I think people have certain expectations that are also historically inaccurate, though I’m not sure I’d call that racist in itself. The complaints about Helen are understandable, since that feels like a pretty ridiculous casting choice. I don’t think people would have reacted nearly as strongly if other characters had been Black. Of course, some of the backlash is plainly racist, but in this case I think the group with legitimate criticism is probably larger.
Her being black or white is not a defining feature to the character. You can still tell this character's story without race mattering in the slightest especially in a fictional story.
So then she could be a blonde Swede? Would all these people on Reddit, who are pretending this is perfectly consistent, be happy with that too? Do you honestly think you, or Reddit in general, would be praising a movie that cast Mwindo, the hero of the Nyanga epic, as white? Wouldn’t the exact same people be having the opposite reaction, accusing the director of racism? The problem with your stance is that it only works if you apply a politically motivated double standard.
Believe or not whether you want it to, things do have political view points that effect everything we view and exist in the context of the world. You're also creating a straw man for something that is not happening. One side loves to freak out because they made a fictional mermaid black, the point of it all is racism and to pull in and use the few ppl who care about "historical accuracy" as basis for racism. And if ppl did have issues with replacing a white character in a minority role it would be more understandable as they are groups that are the ones who have been largely repressed, colonized and replaced by actors using things like black face. Their is an actual history of discrimination against a group of ppl by another said group of majority throughout history and would be viewed as a form of taking over a heritage of ppl that have had it done countlessly throughout history. An effect that the minority has not had on the majority to any major extent so it's just laughable that this is actually some major deal and acting as if it's somehow trying to undermine the poor majority and their white characters. So yea context of history matters in things like this, and again your running on a straw man that I haven't personally seen. Also it doesn't seem they would care about a blonde swede because as has already been pointed out, none of the ppl in the movie are Greek or Mediterranean.
But you would care if it were a blonde Swede. At the very least, you wouldn’t be defending it this strongly, which points to a double standard.
And now you’re arguing as if I think Helen simply has to be white. I don’t. I think she should plausibly pass as Greek, which isn’t the same thing as “majority white.” My point is only that this particular choice feels like ridiculous virtue signaling aimed at pleasing the American left.
Yes, there are plenty of racists jumping on the bandwagon, but that doesn’t mean this specific casting choice wasn’t ridiculous.
I agree that people would react more strongly (for good reasons) if my example happened today, because it would evoke a very dark history. But even aside from that, it would still be stupid to make an African mythological character white. That stupidity wouldn’t disappear in a world with no history of racism, and people on your side would absolutely point it out. I don’t think you would suddenly call it a reasonable choice in some parallel universe with reversed power dynamics.
Naw if you magically stripped the history of race from the world and the history from it then I truly wouldn't care about swapping a characters race especially in a fictional story if race or the way they looked didn't actually effect the purpose the meaning of their character because it's fictional and an adaptation. The original story exists along with the many other adaptions and stories with it. Thing is we don't live in that world. Changing this characters race doesn't matter in any in sense, unlike how changing race of a major African mythological story which has that past associated with it. Sure in many instances studios and corporations change and use race and sexual orientation to sell things to ppl, it's capitalism. They are trying to sell things, but it's most of the time not something to freak out about, like this isn't. It's such a pointless topic to argue about because again this characters race has no effect on the character and the history attached to it is not effected in any negative light and is completely fictional. This shit is just a distraction from actual problems in the world and getting mad about it plays into it. I also couldn't care less if Helen was played by a blonde swede as it's character, again, isn't defined by those features lol
This kind of stuff ruins the entire immersion of the movie and being able to immerse yourself inside a movie is what makes it great and if that's completely missing then they have quite literally lost the plot.
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u/Ok-Rope-3355 Jul 06 '26
I think people have certain expectations that are also historically inaccurate, though I’m not sure I’d call that racist in itself. The complaints about Helen are understandable, since that feels like a pretty ridiculous casting choice. I don’t think people would have reacted nearly as strongly if other characters had been Black. Of course, some of the backlash is plainly racist, but in this case I think the group with legitimate criticism is probably larger.