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. Elon Musk, the owner of X, is indignant about the new movie’s “woke” spirit. He is annoyed that a Black woman plays Helen .  He says that no one would believe she is the most beautiful woman in the world.

Mind you, I am not here to criticize Musk. I, too – and I’m not proud of myself – was astonished. 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 in Homer’s  Odyssey, so all this is fantasy.

Here’s the real reason to be indignant: the Black woman should have a more demanding role. 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!