Posted on 05/15/2023 1:02:25 PM PDT by Red Badger
Netflix’s “Cleopatra” documentary has turned into an epic disaster. The audience despises the “woke” show that absurdly portrays a fair-skinned Greek woman as an “African queen.” Adding fuel to the fire, critics have also slammed it, labeling the documentary a complete failure, falling even below the quality of cheesy afternoon soap operas. It’s an embarrassing flop that leaves you scratching your head, wondering why Netflix would humor Jada Pinkett Smith’s inner racist and air such utter trash.
On the flip side, Elizabeth Taylor’s rendition of Cleopatra came remarkably close to capturing the essence of the legendary figure.
Beauty Flashback: Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra
Naturally, the liberal critics conveniently avoided addressing the absurd and offensive casting choices, opting instead to criticize the subpar acting and lackluster plotlines.
Daily Mail:
Writing for the Telegraph, Anita Singh said was an ‘over-abundance of former soap stars’ which made the new drama documentary’ a misfire’.
She penned: ‘You’re left wondering why Netflix didn’t just throw another £100 million at it and make a lavish, soapy drama instead of this halfway house.
‘I’ll admit that I now know more about Cleopatra than I did before – narratively it flows well, and does a halfway decent job of explaining why she was such a significant figure.
‘But it’s too soapy for serious history fans, and not enough of a soap for viewers who like juicy historical dramas.’
Looks like the critics almost hit the bullseye for once as the audience score landed at a cringe-worthy 1%, and honestly, that’s still seems too high.
Is Netflix about to have its “Bud Light” moment, where they pump the brakes on the wild woke train and return to delivering entertaining, fact-based historical shows that people actually love?
Probably not…
Hold onto your remote controls! Netflix is ready to take us on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride through the captivating world of cocaine in their upcoming documentary. Brace yourselves for an electrifying blend of eye-opening revelations and addictive storytelling, because when it comes to pushing boundaries, nobody does it quite like Netflix…
Yes, we’re dripping with sarcasm here, but sadly, Netflix would probably jump on board with this idea without a moment’s hesitation.
I guess Andersen, de la Motte Fouqué, and Edvard Eriksen would find that...interesting.
(And I don’t think ‘Mer-people’ would have human DNA of any flavor.)
their next big project is a remake of Roots
with a Puerto Rican cast
I opened up this here history book
And flipped my lid when I took a look.
There on page 219
Was this here Egyptian queen.
Although she lived in 44 BC,
Cleopatra is the chick for me.
I'm going to build a time machine
So I can go back and make a scene.
I'm going to make some time with my Egyptian queen
In my little old time machine.
Probably just slow learners. Probably pretty packed on their short school bus.
I think one of the best portrayals of Cleopatra was done by the actress Lyndsey Marshal in HBO’s Rome.
I saw the 1963 movie in the theater (in the spring of 1964), and I would like to see it again. My mother was absolutely gaga over the movie—she thought the love scenes featuring Liz and Richard Burton were for real—and they might have been. Being a teenage boy, I wasn’t so impressed, preferring scenes like the Battle of Actium.
My favorite Cleopatra film was the one starring Claudette Colbert, from 1934, which I also saw on the big screen when it was shown at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles in 1981.
Yet in all portraits of her, she is a white European. Go figure.
I have no problem with a non-white Ariel. So what if she’s black. She’s also half-fish. There’s White Perch and Black Bass. Fish.
Hard to claim that the historical British monarchy was racist when their was a Black queen. Same with Founding Fathers. Alexandwr Hamilton was Black.
Apparently she was also quite gullible: she’d swallow anything. Yeah, I read the classics, too. :D
I’ve known half or partly-Black people who were almost albino, in terms of skin, hair, eyes. But they still had features that could be seen subjectively as ‘African’.
It’s interesting to me that someone would find that a portrait of the Queen contemporary with her times,might be seen as suggesting African heritage - especially as portraits of royalty were often somewhat ‘idealized’, just as celebrity photos are often manipulated today.
I watched it. What I found peculiar is that Jada used black female academicians of questionable authority as experts. There was very little new information. It was like project 1619 meets Cleopatra. The series Rome did a better job at fictionalized history. The whole thing reminded me of the black chauvinism the Nation of Islam spouts with its claims of the glories of African civilization.
ps
Jada is a crazy witch. Look what she did to the nice guy Will Smith.
I really like the “Critical Drinker”.
I watched his review on the “Puss In Boots” animated feature, and he saw it exactly the same way I did, so...I guess not only liking his style, it is apparently up my alley as well.
I know. How can I get anything positive out of a Puss in Boots animated feature for kids? But I did!
(He thought it was great, and I did too...I had ZERO expectation of anything good, but...it was highly entertaining and interesting, with almost the same impressions he got as well from it)
If that is fake, it’s pretty darn good. If it isn’t, God help us!
Merlina Mercouri was not bad. I’m sure you remember her.
It appears to be true:
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/richard-iii-about/14430/
I’m surprised they’d cast a Black person in the role of a person generally believed to have been a terrible villain...
(I would think that we would get a White actor in blackface as Othello, first.)
Or try Anna Pavlidou.
I remembered the name, but had to look her up.
That’s much more like I imagine Cleo looked.
It's been done.
Sort of.
Animaniacs: Home on De-Nile
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