This is now the second time we’ve mentioned this particular — largely imaginary — but MAGA agitprop propelled “controversy”. Folks, most serious scholars of ancient / classic Greek literature will immediately point out that the Helen of Troy in these tales is certainly… mostly mythical, not in any sense a historical / flesh and blood woman.
So — it seems both silly, and racist — to complain here about skin color.
That continues to be my view, but I commend to the readership this opinion piece — from a bona fide scholar — on the subject of Greek lit & mythology. This essay appears in the coming morning’s NYT — and should be read closely, word for word. . . but the below resonated deeply, for me [when thinking of Mr. Nolan’s decision(s), here]:
…[T]he woman whom we associate with great beauty was, at least for the Greeks, all talk. Both a skilled orator and the object of skillful oratory, the “real” Helen of Troy, you could argue, was a figure associated above all with profound debates about the nature of reality and the power of words, the seductiveness of falsehood and the fragility of truth.
In that sense, at least, the controversy about the new “Odyssey” movie, like so many of the arguments being conducted today, connects us to the Greeks’ Helen in a far more authentic way than the choice of this or that actress could….
Indeed. I will certainly favor the movie — by actually purchasing a ticket — even if I already know Matt Damon chews up every scene he’s in (in the way the official trailer makes plain).
So, as irony would have it, perhaps it is the aging whyte guy… who’s been poorly cast. Heh. Imagine that!
नमस्ते
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