Regarding the controversy surrounding Netflix's Cleopatra, I've seen many people online spout the same argument. "Archaeologists exhumed Cleopatra's sister in 2009 and found out she had African DNA." Every single part of that statement is wrong, and this thread will discuss why. "Archaeologists exhumed Cleopatra's sister in 2009." The grave in question is not a new discovery. Located in Ephesus, Turkey, it was excavated as early as the 1920s. It wasn't until the 90s that one archaeologist claimed an association with Cleopatra's murdered sister, Arsinoe.

So I just saw the Woman King, and yeah from a historical perspective the movie was pretty reprehensible. The way that the movie depicts the King of Dahomey's participation is so far removed from reality that it borders on unethical disinformation. The film opens with the Mino attacking a camp of Mahi soldiers in an effort to rescue women who had been enslaved. The Mahi soldiers are beaten and the Mino instead enslave the Mahi. This opening scene is the beginning of the films need to justify slave trading by Dahomey

Just want to quickly debunk one weird bit of British imperial propaganda that I see on Twitter regarding the American revolution.
Lord Dunmore's proclamation was not an indication that the British were leaning towards the abolition of slavery. Not even close. even after the exit of the American South from the empire it took British Parliament almost seven decades after the revolution to abolish slavery. If the American colonies were holding back imminent abolition then their exit should have meant abolition in the rest of the empire.

So I think many people misunderstood my point about The Woman King. The problem I have with the movie is not that it depicts a slaveholding society, almost every historical film will do that. The problem is that it tries to distort and disengage with this reality. I was very excited for this film because I expected it to portray the complexities and nuances of Ghezo and his struggle against Oyo domination. Ghezo could be a perfect complex anti-hero, a guy whose morals do not align with ours but is still a fascinating protagonist.

Hollywood mangling history is nothing new, but the new trailer for the Woman King appears to be on a whole new level. It's to the point of not even remotely based on real history, and resembling fantasy. Hollywood does not take African history as seriously as other regions. Let's start with the names of the characters. Many of the listed names (Nawi, Amenza) are complete gibberish in Fongbe. Nanisca seems to be a butchering of Nahn Sika, the name of a real Mino leader.

Western audiences will not notice, but this is insulting.