They Picked Who?

Earlier today my mom and I were talking about an article that she saw in People magazine where they were announcing a new film about the life of Cleopatra to star Angelina Jolie. There was a pole as to who should play Marc Antony and all of the actors listed in the pole were white actors. I have nothing against Angelina Jolie, loved her in Girl, Interrupted, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bone Collector. But I think that it is time that Hollywood recognizes that it is a big let down every time there is a role that should go to a black actress that ends up going to a white actress or actor instead. For instance earlier this year there was a movie called The Prince of Persia starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake does not look Persian to me. And a tan and some brown hair is not enough to convince me that he could fill in for someone who is Persian.

I think a lot of African American men and women like myself are ready for there to be an accurate representation of culture when it comes to films. As an article on CNN's entertainment blog pointed out past incarnations of Cleopatra have been Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, and Elizabeth Taylor. All fine actresses but none of them phenotypically fit the part. Cleopatra lived in the desert! She had melanin! I also know that these actresses portrayed Cleopatra in a time when it was common to a) deny African Americans leading roles in major films and b) when it was believed as common knowledge that Africa as a continent had no past and that Egypt although a part of Africa had a separate history aside from that of the rest of the continent. I know this because I taught it to college freshman for two years as a part of being a teaching assistant for African Civilization courses. Africa does in fact have a very glorious past that did not happen from the time Europeans stepped foot on the continent but was in full force centuries before they arrived. So I understand the world in which these white actresses were considered perfect for the role of Cleopatra. However, it is 2011 and we know better and can do better. Earlier I tweeted my short list of candidates for Cleopatra they include: Halle Berry, Sanaa Lathan, Thandie Newton, Alicia Keys, Gabrielle Union, Paula Patton, and Zoe Saldana. I truly believe that any of these women would be a "fresh" choice for Cleopatra because it is a) more historically accurate than Angelina and b) more culturally correct and significant than the choice of Angelina. Cleopatra for all intents and purposes was an African woman. We have no way of knowing what she looked like but I think to give a more fair view of what she could have looked like the producers, directors, and script writers should have considered a woman of color.

I think I am also showing my own sensitivity to this topic because of things that I recently learned while having another discussion at another time with my mom. I was talking to mom about this exhibition called RACE at Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC. It is a search to find if there is any genetic difference to each race and what makes us different and the same. I have not been but several of my mother's co-workers have. At the end of the exhibition that these co-workers went to there was a time for discussion. Several members of the audience who were white, when asked if they felt that the South had good relationships between the races and a tolerance for diversity, cited the fact that when they were growing up they had black maids and cooks in there homes. Yeah they did! In 2011 in Charlotte, NC the evidence of positive race relations to some people is that they had black servants in their homes as children. What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? It is a crazy notion but that is where we are. I am sure that to some people there is nothing wrong with the example of the black servant in the home being an example of diversity. The servants were trusted enough to be in the home and to perform tasks that require trust such as cooking some one's food and being trusted with their worldly goods but it is all the issues behind the very reason that these men and women had to be servants and cooks that is the problem. Maybe they liked their jobs but they probably had other aspirations. Had they been given the opportunities that racism and segregation withheld from them I am sure that they would have been doing something else. That is what is so bothersome about this example is the fact that the people who used this as their example completely missed the big picture of why there were even black servants in their home. I would definitely like to see if a black person would use the example of a white servant in their home during childhood as an example of racial diversity in the South.

I just think that when it comes to making films that portray history and minorities that there should be just as much effort to make these films as historically accurate as films that do not portray historical events involving minorities. If there were a film about FDR and he was portrayed by James Earl Jones, then maybe I could see a Cleopatra starring Angelina but we have not reached that day yet. I just think that credit should be given where credit is due and that the choice of Angelina as Cleopatra should be seriously reconsidered. Or at least switch it up and make Marc Antony Denzel!