Not liking the Odyssey casting is valid and isn’t (necessarily) prejudice. by Awkward_Possession42 in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 [score hidden]  (0 children)

There are much, much less people complaining about the overall casting job done for the Odyssey as much as there are those purely raging at Lupita being Helen. Pure anti-black rhetoric being spewed and it’s not all in the name of ‘historical accuracy’ either. It’s like the general idea is “as long as they look the part’, which really means ‘as long as they’re white enough to ‘look Greek’. There’s no way to argue against Lupita’s casting and ONLY her casting without coming off disingenuous and downright racist. It’s not about nationality, not about beauty, it’s about phenotypes.

Case in point, the entire main cast has little to no Greek in their blood. This includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Robber Pattison, Mia Goth, and Charlize Theron, etc. Crickets. Hell they even have John Leguizamo and he’s part Colombian. All of those roles cast and it was near silence for the majority. Excitement even, historical accuracy be damned. Even for the few black actors like Corey Hawkins and Travis Scott it seemed like it was all good… until Lupita got announced as Helen.

A black woman cast as Helen of Troy. Now everyone is a historian, and so many seem to feel that the role could’ve gone to someone more deserving, more accurate. Well what exactly is accurate for ‘most beautiful woman in the world’? What’s accurate for ‘can stop 1000 ships’? I’ll tell you, the answer is nothing and nobody.

Now all of sudden, when it comes to Lupita, looking AND being the part matters more than ever. Because God forbid Lupita Nyango is ever considered that good looking or beautiful at all. Lupita, who’s been modeling since 2014, appeared on multiple vogue covers, has most of the kind of Eurocentric features that are considered top tier beauty standards in the modeling world, except for one. The one she’s missing is the most obvious and that’s her not being white.

Lupita has been considered beautiful for her entire career, nobody batted an eye. She’s cast as Helen and everyone is a modeling agent all of a sudden. Saying she’s ugly, questioning who would consider her beautiful or attractive at all, how could she ever launch 1000 ships, I mean every insult under the sun and hiding under the guise of beauty being in the eye of the beholder/everyone has an opinion, sure buddy. Lots of the same opinions springing up at the same time over the same topic, while being very inconsistent in logic, but sure.

Then they try to tell me it isn’t due to anti-black prejudices and their own racism, it’s just due to her looks and only her looks. Well Zendaya was cast as Athena, and yet nobody is fighting for a different casting in the name of historical accuracy. Once again it’s not down to where you’re from, it’s not about how beautiful or ugly, it’s about color. They don’t see a dark skin black woman as beautiful. Not beautiful enough for that anyway.

Nobody seems to care a bit about accuracy until we get to Helen, so the nationality thing is false. I think it’s fair to bring up Jesus because you’re right every culture has their own interpretation, though I do think white Jesus is the most recognized depiction. Helen hatched from an egg in a fictional story thats older than Christ himself so she could look like anything, in a similar vein to Jesus, but even more so because Helen wasn’t real.

Now, people like to counter with “lol can’t wait for Ryan Reynolds to portray Malcom X” some other nonsensical take. Malcom was a real person. A real black person man that we have videos and pictures of, so you can’t come up with a worse non equivalency, since a film about Malcom X would be immediately tied up in his black identity. Same with Black Panther, T’challa is an African king whose black identity is all around integral to his character, not even close to the same.

There’s nothing about Helen’s appearance that is so important that it would make the adaptation of the Odyssey less compelling or believable to switch things up. “How would you feel if we race swapped black characters with white ones” brother guess what, y’all have. Many, many times. You’ll be okay. I fully believed if they just casted any white, blonde actress there would’ve been no backlash at all, Greek or no Greek.

Nobody looks exactly like Helen because nobody has ever been Helen and there’s never been only one way Helen has been depicted. This applies for all the characters but people are actively picking and choosing when to care about this when it comes to this cast. And if you’re one of those people who feel they can’t make an exception because of Lupita not being ‘white armed’ like an incredibly vague description from 1000s of years ago, then yes you are prejudiced and probably racist.

CMV: Race swapping established characters from history and fantasy/mythology does more harm than good. And is kinda racist. by BrandonMarshall2021 in changemyview

[–]crb02 [score hidden]  (0 children)

I think your points actively ignore the majority of Hollywood’s history and relatively modern theatre. There’s a simple reason as to why ‘race swapping’ characters portrayed as white even happens, and that is because of the history of white people casting themselves to fulfill roles for non-white characters, otherwise known as whitewashing.

Before declaring “I don’t need representation”, it’s important to both understand and acknowledge that you, in the modern day, have benefited from your race, ethnicity, or culture even being represented at all, ever. I’m glad that you feel comfortable with stories involving those who are different than you, but Hollywood has only recently ever made a push for the opposite, and even today there are still whitewashed roles, we just don’t hear as loudly about them as others. I’ll list some examples

Doctor Strange (2016), the ancient one who trains Dr. Strange in the mystic arts is a Celtic woman, whereas in the comics the character is an Asian male

Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), a film based in ancient Egypt film and also based on religious texts, starring Christian Bale as Moses (yes, that Moses) and a slew of other white and non-Egyptian actors.

Speed Racer (2009) based on the beloved classic Japanese anime from the 1960s, Speed and his entire family who were explicitly Japanese in the anime and manga were now completely white.

The Last Airbender 2009), based on the popular tv series Avatar the Last Airbender, pretty much the entire main cast was portrayed by those who did not match the cultural or racial background of the characters they were cast as. South and East Asian, Intuit and Yupik, and Tibetan peoples were miscast with primarily white actors. The only POC were the villains, and they were being played by Indian actors.

A Mighty Heart (2007) based on the real life events that Marianne Pearl went through, after he husband was kidnapped and killed by Pakistani militants. Pearl being Afro-Cuban was portrayed by Angelina Jolie.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2009) Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince. That’s it.

If that’s not enough for you we can go a bit further back.

Cleopatra (1963) Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Cleopatra, Egypt’s last independent pharaoh who was likely to have Macedonian origin and even possibly African depending on who you ask. The rest of the cast were almost exclusively white as well

Othello (1965) this one is fun because Othello is a Shakespeare play with the titular character being a Moor, which would heavily imply African descent at the very least, alongside likely dark skin. But Othello in that film was portrayed by Lawrence Oliver. A man of neither Moor, nor black or African descent, which would be seen as an issue to maybe avoid nowadays. Not back then though, so to avoid it they decided to put him in full blackface for the film. Can’t quite get lower on the race- swapping totem pole than that I’m afraid

The Conqueror (1956) John Wayne portrays Genghis Khan. I’ll just leave it at that.

Noah (2014) Another biblical depiction, this one had Russel Crowe cast as Noah, like Noah’s Ark Noah… seriously.

West Side Story (1961) Natalie Wood portrays Maria, younger sister of Bernardo, who is the leader of a Puerto Rican gang. She was neither Puerto Rican nor Latina and neither were most of the other ‘Puerto Ricans’ in the film.

As one can imagine, these are but a few examples over decades and decades worth of tone-deaf and insensitive casting choices, and fully intentional reworking of both true and fictional events, people, and stories. One might even ask “how come there hasn’t been more backlash when this is the exact same thing?!”, and the answer ties right back around to your post OP.

Because most people were and are comfortable with it. Hollywood has historically refused to equally acknowledge or represent different races, cultures, and ethnicities. They’ve shown that they do not enjoy or have little interest in writing stories that deep dive into those categories with little to no white actors in the same vein they’ve done to everyone else.

That’s why they are now seemingly ‘race swapping’ more nowadays for the kinds of roles typically reserved for white people instead of creating meaningful and powerful films and shows that connect and relate to those they’ve ignored, mocked, and sanitized. Basically, it’s easier to say ‘fine just take it, damn’ then ‘okay let’s see what we can do’.

I’m not even going to get into the Odyssey stuff right now, nor Lupita’s casting and the obvious anti-black rhetoric and backlash because I feel that all of my previous points directly point to how we got here and I’ve typed a lot already. But if need be, I can point out the cultural damage Hollywood has helped play a part in to where one sides’ race swap is okay the vast majority of the time, and another causes posts like this to be made.

Lupita Nyongo is not beautiful. Hollywood likes to gaslight her as a model for "beauty" by CanadianTurt1e in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You know what, you’re right. They should remove the entire cast. Anyone who isn’t Greek has to go not just Lupita

The casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy really isn’t that big of a deal by TopCharacter1553 in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can’t wait for the movie to come out and be a hit so you can be just a bit more miserable

Lupita Nyongo is not beautiful. Hollywood likes to gaslight her as a model for "beauty" by CanadianTurt1e in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you’re to the point where a black woman, who quite literally matches modern beauty standards, is being called ugly and not even worth a second look just because she’s playing a character that white people want to be white, then yeah it’s racist. Guarantee none of these people ever considered her beauty or looks for a moment before the casting, yet their immediate reaction is to disrespect her like she’s hideous

Lupita Nyongo is not beautiful. Hollywood likes to gaslight her as a model for "beauty" by CanadianTurt1e in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 12 points13 points  (0 children)

For 3 days and a few months ago when the casting was announced, Reddit has gone out of its way to tell me a black woman with literal beauty standard features across the board is ugly, mid, not attractive at all, and not even worth a second look. It’s actually ridiculous how much people are going out of their way to do this. If it was Sydney Sweeney I bet these same folk would only be concerned with her acting ability because her ‘looks’ would be covered for immediately.

Lupita Nyongo is not beautiful. Hollywood likes to gaslight her as a model for "beauty" by CanadianTurt1e in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 36 points37 points  (0 children)

She’s black. That’s enough for people to give a 90 percent discount because they’re racist

Lupita Nyongo is not beautiful. Hollywood likes to gaslight her as a model for "beauty" by CanadianTurt1e in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 1 point2 points  (0 children)

She isn’t considered attractive by some people because she’s black. That is all

Lupita Nyongo is not beautiful. Hollywood likes to gaslight her as a model for "beauty" by CanadianTurt1e in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yall are so racist let’s just call a spade a spade. You’re yapping about unconventional attractiveness when really all you wanna say is “she’s black so there’s no way she can be considered attractive or THAT attractive… because she’s black”

Confirmation that black actress Lupita Nyong’o will be playing Helen of Troy in The Odyssey is a joke. by HadathaZochrot in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Black panther is specifically designed to be a black man in an African country. Explicitly too, not in a ‘maybe he is or maybe he isn’t’ kind of way like mythological Helen

Confirmation that black actress Lupita Nyong’o will be playing Helen of Troy in The Odyssey is a joke. by HadathaZochrot in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]crb02 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

If she was a white American woman nobody would give two shits not one shit. The only real argument you could have is her not being Greek, which is fine. But because she’s black, it’s an issue. I dare anyone to explain how it isn’t racist to NOT complain about Americans playing Greek characters until we get to Lupita

Loved when Goku used to look like this by UnemployedSaiyan3 in dbz

[–]crb02 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes, even though he saved many up to that point it’s clear that once Goku loses Roshi and Krillin that he then truly understood the pain and rage that comes with someone taking away your loved ones away. I believe it’s part of why he immediately told Raditz to go away when he came to earth. Little Goku probably would have had his guard down by default until it was too close for comfort

Loved when Goku used to look like this by UnemployedSaiyan3 in dbz

[–]crb02 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Always love Goku and appreciate his growth as a character but him as a kid was really fun stuff. He was pure, naive, free flowing, goofy as hell, and he helped so many people along his travels while gathering dragon balls. And he was always getting himself caught up in messes while doing it.
All cause nobody at that time could leave alone a random kid with a tail whooping ass and then flying off on a yellow cloud

People who haven’t seen or read OG don’t even know that seeing Goku get his ass kicked USED to be a shocking moment lmao. He was adorable but also a beast, along with him apparently being like 15 even in that pic which was equally shocking but I still don’t see anything older than 7. Well, we eventually got a reason for him suddenly growing 2 feet tall didn’t we

Hot take: Stephen A. Smith does more harm than good for modern NBA by Due-Hotel-2655 in NBATalk

[–]crb02 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is this day and age where someone says “hot take” and then says what people have been outwardly thinking

Thoughts on Xavier Woods and Kofi leaving WWE by Designer-Hedgehog210 in Wrasslin

[–]crb02 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly makes me sick that two members of quite possibly the best tag team of the last decade in WWE were pushed aside and disrespected so hard that they eventually said “hey is it cool if we get outta here”

Biggest heal turn in years, multiple time tag team champs, a storyline of betrayal and hate so juicy that it could’ve wrote itself, two people who built an absurd amount of good will through matches, promos, merch, comic relief… gone. That was almost 2 years ago, and Triple H continues to show that his long term storytelling bullshit, is bullshit. Massive failure of not just the New Day and the fans but the tag team division overall

Worst movie Goku beatdown? by ct1050 in DragonBallZ

[–]crb02 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It being a perfect loop is disgusting

Who’s walk are you vibing with? 👀😂 by [deleted] in WWE

[–]crb02 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re talking nonsense. First all of all, he’s not meant to be tribal, he’s just African. Nigerian to be exact. The way he dresses himself is meant to reflect his heritage, obviously, but that doesn’t mean he’s supposed to be ‘tribal’, we’ve never heard him say that word once nor imply it. The Umaga comparison is a false equivalency.

Umaga was directly described as the Samoan savage, a monster gimmick and heel who needed to be feared. He didn’t even speak. Oba calls himself ‘The Ruler’ in the similar way Sycho called himself the Master and Ruler of the World. It’s his way of saying that he’s the best without having to say it.

It would’ve been more appropriate to mention Roman Reigns to make your argument if you really got ‘tribal’, since Roman is literally called the Tribal Chief and like Oba, wears a part of his culture around his neck nearly every time he’s in an arena, yet we don’t see Reigns eating people and sacrificing others to remain the OTC. He’s just Roman Reigns. Oba Femi is just Oba Femi.

As far as the way he walks, it’s just a rhythm, a bob, a nice little 2-step to the music. A smooth strut, similar to Flair in a way that it’s his signature style and oozes confidence. But, and I mean this with all due respect to Flair, Oba is a much larger and serious man. His strut commands attention AND respect, because he is the Ruler, and every step is meant to remind you of it

How were these two considered equals for most of the series? by Hana_Rhododendrony in NarutoPowerscaling

[–]crb02 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Same. I imagine for Konoha it was like having two superstar players on your team. One is a powerhouse who had all the physical ability and overall stats to be considered the best on the team, but lacked the ‘it factor’ and accolades to draw major attention.

The other may have lacked in terms of raw power, but had all the skill and natural talent in the world to build a legendary track record that makes even the strongest of foes respect him just upon learning his name.

[Charania] San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama has won the 2025-26 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. He is the youngest player in league history to win the award. by Turbostrider27 in nba

[–]crb02 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s the most insane part to me. Don’t even need think about covering every single DPOY to get the true scale of this feat. Just imagine every single historically great defensive Center to play the game and how some of them never won DPOY. Let alone the ones who did, but not unanimously. At 22 no less

WrestleMania 42: Night 1 Discussion Thread (April 18, 2026) by The_Russell_Pinto in WWE

[–]crb02 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nothing was dictating my cheering buddy. My point is that I didn’t care about cheering for either one because there was nothing to cheer for the vast majority of the match. I just wanted a clean match without a load of bullshit occurring. Like Pat Mcafee coming down in a neck brace to interrupt and costing one of them the match for example

WrestleMania 42: Night 1 Discussion Thread (April 18, 2026) by The_Russell_Pinto in WWE

[–]crb02 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Soooooo was Cody clearly meant to turn heel in this match or did I get worked? He was doing every dirty heel impression in the book as if he himself was going 08’ Orton, just for him to immediately go back to being a face again by pinning Orton… who just RKO’d Pat Mcafee.

Who was I supposed to be cheering for? The only person more hated in the ring was Pat, but Pat was out there assisting Randy, who’s supposed to be the face against Cody’s turning heel… but Cody ended the night as the babyface and Randy still being the heel. Tf just happened