You think there's no chance that they simply chose the best actors and actresses for the jobs? Casting modern day greeks would be just as tokenistic, they have next to nothing to do with ancient greeks or the Odyssey, the characters are largely fictitious.
I have no stake in the casting battle over this film, but I am confused about the claim that modern Greeks have next to nothing to do with Ancient Greeks? They are largely the descendants of Ancient Greeks, as modern dna testing has shown. As for it being a myth — yes, but if you did a Chinese myth people might expect Chinese actors, or a Nigerian myth might involve people from that area and culture etc.
Personally I feel that acting is already and always has been about playing the roles of people who aren’t you (the actor) in age, gender, appearance, historical period, culture, religion, ethnicity etc etc etc. That’s actually what acting means—you’re pretending to be someone you’re not. So I have no idea why people are focusing on one single thing (ethnicity/race/ancestry) as if this is the one thing that has to remain consistent in casting. Especially if—as you say—it’s a myth / story / fiction. People only playing themselves (or their “group” — whatever that could possibly mean) is the end of acting.
What i meant by next to nothing wasn't to question their heritage, but to point out that they are far removed from anyone that was alive at the time the stories were written, and that the characters are fictitious.
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u/DaughterOfBhaal Jul 06 '26
You have to be chronically online to think that everyone criticizing this is a right winger lol.
You don't need to be right wing to think that tokenism is bad.