It's Foxy Cleopatra!

In the beginning of Jennifer Brody’s article “The Return of Cleopatra Jones” there is an interesting quotation by Ossie Davis that says, “What's Past is Prologue; but in black history it's also Precedent.” This statement in my opinion reflects the African American identity being assimilated into popular culture in the 70’s. Prior to these times in history the African American woman had no identity in the media and were left out in the cold. After watching Cleopatra Jones I was instantly reminded of Austin Powers: Goldmember as Beyonce’s character was ‘Foxy Cleopatra” a strong but feminine secret agent who spoke as strongly as she was physically. This goes back to the article’s idea of a 1970’s revival in the 1990’s. Cleopatra Jones may dress outlandishly and her high-flying karate skills may come under scrutiny but in my opinion she is the sole representation of a strong African American female with a power position among her peers and law enforcement. The reading then focuses on the possibility of Cleopatra Jones to be a “queer” character more so in the sequel than in the original film that came out in 1973. Queer not necessarily meaning lesbian in this case as she dressed in a pristine and outrageous manner. She was the epitome of the African American feminist but carried herself in a highly masculine way. She reigned over the law enforcement and other male characters instilling fear and respect among her peers. There were a couple of instanced in which she totally served these guys up. When she was in the airport and foiled the attack by mommy’s stooges she kills a man, flashes her presidential identification and scampers off like nothing even happened. Even further into the film she places a call to the police department over their raid over an African American safe-haven and the one officer states that “it’s Cleo, and she’s hot”. The cowardice of the officers in dealing with Cleopatra Jones is almost laughable as she carries the stick. I would not say this warrants the character of Cleo as a lesbian as the author of the article tries to prove. Brody insists that there were several references of Cleopatra Jones in Lesbian related movies made in the 1990’s. These references according to Brody’s article were based off of the second installment of Cleopatra Jones, which we were unable to see in class. The article said that she was “heterosexualized” in the first movie and made queer in the second. The only homosexuality we saw in Cleopatra Jones was the queer behavior of the antagonist in Shelly Winter’s character, mommy. What can be said for Cleopatra Jones and movies like it in the 70’s was that it was highly revolutionary for both African Americans and Feminists. In class we discussed that African American females were very hesitant to support feminist ideologies as they were still focused on the civil rights movement. What do you think of the article? Do you view Cleopatra Jones as “queer” or even as a lesbian? Do you think the author of the article went and overanalyzed the movie as most of the author’s of the readings do? Do you think I’m wrong? I know Nic probably does.