When you think of Gal Gadot, you probably think of DC's Wonder Woman. Gadot debuted her superhero in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, and some fans think she's the perfect pick to play the beloved character. Others think that there could have been a couple of better actresses to play the role.
Now she's one of Netflix's richest female stars and has tons of projects lined up, including a project where Gadot will play actress and inventor, Hedy Lamarr. So far there's been no objection to that casting, the same can't be said for Gadot's most recent casting, which has started to accumulate equally negative and positive reactions.
Gadot, an Israeli, has been cast as Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian ruler. This decision does not sit well with some fans who think there could have been a better choice of actresses who are more historically accurate.
Behind The Cleopatra Drama
Let's rewind to 1963, the year that Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Cleopatra. The film would make tons of headlines, including how it was the most expensive film ever made up until that point, and how it nearly sank its studio, 20th Century Fox.
It also sparked one of the most publicized affairs in Hollywood between Taylor and her co-star Richard Burton. Its impressive budget would later help it to win four Academy Awards.
One headline the film did not inspire though was the fact that Taylor was a white Jewish woman who was playing the Queen of Eygpt (Eygpt actually banned the film due to its conflicts with Jews and Israel and especially Taylor's involvement with the country. Taylor herself was banned from entering the country). Taylor's race just wasn't talked about at the time.
Fast forward to the recent announcement that Gadot would be the newest actress to take on the role. Like Taylor, Gadot is white and Jewish but is also a native of Israel. They are both beautiful but Gadot's coloring is a little darker than Taylor's due to her nationality. Her beauty and coloring, and the fact that she's a very high profile actress right now, probably all played a part in the decision.
There is also the fact that Patty Jenkins, director of Wonder Woman, is allegedly attached to the project. Both women would jump at the chance to work with the other again.
Instantly, a Twitter war sparked over Gadot's casting and cultural appropriation. Fans started to argue that Hollywood was once again whitewashing its characters and that Gadot was taking roles from minority groups.
The other side argued whether the Eygptian Queen was even Egyptian. Then the discussion turned complicated because everyone has differing opinions on Cleopatra's nationality.
History Says Cleopatra Was Greek, So Does This Allow Gadot To Fit The Role?
Some people believe that Cleopatra was really African, or Egyptian. Therefore, an actress "darker than a paper bag" should be cast in the role.
"I would love a Cleopatra who’s darker than a brown paper bag because that seems a bit more historically accurate," Morgan Jenkins tweeted. There were articles calling the decision "color-blind" and a "backward step."
But the actual color of the Queen's skin has been speculated for centuries already.
"Claims that the casting was another example of ‘whitewashing’ had an amusing side to them, since no one seemed to agree on what exactly the acceptable ethnic origin for the actress playing Cleopatra is: North African, African, Arab and Egyptian were suggested," NBC News reporter and Iranian author, Arash Azizi, wrote in an opinion piece. "In other words, anybody from the region except Jewish Israelis."
What historians do know about the Queen is that she had roots in Macedonia, Greece, and maybe even Persia and that she was a member of the Ptolemaic Dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt.
"When Cleopatra was born in 69 BC, her birthplace of Alexandria was the capital of Egypt’s Ptolemaic Kingdom," Azizi continued. "Though located on the southern side of the Mediterranean, the ruling monarchy was rather conscious of its Greek origins and wanted to maintain that cultural status; intermarriage with the native Egyptians was forbidden in Alexandria and other cities, although this wasn’t always observed."
According to the Smithsonian magazine, Cleopatra was "ethnically Greek" not "ethnically Egyptian." On the other hand, Cambridge University Egyptologist, Sally-Ann Ashton, did a study where she used a computer to generate the closest depiction of the Queen, and what she got was a woman with olive skin.
"She probably wasn't just completely European," Ashton told the Daily Mail. "You've got to remember that her family had actually lived in Egypt for 300 years by the time she came to power."
Some people in the Jewish community have defended Gadot however, and think that a Jewish Israeli fits the depiction because they have lived in these areas for centuries too.
Seth Frantzman, a journalist from The Jerusalem Post, said, "when Jews are primarily a people from the Middle East either with distant or recent roots."
Ultimately, we can't exactly know for sure where Cleopatra came from or what color her skin was. Hollywood's "whitewashing" is by no means a good thing, and it should be stopped but there is also a lot of history and culture involved with this so it was bound to be a touchy subject.
Some people think we should look past race, some want justice for the intolerance. But everyone is welcome to their own opinion. Either way, Gadot wants the story to be told through women's eyes and is dedicated to making an empowering film.
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