as Martin Luther King
@anomalotheriataurus8806
Жыл бұрын
@@Micchi- Tyler Perry As Theodor Roosevelt
@O1OO1O1
Жыл бұрын
Netflix really hates money.
@enterprisedavidcain
Жыл бұрын
It’s never about money, it’s about the message
@brockthroton3535
Жыл бұрын
Key would Netflix not the history channel or discovery channel it was made for entertainment
@O1OO1O1
Жыл бұрын
@@enterprisedavidcain No it's definitely about money. Their password sharing crackdown is about money. What you don't realize though is that all of these bad choices are the result of people who are only interested in money running the show. And we keep giving power to people like this and wondering why we keep ending up in situations like this. It happens in politics, it happens in art, it happens in education, and academics, prisons, hospitals. So long as profit is the motive, we can't have nice things. People have to be the motive.
@O1OO1O1
Жыл бұрын
@@brockthroton3535 No, it was made for profit. Entertainment is how they reach that goal. Entertainment was never their goal. Netflix didn't start out as an art studio creating art, they started out as a movie rental business. They destroyed an entire industry. Granted, one that was ready for disruption. But is what we've gotten better? I wonder
@brockthroton3535
Жыл бұрын
@@O1OO1O1 the profit is based on if people are entertained on the app…. Hence entertainment not the history channel which is for educational accuracy
@redsoxu571
Жыл бұрын
As someone who believes that all media that does not claim "accuracy" should generally fulfill the vision of those who create it, I reject the notion that historical fiction or even adaptation should treat race as a line that cannot be crossed. My mind was opened years ago by Denzel Washington's character in Much Ado About Nothing - while that is a Shakespearean work, it still held a historical setting, and when I first started watching the film I had an initial double take seeing a black man playing a prince in what I understood would have been a white upper class society. By the end of the film...I no longer cared. Washington was so charming and powerful in the role that I wouldn't have wanted someone else playing it simply for the sake of visual accuracy. But this understanding brings with it two important caveats: 1) It is damaging to deploy this idea with double standards. It is a tremendous setback if we allow certain categories of role to be fungible, while setting others as off limits. Beyond that, the extent to which this is executed matters too - it doesn't take much research to see that increasing minority actor representation in media has exploded to a disproportionate level for one group, while still leaving behind (well below even proportionate levels) many many other groups. These uneven outcomes prove a lack of organic efforts behind the well-intentioned motives, and people bristle if not revolt against inorganic efforts. 2) Works that aim to cast with color blindness can't seek to have their cake and eat it too. For example, I couldn't have cared less about the diverse cast of Bridgerton - right up until there were references in the story to how the queen had broken racial barriers when she won over the king. From that moment on, the show shifted from simply having a color-blind cast to being a work of outright alternative historical reality a la Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, in which case the show should have gone all in on that concept by being more explicit about that fact. Even that could have worked very well, but it wasn't properly set up and thus only created cognitive dissonance. One of what I see to be a fundamental rule of morality is that efforts to combat injustice never justifies fresh injustice. That is the core mistake we so often are seeing today that undermines well-intentioned efforts and turns them at least to some extent rotten and destructive of the very goals they set out to achieve.
@noless
Жыл бұрын
I've seen more and more people bringing up John Wayne playing Genghis Khan as some kind of counter argument. What they leave out is that the movie is really old. Made in 1956. It was a financial failure and John Wayne regretted playing the part. They also didn't pretend like Genghis Khan was actually a white guy. So the comparison fails.
@bobbyschannel349
Жыл бұрын
It doesn't matter, it was done it was something to Hollywood's it a lot in fact it wasn't his John Wayne playing gangis Khan, but it was white people playing multiple ethnic people Mexican Arab Chinese Japanese Native American and black people. And it did it in the most disrespectful Maki insensitive way so it is part of a American Hollywood Heritage and culture and not to mention white people have taken from cultures all over the world and made it to do you think modern day music is your lazy you do understand that contemporary music is black influences music that was stolen
@noless
Жыл бұрын
@@bobbyschannel349 Of course it matters. How many asian actors do you think were available at the time? And how many of them were even remotely as famous as John Wayne? The studios would pick someone who they thought would sell the movie. Besides we are talking about movies made decades ago. We don't still live in the 50s. Your argument is weak if you're trying to justify what is happening right now.
@martin8341
Жыл бұрын
I wonder if we will ever see Adolf Hitler reimagined as as a gay black man… 🤔
@manfredwilson4475
Жыл бұрын
Played by Kanye West
@Stone7C1
Жыл бұрын
again. these castings arent color blind. if theyre color blind, we would have all kinds of actors represented in all kinds of roles. race swapping historical white figures with black actors isnt color blind, when its deliberately done in only this one direction. i challenge anyone to find an opposite example of white actors getting cast in the role of a historical black person in the last 5 to 10 years. i dont mind being proven wrong. as long as these swaps only ever happen into one direction, and hollywood has their hypocritical rules written down for us to to see and let us know that these castings are anything but color blind, can we please not pretend that they are?
@mikestanmore2614
Жыл бұрын
"He who controls the past, controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past." - that Orwell bloke. Why is that an issue? Because: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - that Santayana bloke.
@the_absurd_hero
Жыл бұрын
Excellent explanation of the problems of identity politics, especially as it relates to casting in dramatic works.
@michaellanger5671
Жыл бұрын
Can’t wait for the Egyptians to create an MLK movie featuring Dolph Lundgren!
@iyziejane
Жыл бұрын
The Audacity of Hope: A reimagined biography of Barack Obama, starring Ryan Gosling
@EJK2099
Жыл бұрын
Thankfully the Egyptians are not petty
@LauraTheRed
Жыл бұрын
I would watch the hell out of that movie 😂
@darktenor4967
Жыл бұрын
thumbs up for the single most in depth and well constructed argument I've heard on this topic. Indeed, I've been thinking myself recently that there is a major tension in the idea of trying to claim both the sacrosanct primacy of certain types of cultural and/or gender experience as exclusive, and yet holding that anything which falls outside those cultural or gender experience is so relative and malleable that it can, and indeed must be altered and appropriated for fear of being "exclusionary." Reminds me of a recent interpretation of Bach's cello sonata I heard on Classic fm, which was presented with a traditional African singing voice replacing the cello, which was touted as letting Bach be "enjoyed by everyone!" As though "everyone", can, will and indeed must enjoy something culturally African, rather than something which was European. yet the greatest irony is this was presented by shaku Kanneh-Mason, recent winner of young musician of the year, a talented Cellist of mixed Antiguan, and Sierra Leone descent, who made his name, and indeed the names of his musical family by playing, and indeed being expert at playing European music in the formal, classical tradition; Bach very much included, along with the rest of his family.
@floydffrogfloydffrog7453
Жыл бұрын
It's always a pleasure to hear a well reasoned argument, presented evenly and with some weight, and without reliance on gimmicks. Historical revisionism such as this is not the same as playing "What if?". Ironically a fictional accounting of a black Cleopatra might actually have the chance of being entertaining and perhaps even interesting. But simply swapping races because "they can and must" is the antithesis of entertainment.
@richardmcgowan1651
Жыл бұрын
If you read about this time and what Egypt was to Rome and the actual impact Cleopatra had on it. Its really interesting time as there was a lot more going on than you think. But that is part of the reason why they are making this the way they are. As Rome in this show is the "white" empire and Cleopatra and Egypt will be made out to be the "black" helpless region. Its not by mistake and isn't because someone granny told them Cleopatra was black. Mark Antony and even Caesar himself is going to be destroyed in this show never mind Cleopatra.
@mxvega1097
Жыл бұрын
Great essay. I'm getting heartily sick of the gratuitous and excessive valorization of "lived experience". I heard it a couple of years ago and thought whatever, strange phrase, I'll tune in for the next round of weird jargon. But it's stayed, settled in, and spread. It's the relativism of the NOW. Me, my truth, my lived experience. Facts be damned. Like the absurd figure in the Cleopatra doco trailer who cites her grandmother as an expert on Cleopatra's race. We used to call these old wives' tales. They still are.
@MyHam-os4bq
Жыл бұрын
My biggest issue with the “lived experience” phrase is that it often does not fit in with a person’s actual REAL lived experience. It is often exaggerated and even warped completely in order to fit a certain ideology. A true “lived experience” used to affect how one sees the world. Now it seems to be the opposite. Someone sees the world or is told to see the world in a certain way, so they adopt that as their own view. Some people WANT to see the world as racist, for example, so they will insert themselves into a hypothetical “lived experience” and project that perception onto themselves. We are told it COULD happen or has SUPPOSEDLY happened that someone somewhere was discriminated against in the workplace on the basis of their darker skin color, therefore that has been MY lived experience as a black person. Or, more commonly, my black ancestors once upon a time may have been slaves, therefore that is MY lived experience. (I’m personally not black btw, just using it as an example)
@kimfreeborn
Жыл бұрын
It's called "Double Speak." Its goal is to implant false memories and rewrite history. "Who Controls the Past Controls the Future" - Orwell.
@SeriousRodger
Жыл бұрын
Can we have a movie/tv show about MLK starring Ryan Gosling in the lead role and a movie/tv show about Marie Curie but cast Zac Efron? Asking for a trans associate.
@bsa45acp
Жыл бұрын
Cleopatra, as a drama, should never be constructed to bring the story of Cleopatra into the 21st century, rather the 21st century should be brought back into Cleopatra's 1st century BCE.
@thenapalmbrothershq5585
Жыл бұрын
When your ideology needs revisionist history you are wasting your time.
@darrengordon-hill
Жыл бұрын
When your revisionist invalidates the need for your ideology to exist... One imagines at some point they'll need to re-imagine that which is re-imagined...
@Vesnicie
Жыл бұрын
The stupefying idea has come into play that in order for a character to be "empowered", she can never be shown to be on the back foot. The whole idea of overcoming adversity has been chucked in the bin, as we see with all the Mary Sues who jump from strength to strength. When the racial element is added, the situation gets really weird because on the one hand, oppression must be recognized and reversed. Simultaneously, you dare not show the actual oppression because to do so would be "disempowering" and could lead to something short of a totally positive outcome for the heroine. Modern shows and films are intensely bizarre because they walk a tightrope between muzzling on the one side and disingenuousness on the other.
@bobbyschannel349
Жыл бұрын
Well why did white people play Black and Brown characters all through Hollywood history
@Vesnicie
Жыл бұрын
@@bobbyschannel349 They didn't invariably. The overwhelming majority of film and television had white subjects because it was written by white people within their own cultural contexts. Where there was cultural intersection, people of color were very often called on to play the appropriate roles. Hattie McDaniel wasn't white, was she? Amos and Andy got their start on radio as the creation of two white guys, but their move to TV meant being played by black actors.
@EkiEkiFatangZooPoi
Жыл бұрын
We can talk, but a "re-imagining" of Shaka Zulu would never be accepted.
@MichaelCravith
Жыл бұрын
I'd still like to know what, exactly, a "21st century audience" is supposed to entail.
@OwO377
Жыл бұрын
Better question what is 21 century what we be through previous years we walk backward than forward. It also like go back to the past than go new life despite age already begun and cannot turn back the age.
@maszkalman3676
Жыл бұрын
they consist of degener@tes and hoteps....
@airborneranger-ret
Жыл бұрын
Overall nicely done ;) "... we are in a crazy town of relativism". I remember being stationed in Atlanta in 1992, and taking my PC down to a PC service for some help. The PC service advertised that everything was covered under their troubleshooting fee. I specifically asked abut this, was assured that it was true, and when I got my PC back, the bill was higher "because". I pointed out their guarantee, was told it didn't apply, paid my bill and never went back (and they did not fix the problem either). Same place mentioned to me they were having trouble getting a IT service contract with army base. Total lack of self-awareness about what "ethics" is about.
@tyr3759
Жыл бұрын
I think the outcome of it all is the opposite of what they want to achieve. I feel a great disdain and sometimes even disgust of these people of wokeism, identity politics and the alphabet perversions. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
@mayloo2137
Жыл бұрын
Count me in.
@mupeM
Жыл бұрын
The only problem is that Cleopatra was actually dark in complexion, perhaps if we begin to discuss whether dark in complexion and black are the same thing, or what race mixed individuals actually are?
@tyr3759
Жыл бұрын
@@mupeM That is perhaps a discussion you could have, but is in no way related to Cleopatra as she without a doubt was not black nor dark skinned.
@mapachem4828
Жыл бұрын
No you are not alone. The problem is that they push it too far. They wanted rights and equality and those were given but they didn't know where to stop so they started to demand priviledges and stump on other people's rights, that's where sh-t started to hit the fan and there is a lot of people now that's in the same situation as you are. Causes that started right have turn to BS because activists loose their income and poitival status if they have nothing to cry about basically.
@tyr3759
Жыл бұрын
@@mapachem4828 Well said. The pendulum has swung too much the other way, which will invoke a force to swing it right back to a place where it shouldn't go.
@jeggsonvohees2201
Жыл бұрын
Imagine how interesting the little mermaid remake would be if it was based on African mermaid folklore, with a different story and characters.
@brianmurphy6480
Жыл бұрын
Cleoblacktra! 🤯
@idraote
Жыл бұрын
Now we've come to the point that Puccini's Madama Butterfly, one of the most popular operas, is considered "cultural appropriation" because Puccini used a Japanese setting and Japanese musical themes. The main character, besides, must now be played by an "Asian" soprano otherwise it is "blackfacing". To remain on the topic of opera and "blackface": Verdi's Othello must now cast a black tenor which is a bit of a problem because the opera is very popular, the part is very difficult and you cannot take it for granted you will find enough black tenors. Recent realisations with white tenors has seen those tenors sporting their original skin colour with no trace of dark foundation to avoid blackface accusations.
@74357175
Жыл бұрын
I have to wonder if the need to constantly "reimagine", rather than create afresh, is inherently tied to the postmodern program. Creating afresh does not appear to be part of this movement's repertoire.
@irena4545
Жыл бұрын
Also, note one thing: it is predominantly European cultural heritage and history that gets reimagined. I don't think we have had black Pilgrim Fathers, George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, have we?
@magenta6754
Жыл бұрын
Exactly. Pretty arrogant of Americans to mess with another country's history and culture.
@einezcrespo2107
Жыл бұрын
I'm still waiting for that Malcolm X biopic starring Ben Affleck.
@rehurekj
Жыл бұрын
Macbeth, while heavily fictionalised, is still historical figure, and the fact that he was used by Mr. Shakespeare doesn't change it, so if ones complaining about black royalty and Indian nobility in fictional TV drama series then excusing black Macbeth is rather hypocritical, both are fictions making use of real historical figures, and definition of high and low art is rather arbitrary and necessarily subjective to be of any use for any meaningful distinction. Mr. Washington would be great in any other Shakespeare's play just not the ones based on actual history, even if, as I said, heavily modified and adapted one, and personally I do think ones appearance, a type, should be factor even in this Shakespearean high art- after all if Othello was played by typical Irish lad( or lass, after all if race is unimportant then why gender should be any different) with carrot top who's paler than fresh show im sure such casting would clash with the intention and words of the high artists himself. in music or even dance and other such classical, high, art forms appearance doesn't matter cos the art itself isnt primarily about ones look but about auditory experience or beauty of movement of ones body, but in visual arts, theatre and movie, the look of actor, their type, is often the main qualifier and of utmost consideration cos the visual aspect- and ones skin colour is big part of it, just like being of appropriate age for the role, is important if not the most important part of their role.
@CharleyGurl
Жыл бұрын
Near every Shakespearean character has gotten a gender ace swap at some point. It's not even funny how many different looking actors I've seen play Hamlet. Denzel was great in the movie version "Much ado about Nothing". My favorite.
@warzoneguy6089
Жыл бұрын
Producers: we took history and rewrote it for the modern audience.
@mayloo2137
Жыл бұрын
Who is the modern audience?
@darrengordon-hill
Жыл бұрын
So... I should hate Hitler... but also.... Hitler was black and ended slavery?!?! SO CONFUSED....
@OwO377
Жыл бұрын
@@mayloo2137 to be accurately it lame modern audience had lame disease.
@moemothmann6760
Жыл бұрын
Don't expect progressive leftists to be logical or consistent. Hypocrisy is a virtue to those types.
@drakemiller2267
Жыл бұрын
I always just imagine how ridiculous it would be to make a movie about Shaka Zulu and to just randomly sprinkle non-black ethnicities into the Zulu Kingdom and compare that to what we’re doing today.
@maszkalman3676
Жыл бұрын
Not jsut random people change every positive character to white especially the main ones and al the opressor/evil ones changed to black and see their mind explode but this is what they do....
@bobbyschannel349
Жыл бұрын
What you have, you play Native American you play Mexican you played black people in blackface history that's true there is no other group that race swapped more than white people
@JonasGrumby-OO
Жыл бұрын
Up next: the Shaquille O'Neal story. Starring Peter Dinklage.
@stevedenis8292
Жыл бұрын
The re imagined story of the greatest hockey player.
@voulafisentzidis8830
Жыл бұрын
Why do people expect Jada to get the definition of 'documentary' accurately when she doesn't know the difference between an entanglement and an affair?
@arnepianocanada
Жыл бұрын
This is the most meaningful post on - or arising from - the Queen Cleopatra debacle. Thank you. Count me in as a subscriber. (Superb voice and speech clarity also.)
@ralph-im-a-star-wars-wiggum
10 ай бұрын
I've known about you through Nerdrotic, Critical Drinker et al and love your takes and content. You are criminally under-subbed. Keep up the magnificent work.
@markfx12
Жыл бұрын
Your closing statement is spot on.
@MrS-pe6sd
Жыл бұрын
It might help the crowd that doesn’t understand the problem with this Cleopatra to offer them a movie synopsis about Martin Luther King Jr. where he’s played by a Asian man.
@honnebombll
Жыл бұрын
I hope this "Docu" at least mentions that Cleopatra murdered her sister, but i highly doubt it.
@covingtonrace1
Жыл бұрын
Oh yeah. Jada pinket smith, that well know producer of high quality entertainment
@DeAngryDan
Жыл бұрын
Why does "present day" mean "black female lesbian" ?
@deefsound
Жыл бұрын
The thought that occurs frequently in regard to the unrelenting woke incursion on everything cultural is: This is exhausting.
@Sdea1903
Жыл бұрын
Excellent point about Denzil playing Macbeth, that's exactly why I had no issue with it.
@fortunateson101
Жыл бұрын
Loved this take, thanks.
@Tarquin2718
Жыл бұрын
Orwell history quote thanks for that. I never really comprehended that until now.
@seaninflorida9741
Жыл бұрын
Another brilliant essay on your part. My view differs in that I don’t care what color the actors are in claptrap like Bridgerton because it’s escapist fantasy. Heck, they can do whatever they want. Likewise, if you want to do David Copperfield with a multi-racial cast, go for it. It’s fiction, and fiction can be reimagined. Let the box office decide if it’s a good idea. My line draws at calling something a “Documentary” while ignoring the known history. History is always inaccurate to some degree, but putting in things you know to be false is a disservice to the viewer. This has been going on for a long time, with movie makers twisting history to suit whatever they think forwards their agenda. The blackfacing of Cleopatra is just the latest, too-obvious-to-ignore example. Another problem for me is that Hollywood seems to be swept by waves of “groupthink” that are worse than any Maoist re-education campaign. Hollywood suddenly decides that all white men are villains, or hapless idiots who need to be saved by powerful women. All black people are soulful saints. I doubt black actors enjoy that - the villains are often the juiciest roles. It’s just lazy writing and leads to movies that are unwatchable because you know how the plot with repetitive characters will play out by the first 10 minutes. You were smart to bring up the trans issue. I think trans people should be left alone to live their lives in undiscriminated fashion. But trans activists tend to be zealots who will brook no disagreement with any of their positions, no matter how extreme, and they keep moving the window on what is acceptable to them. And let’s follow the logic. If anyone can identify as a woman, does that mean anyone can identify as any race? I’m actually okay with that; this is America, be whatever you want. But should a white kid who identifies as black be granted a scholarship meant for black students? That would probably rub a lot of people the wrong way. The social justice warriors have opened a Pandora’s Box of Unintended Consequences. Or there would be consequences if they were self-aware enough to consider them.
@Egyptologist777
Жыл бұрын
"re-imagining" historical figures is a means for ideologues to falsify historical accounts.
@timkinss
Жыл бұрын
The theory of impressionism is too generous. It's clearly elite narcissists deciding the story of the oldest celebrity who has ever lived must be about them. The ultimate Marie Antoinetting (I now patent this term.)
@JoJoJoker
Жыл бұрын
Progressive: the belief that the last has no influence upon the future. Liberal: the belief that individuals are capable of making the best choices for themselves.
@boiledliddo
Жыл бұрын
it's correct that Netflix was sued for this dastardly attempt to rewrite history.
@csabaszep8162
Жыл бұрын
Honestly, there is nothing wrong with re-imagining history as long as we're clearly stating that it's for some artistic purpose and not meant to be anywhere near authentic. I also don't mind if a good actor gets a shot at playing a role. The idea that a role can be played only by an actor of the same gender, race, disability, etc... is the antithesis of being an actor. You're meant to be able to "play a role" and present it to the audience. This isn't true for something meant to be a documentary, where I do expect a certain level of authenticity.
@wolverine2314
Жыл бұрын
I heard the Cleopatra actress call critics of her show are racist. We Asians are amazed to see Some Black People in USA using the word racism to their advantage and pretending that they are the only ones suffering from racism.
@sirg-had8821
11 ай бұрын
George Orwell wrote an entire novel about the evils of re-writing history.
@AncientM4riner
5 ай бұрын
4:48 you've hit the nail on the head.
@Vesnicie
Жыл бұрын
Lived experience is crucial in reality, less so in art. What is the point of art if not to take the imaginative and empathetic leap into another's world?
@Matador824
Жыл бұрын
If this was not a documentary I think barley anyone would be mad but by making a documentary they presenting everything on the show as fact and that is why the desition to cast a black actress was a bad idea
@dragonback6075
Жыл бұрын
They've opened a door here, one that can swing both ways. I for one am really looking forward to seeing Harrison Ford playing Dr Martin Luther King in his next film.
@dragonback6075
Жыл бұрын
Posted while watching ☝️ Echo put it much better than I did 👍
@nymphey
Жыл бұрын
Very well done!
@skippyzk
Жыл бұрын
Mock-umentaries
@graysonhill
Жыл бұрын
It's simpler than that. "Ran" is Kurosawa's retelling of King Lear. He doesn't call it King Lear. He doesn't set it in 8 century Britain. He sets it in Edo Period Japan. And, it's full of Japanese people, as one would have it. Echo is being too kind. The point of this stuff IS destruction. It is Orwellian annihilation and you shouldn't give it one minute of viewing.
@InterSpaceResearch
Жыл бұрын
great video
@O1OO1O1
Жыл бұрын
Can you try to cut less often with your clips? I know they're a copyright limitations you have to get around, but for a writer, you sure do cut a lot. Give us a moment to soak something in. The visual accompaniment shouldn't be a waterfall, bombarding us
@fatemakhan3843
Жыл бұрын
I'm Egyptian and I am so glad the entire internet gave those clowns the reality check they desperately needed. EDIT: Just wanna add something for the clowns who claim us modern Egyptians are occupiers that have nothing to do with ancient Egyptians. Modern Egyptians are only 17% Arab according to their DNA, with the rest of modern Egyptians' genetic makeup being 68% North African, 4% Jewish, 3% East African, 3% from Asia Minor and another 3% South European. Based on DNA sequencing of Ancient Egyptian mummies. Source: National Geographic Genographic Project. Another thing to know is we do have a black minority called the Nubians residing in southern Egypt. Egyptians have a huge variety of skin colors. We're not exclusively white or black.
@theunwantedcritic
Жыл бұрын
I didn’t see the documentary. I know that historically Cleopatra Ptolemy was very Greek, but I don’t know exactly what the Greeks looked like back then, so the only thing we can do is look at the artwork that was produced at the time. Looking at Cleopatra Ptolemy as depicted in the coins with her profile the only thing we know about her is that she had a really big nose that was kind of hooked. There’s no way to tell what her skin color was like. It’s funny the Egyptian’s weren’t in outrage when Elizabeth Taylor depicted Cleopatra has a British woman. They were in an outrage when it was revealed that Gal Gadot and Israeli woman would be playing the character in an upcoming movie. and I don’t think they’re outraged they make a movie called gods of Egypt and it’s stars an entirely European cast.
@kingclover1395
Жыл бұрын
The real problem with all of this is that the people doing it have bad intentions toward the societies they are making these movies about. That's why the controversy over this Cleopatra is a good thing. A lot of people are seeing these Afrocentric academics and extremists for the first time, not knowing that they've been doing it for decades. People might be figuring out that they are hostile toward the people they are talking about. They are not people with good will and they need to be seen as a threat.
@SlipdeGarcondeJour
Жыл бұрын
Logically argued, as ever.
@paulschaaf8880
Жыл бұрын
What Hollywood seems to refuse to accept is that most people don't care about diversity as long as it doesn't detract from the story. I don't care if the entire cast is white or black or male or female as long as it works for the story. If that IS the story then it's an automatic fail. If it makes the story less believable then it's a fail. Unfortunately it's become clear that in almost every case, when a studio does a race or gender swap for an established franchise or "re-imagine's" real life history to force diversity into the story, that's going to be the central theme of the story so you might as well skip it. There are exceptions where the story is still good despite that but it's so rare that I end up skipping those as well unless it gets good enough reviews from fans (not critics) for me to decide to give it a chance.
@user-gj7yt1yn9b
Жыл бұрын
I don't fully agree with the last statement because it's much more comforting to associate oneself with Egyptian royals and British aristocracy than with less fortunate people.
@Yattayatta
Жыл бұрын
I believe that for any work, be it fiction or historical, if your goal is a serious tone, you need to consider how reality there would look. Take Rings of power for example, I take umbrage with how the Harfoots are depicted. It's not that I mind that they are people of color, it's that for any type of immersion to happen, you need to believe what you see, and a wandering tribe of 50-60 people would be mono ethnical within 3 generations, if that turns out to be dark skinned, white or otherwise, I do not care, but I simply get taken out of the story when I see such idiocy. An example of where it works very well on the other hand is in the Matrix, the people woken up come from every corner of the world, and it would be very strange if they were simply white Asian or black. I think every setting needs it's own consideration, if you are making a serious fantasy movie, stay close to medieval history, if you are making a documentary, stay close to history, if you are making a light hearted movie, go for it, mix it up. I would much rather we explored Asian and African culture and myths than have token character of Asian and African descent where they do not historically belong. There are wonderful tales and mysteries from Africa and the far East, make use of them, and do them justice.
@archydragon5213
Жыл бұрын
Now we need movie about black history and Asian and white person in it we need to include all
@hmnc444
Жыл бұрын
Well put.
@acrylicgodoy
Жыл бұрын
Let's make a colorblind Princess and the Frog or Othello, and see how they like that.
@sooder_fan1630
Жыл бұрын
Disney and Netflix always think we don't like the actress/actor and claim we're "racist" even though we're really sick of seeing no originality so far as to how we think an Egyptian was black. Hmmm
@zhouenlai2569
Жыл бұрын
Interestingly, this is only ever present in US or European cinema/TV productions. I have never seen a Japanese, Korean or Chinese movie do that. Ever. I mean - can you imagine a Japanese movie about, well, Oda Nobunaga, with Oda himself an half his Samurai being black and the other half being Arabs or Chechens? An absurd, propesterous notion. There were both European (Portugese) and black (their slaves) ppl. in Japan at that time, but the Japanse were, well - Japanese. Black Ann Boleyn is equally proposterous, as is black Cleopatra.
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