7.5. 15:55
What did historical queens really look like? Streaming service Netflix is once again dusting off familiar notions with its new series. One of them has drawn praise for its way of reinterpreting history, while the other has raised opposition even before it was revealed.
Romantic drama series Bridgerton: Queen Charlotte expands the story of the famous favorite series: telling how Queen Charlotte, best known from the Bridgerton series, arrives at the age of 17 in 18th-century London as the wife of King George III . The role of the young queen who rebels against arranged marriage is played by 21-year-old Bharat Riya Amartefio.
The Bridgerton series, created by star producer Shonda Rhimes, plays with the idea, believed by historians, that the German princess Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744–1818) may have had African ancestry – and thus be Britain’s first dark-skinned woman. Skin Queen.
Amarteifio himself has a Ghanaian background through his father.
– I know what it’s like to walk into a room when everyone is staring because I’m the only person of color in a crowd, Amarteifio described to British Vogue magazine.
READ MORE: How Finnish Katharina Eden ended up in the super popular Bridgerton series – one phone call changed everything
The Young Royals: Queen Charlotte is played by India Amartefoio and King George is played by Corey Mylcrist. Photo: Liam Daniels/Netflix
The choice of British Adele James to play Queen Cleopatra has sparked protests in Egypt. Photo: Netflix
The documentary series Queen Cleopatra, which includes dramatized footage, famously portrays the Egyptian queen as dark-skinned: in the series she is played by British Adele James. According to Tina Gharav, the series’ Iranian-born director, this was a conscious political choice.
Zahi Hawass, former Egyptian minister and scholar of ancient Egypt, has called the series false and misleading: according to him, Cleopatra was Greek and fair-skinned.
Professor Rebecca Futo Kennedy of Ohio’s Denison University has pointed out that the whole debate about whether a historical figure was “black” or “white” is fundamentally wrong.
– If we want to be more historically accurate, we need to understand how ancient people understood their nationhood rather than generalizing and de-historicizing their own ideas, Kennedy pointed to Time magazine. Did.
Read more: Netflix’s black-skinned Cleopatra angers Egyptians – “distortion of Egyptian history”
Bridgerton: Queen Charlotte series premiere on Thursday 4.5. Streaming service on Netflix. Queen Cleopatra series premieres Wednesdays at 10.5pm. Streaming service on Netflix.
Other news from streaming services
Noria (Saga Sarkola) discovers where clean water can be found in a Finnish science fiction film. Photo: Kjell Legros / Bufo
water keeper
Guru 4.5. Alyssa Wihde from Viaplay
The Finnish science fiction drama takes place in a future where there is not enough clean water for everyone, and it is strictly controlled by the military administration. Saga Sarkola plays the scion of a respected tea master in a small village who unearths a source of clean water.
The film, directed by Sara Sarella, is based on the novel The Book of the Tea Master by Amy Itaranta, which has been translated into more than 20 languages. The film was made on a large scale: it cost more than four million euros. Shooting locations were Estonia, Germany and Norway.
architect
Guru 4.5. Alyssa Wihde from Viaplay
Norwegian star Elie Harbo, who can also be seen in new episodes of the series Succession, plays an architect in the series, set in the near future, who is given the task of building a thousand apartments in the center of Oslo.
The silo thriller series will star Swedish star Rebecca Ferguson in the lead role. Photo: Apple TV+
silo
Fri 5.5. from Apple TV+
The science-fiction thriller tells the story of ten thousand people who live in an isolated silo protected from pollution – but something is wrong. Starring Swedish star Rebecca Ferguson and Common.
