Becoming Cleopatra: The Shifting Image of an Icon [Hardcover]

Cleopatra. Sexy, sultry, political, and racially ambiguous. Moving fluidly from Shakespeare's England to contemporary LA, Francesca Royster looks at the performance of race and sexuality in a wide range of portrayals of that icon of dangerous female sexuality, Cleopatra. Royster begins with Shakespeare's original appropriation of Plutarch, and then moves on to analyze performances of the Cleopatra icon by Josephine Baker, Elizabeth Taylor, Pam Grier (Cleopatra Jones) and Queen Latifah (in Set It Off ). Royster argues that Cleopatra highlights a larger cultural anxiety about women, sexuality, and race.Introduction Part I: Cleopatra in Hollywood-Constructing and Deconstructing Whiteness African Dreams, Egyptian Nightmares: Cleopatra and Becoming England Cleopatra and the Birth of Film: Staging Perpetual Motion Egyptian Sandals: Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra and the White Grotesque Part II: Cleopatra and Counter-narratives of Adoption Cleopatra Jones (1973): Blaxploitation and Tactical Alliances with Shakespeare Queering Cleo: Set it Off and Queen Latifah's 'Butch-in-the-Hood'

'...a dense but readable book, especially appropriate for 'Women in Film' courses.' - Publishers Weekly Annex