What is Blackwashing? Definition explained after Zendaya’s Cleopatra casting sparks controversy

Zendaya, the famous American actress, is reportedly about to portray the role of Cleopatra in an upcoming feature film for Sony Pictures. Dune director Denis Villeneuve has moved on to this project after filming Dune: Part 2, scheduled for release in 2024. Zendaya is part of both the Dune movies as well.

People have raised mixed opinions about the casting choice. Cleopatra was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt and had Greek ancestry, hence, some netizens have claimed that they cannot picture the Euphoria actress, who is biracial, as the ancient queen. As per Newsweek, they are accusing the production of blackwashing the character.

According to The College of Wooster, “blackwashing,” is the practice of replacing a traditionally White character or role, for example, Snow White, with a Black actor. Although it has been revealed by Marca that Zendaya has accepted the role of Cleopatra, for now, no parties have officially announced the news, and the casting remains a rumor.

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Zendaya's rumored Cleopatra casting sparks blackwashing backlash online

Zendaya rose to fame from her comedic roles on the Disney Channel and later moved on to more mature work, such as taking on the part of Rue Bennett in the HBO series Euphoria. She has been directed by Denis Villeneuve for the two Dune movies and is rumored to be part of his upcoming project, the biopic Cleopatra.

The movie has reportedly been in the works for years and will be adapted from Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. The scriptwriter for the project is David Scarpa, who is known for preparing the Napoleon movie's script, as per Geo TV. David explained the plot of the movie in a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, saying:

"With Cleopatra … instead of doing the movie as the prestige picture — the three-hour, lots of pageantry, people with fans and English accents and all that stuff — we really treat it as a political thriller. Dirty, bloody, lots of people swearing and having s*x and all of that other stuff and just treat it as a two-hour, lean, mean political thriller, full of assassinations, etc."

He added that the biopic would go in "the opposite direction from the way we think that movie is going to go." As per Newsweek, many netizens have now raised negative opinions about the reported casting of Zendaya, calling it "blackwashing."

Given that Cleopatra is known to be a descendant of a companion of Alexander the Great and has Greek origins, Zendaya's casting is being seen in a negative light.

However, there have been great debates on whether the queen was "White" or "Black," according to Denison University. Based on research from a mummified body, reportedly of Cleopatra’s sister, Arsinoe, historians have speculated that their mother “had an ‘African’ skeleton.”

People also believe that Cleopatra's paternal grandmother was indigenous Egyptian and hence, arguably “Black”. Most scholars and students of the Greco-Roman world however, would state that “Cleopatra VII was white—of Macedonian descent, as were all of the Ptolemy rulers, who lived in Egypt,” as per Denison University.

However, since, “White” and “Black” are not ancient categories of race or ethnicity and “Egyptian”, “Macedonian”, “Greek” and “African” had different meanings in ancient scripters, it cannot be determined for certain what Cleopatra's skin color was. Her tomb has never been found and hence, there is no DNA to analyze and historians cannot factually know whether she was black or white.

Zendaya, rumored to play Cleopatra, is biracial, with an African-American father, who has Nigerian ancestry; and a German and Scottish ancestry mother, as per BBC.

As soon as her rumored casting announcement became public, netizens took to social media to share their opinions about the same.

Despite the backlash, some seemed to be in support of the actress:

Along with Zendaya, it has also been rumored that Timothée Chalamet, her Dune co-star was offered the role of Octavius, and Daniel Craig, the Knives Out actor is currently being considered for the part of Caesar.