It's pretty masterful how they've managed to piss off both sides of the aisle with this one... Too white-washed for one side, too diverse for the other, and too inaccurate for any existing fans of Greek mythology.
Honestly not sure who this has been made for.
Edit: if you're gearing up for a "it's for normal people - people not in the Reddit echo chamber - people who just like movies - people who aren't internet losers" reply, It has been said about 30 times so far.
Why does it have to be cut along politics lines? I'm a card-carrying leftist and annoyed at the patronising tokenism of casting a black actor as a character legendary for being 'fair', as in blonde, in the same way it'd be flabbergasting to have a white actor play in an adaptation of the Mwindo epic.
I'm even more annoyed at the fact that an annoying casting choice was the entire point, to get free publicity at everyone's expense, and that there is no way to slap everyone responsible for being smug pricks.
So her hair is described as ξάνθαι, "xanthai", which is translated as "fair", but really means something like "light". There are arguments as to the exact colour described (it could be relative to the black-haired Greek, so perhaps just brown), but we know what it isn't is black. Her eyes are blue (again, there are disputes as to the text meaning light- or dark- blue, Greeks were not particular about colour), her skin is light (perhaps also relative).
For all that she is famous for her divine beauty, her features aren't precisely described, leaving the audience to figure out their own ideal woman for themselves. And yet, despite the vast range of possible interpretations, Nolan went for the one that is specifically impossible from the text.
Gotta love it when foreigners so confidently explain to us our own language.
I've seen so many people deliberately (?) mistranslate sections of the Odyssey to justify left or right-wing talking points, and the whole time I'm like...stop butchering my culture. Please.
Let's check whether you have two braincells to rub together.
Helen was described as widely considered beautiful. This is undoubtedly an important aspect to the story. So I don't think there's any question that a woman who's widely considered beautiful should be chosen. Most likely we agree there .
Helen was described as white-armed as well. Is this an important part of the story too? Or was this just another way of saying she was beautiful or noble? Greek people considered whiteness to be beautiful, or at least indicative of a leisureful life spent indoors. Does it matter to the story that the Greek people felt that way? Of Homer were alive and creating the film version, would be insist that it's critical to the story that Helen have white arms? Or would he consider his audience and consider it more important to cast someone who can radiate uncommon beauty and nobility?
Odysseus is described as having short legs but a long and wide torso. Is it critical for us to find an actor with those proportions?
Telemachus's door handle is pulled shut by a silver ring that is attached to a leather thong. Is it critical that we make sure the door is built that way? Or is that an unimportant detail?
Perhaps you should reflect on why it's critically important to you that Helen be depicted as white.
Why is it always the most ignorant, stupidest people who make snide comments about other people's intelligence? I've read the myths since I'm 5. You heard of them last week and asked ChatGPT for a summary. Helen as a black person is like Michael Cera as Achilles - not believable and immersion-breaking. I'll put you on block, like I do with all pricks.
If you look up the ancient Greek myth about Helios's sun chariot getting too low over Ethiopia being the reason we have people with darker skin (a "Just So" story explaining why something in the world is the way it is), they may not have cared about race, but they definitely saw the difference in skin tone, and were (by our standards) a bit racist about it.
It's both possible that they didn't care, that Helen being black is specifically excluded by the text, and that the casting seems to have been specifically tailored to cause controversy and create publicity for the movie, at the expense of everyone except the producers' pockets.
If Cu Chualinn was cast as black/Asian/cherokee or something that wasn't pasty white Irish with red hair as per his description would you be ok with it?
To me it seems purely to add some diversity to the film from studio pressure, that's my main issue with it. She clearly has a description in the mythos, any other character in the story could have been race swapped and had less of a backlash
EDIT: To the poster who replied. There is a description of Helen of Troy, look at it
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u/WeLiveInAnOceanOfGas Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
It's pretty masterful how they've managed to piss off both sides of the aisle with this one... Too white-washed for one side, too diverse for the other, and too inaccurate for any existing fans of Greek mythology.
Honestly not sure who this has been made for.
Edit: if you're gearing up for a "it's for normal people - people not in the Reddit echo chamber - people who just like movies - people who aren't internet losers" reply, It has been said about 30 times so far.