Romance is one of the main themes that run throughout any Cleopatra adaptation. The 1963 film concentrates on her relationships with the two greatest Romans of the time. The film poster shows Cleopatra sitting in between Caesar and Mark Antony. Again the modern versions include and emphasise her relationships with both men.
All adaptations portray her being an intellectual who could hold her own with any man.
Cleopatra throughout history has been accused of using her sexual prowess to manipulate and overpower men. The differences in the adaptations demonstrate this and can be compared to females increased influence in present day society. “Her image has once again been updated to keep in step with the new norms of our society, so Cleopatra retains an image of glamour and seduction but her use of sexuality is more provocative” Cleopatra - (AA100 DVD). This is shown in the television show Xena, she reworks the famous scene when smuggled into visit Caesar as a form of sexual roleplay.
In the 1999 series, Cleopatra is seen fighting with a sword castrating her enemy. In the 2005 series Rome she uses sex as a tool to protect her leadership by deliberately becoming pregnant (by another), she passes the child off as Caesar’s. These acts whilst extreme, show the change in Cleopatra as a more dominant figure, which mirrors the power shift between male and females over the last 50 years in society and in business.
The appearance of Cleopatra has also altered over the years, the 1963 film shows Cleopatra as a white Euro/American. The later Cleopatra change from this to become more ethnically diverse. Again this mirrors the multi-cultural world in which we now live, where it is accepted that any person can prosper irrespective of their skin tone, the President of the United States is a good comparison.
Cleopatra was of Macedonian decent, part of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Her Father Auletes had many wives to father children and maintain his line on the thrown, some of which may have been Egyptian or African. It is almost certain that Cleopatra would have a darker skintone, therefore, the later adaptations would be historically correct. The ethnicity of Cleopatra has come to the fore in the form of Afrocentrism “an attempt to promote the primacy of African Civilisation” Fear, Trevor: Reputations, Cleopatra, P25.
“The many faces of Cleopatra show how we modify our perceptions of the past to suit contemporary issues” “Each era has recreated Cleopatra in its own image” Cleopatra - (AA100 DVD).
“we all create our own version of Cleopatra and what we see in her tends to reflect our own cultural traditions” Fear, Trevor: Reputations, Cleopatra, P24.
Bibliography
Cleopatra (2008) - (AA100 The Arts Past and Present DVD) – Book 1 Reputations, Milton Keynes The Open University
Fear, Trevor (2008): Cleopatra - The Arts Past and Present, Book No.1 Reputations (AA100), Milton Keynes, The Open University
Word Count 521 (not including question, titles and bibliography)