There has been a ruckus about the role of Helen in The Odyssey, the hit movie of the summer. A Black actress, Lupita Nyong’o, plays Helen, and online gossips are shocked out of their minds.

There has been a storm on X, with many posters expressing indignation about a Black Helen.  One went so far as to say that no one will believe she is the most beautiful woman in the world.

Mind you, I’ve always pictured Helen as tall and blonde, though there is no evidence for this, and artists often paint her with red-gold or auburn hair. (Of course it’s black on the vase paintings.)

Helen is not described at all in Homer’s  Odyssey, so all this is fantasy.

Here’s the real reason to be indignant: Helen has a minimal role, unless the screenwriters have changed this. Why not cast the Black actress in one of the main roles? Why not Circe, the witty, brilliant witch with the power to turn men into pigs?  Or Calypso, the nymph who kept Odysseus for seven years?  (His poor wife, Penelope!) Even Princess Nausicaa has a bigger role than Helen.

And no one would have batted an eye if Nyong’o had stolen the show in one of these important parts.  No, it’s this absurd idea of beauty that triggers the prejudice. 

I haven’t seen the movie – I still haven’t seen Gladiator, so I’m way behind – but I’m amazed by how upset people are because of their personal version of Helen.

Anyway, would this have been an issue without the internet? Probably not.

By the way, tell me if the movie is good. I did like the trailer!