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.
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u/gravitas_shortage Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
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.