The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Durham Egyptologist featured in Netflix’s ‘Queen Cleopatra’
Durham Egyptologist Colleen Darnell recently appeared in Netflix’s new docudrama series “Queen Cleopatra.”
“Queen Cleopatra” follows the Egyptian pharoh’s rise and fall from the throne, looking at Cleopatra’s sibling feuds as well as her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. “Queen Cleopatra” is the second season of the “African Queen” series, the first being “African Queen: Njinga. Both seasons of the “African Queen” series were produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, who also narrates.
The Netflix series has received a significant amount of negative reaction with Forbes reporting the show has the “lowest audience score in Netflix history” and it has a 2 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Much of the backlash stems from its depiction of the Egyptian queen as a Black woman; actress Adele James plays Cleopatra in the series. Egypt has not taken kindly to the interpretation of history and has even planned for a counter documentary, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Darnell said that prior to appearing in “Queen Cleopatra” she has participated in a variety of documentaries from National Geographic, Smithsonian, the History Channel and the Science Channel. “Once my interview is done, I have no control over how my contribution is used. I do not have any influence over the filming of re-enactments, nor do I have any input in or prior knowledge of the casting of actors who portray historical
figures,” she said in a statment to Hearst Connecticut Media.
While Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, was Macedonian, historians don’t know who her mother was and are unsure of her race.
“Cleopatra VII’s father was Ptolemy XII, and her mother was most likely Cleopatra V. If Cleopatra VII’s mother were Egyptian, that might explain Cleopatra’s fluency in the Egyptian language (but of course she was said to
know other languages as well). In my opinion, if one believes Cleopatra was part Greek and part Egyptian, the best way to imagine her would be to look at both the surviving images of the queen, and the modern-day residents of Alexandria,”
Darnell said in her statement. “Modern Egyptians are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, and they reflect the unique heritage of their land.
Some critics of the show argued the series was culturally appropriative in its casting decisions as well as its inclusion of Darnell, who did not comment on race in the show. The Conversation was critical of Darnell as an expert due to her social media presence and her proclivity for vintage clothing.
“What is possibly the clearest example of cultural disrespect is the inclusion of Colleen Darnell as an expert. Known as a ‘vintage Egyptologist,’ Darnell presents herself in cosplay from the 1920s. It is problematic because that era is synonymous with a time of violence by British colonial rulers in Egypt and Western nations robbing” Egyptian artifacts, the May 15 Conversation piece said.
Prior to the publication of The Conversation article, Darnell said she posted the following comments regarding her sartorial choices on her website.
“Wearing vintage is not cosplay. I do not imagine myself as someone of a particular period—I am myself, wearing the styles of another time. There is no association between my love of vintage fashion and my profession as an Egyptologist, other than a general interest in the past,” she posted on her website. “My vintage style does not imply any approval of the prevailing political, social, or economic aspects of an earlier time. No one wearing modern clothing should claim to approve of everything happening in the modern world; and no one wearing vintage clothing should be assumed to want to live in a past time or earlier social condition.”
“I collaborate with and promote Egyptian brands and photographers who appreciate my work as an Egyptologist and my passion for vintage aesthetics,” she said in her statement.
Darnell earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale in 2005. She is a professor and author, who published “Egypt’s Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth” with her husband John Coleman Darnell in November. She also has a popular Instagram account called the Vintage Egyptologist on which she shares photos of herself in vintage clothing and shares historical tidbits about ancient Egypt.
Darnell and her husband are known for popping about Durham in their vintage clothing or driving around in their 1923 Ford Model T.
When previously asked about their fashion tastes, Darnell and her husband were quick to note that their passions for vintage fashion and Egyptology were two separate interests. “We are Egyptologists who wear vintage fashion,” she said in a 2022 interview with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. Darnell favors looks from the 20s, 30s and 60s but said that she prefers to wear pieces from the 60s and 70s when she’s teaching art history at Naugatuck Valley Community College. She also owns some pieces that date as far back as the 1820s.*