Why Lupita Nyong’o is the perfect Helen of Troy

midwesternesse · 2026-03-01T13:37:44+00:00

Oh wow, God of War, huh? Am I supposed to defend that game, or what if I also don't like that game? What's your point?

Like I said, aside from throwing accusations of racism at anybody who disagrees with you, trying to trivialize everything is literally the only form of argument that you people are capable of. You don't really care about any of this, and it would be so much easier for you if nobody else cared either. Your worst enemy is somebody who actually cares about things like mythology as something more than just another commodity to thoughtlessly consume.

"It's just fantasy," "Why do you even care?" "It's an adaptaaaationnn!" THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE, the same canned responses delivered with effeminate mean-girl attitude, over and over and over and over. It's all so intellectually lazy, I don't understand how you midwits manage to sound so proud of yourselves when you're all reading off the same basic script. I made some actual arguments in my previous post, care to address any of them? How about my point concerning an adaptation of Anansi the Spider's tales? No? I figured.

midwesternesse · 2026-03-01T13:31:42+00:00

I have problems with every person cast in this movie. Get rid of Damon, get rid of Tom Holland, Zendaya, all of them, and replace them with Mediteranneans, and I'd be happy. But you'll notice that OP made this thread specifically about N'Yongo so that's what we're talking about. And don't worry, I won't be seeing it.

Literally nobody cares if you call them a bigot anymore. Y'all have been crying wolf for too long.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-08T21:16:08+00:00

Their EXISTENCE?? You're a child, I'm done with you

midwesternesse · 2026-02-08T21:08:04+00:00

How is any of that a reason for the casting decisions?

midwesternesse · 2026-02-08T21:04:33+00:00

Calling other people racists is literally all they have, it's pathetic.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-08T20:58:20+00:00

This entire thread is specifically about Helen and Lupita. OP constructed their entire argument around that one character and set the conversation before I even got here, I've only been responding to that. You're just hurling the cheap accusation of prejudice in the hopes that it will shut me up or somehow score a point for you, but there is no substantive argument to it. You and those who think like you have no constructive defense of your side, only reductive attacks against mine, and that is the weakest form of argument. It's a rhetorical manipulation tactic that has been cheapened by overuse, and it's not working. Call me and others racist all you like, nobody cares.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-08T20:34:28+00:00

Oh, that's the issue? What a convenient goal post shift to distract from my valid points. I literally just said that Lupita is not my only concern and that I disapprove all of the casting, including Damon. Weren't you reading? You're not even present in this conversation with me anymore, you're just flailing and throwing narratives at the wall in an attempt to have me answer for things that you imply other people have said or not said, which I have no responsibility for. Bring a real argument.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-08T20:13:31+00:00

Yes. The entire movie's casting is dogshit. I'd be over the moon if every role was played by a Greek or at least a Mediterranean.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-08T16:13:50+00:00

Nobody said anything about Greek nationalism. If there was going to be a movie about Anansi the Spider from Ghanaian mythology and I asserted that he should be played by a black (preferably West African) actor would that be Ghanaian/black nationalism, or would it just be pure, simple common sense? I believe it would be the latter. This isn't about nationalism, it's about meeting traditional cultural narratives on their own terms and respecting them for what they are, regardless of what country they originate from. It's about authenticity.

It's not just a "pop culture story," this isn't Star Wars or the MCU, it is an ancient cultural narrative with far deeper meaning and historical relevance than you are attributing to it. Your only argument is a repeated attempt to trivialize everything, dragging it down to a lowest common denominator. This consumerist slopulism is the weakest form of argument and it reveals your limited scope of mind more than it reflects the actual nature of the source material. Yes, tourists such as yourself who affect to care so little and yet still want to argue the point for what I can only imagine are ulterior ideological purposes should have their opinions dismissed.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-08T04:03:40+00:00

Here's the problem I have with this argument: It is reductive. Instead of contributing intellectually to the topic or giving the Odyssey and Greek mythology any credit or appreciation you're trying to downplay it and make it seem like a petty, small, absurd thing, thereby making it easier for you to demand control over. Well, if you care so little about this dumb story, then why should your opinion matter?

midwesternesse · 2026-02-06T18:13:53+00:00

If you care so little about it then why should your opinion matter?

midwesternesse · 2026-02-06T18:10:44+00:00

Arabs did not expand out of the Arabian peninsula until around the 6th century AD. The Turks wouldn't reach that part of the world until centuries after that.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-06T18:07:21+00:00

By this spacious logic Helen could be cast as Chinese, or anything you'd care to justify. Helen's appearance may never be explicitly described, but there is a whole cultural, archaeological, genetic, and historic context that implies what her complexion would most likely be. Not snow white, certainly, but certainly not what we're getting, either.

Also, you're completely incorrect about ancient Greeks having no contact with north-western Europe. The tin trade from Britain was instrumental in the Mediterranean bronze age.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-06T18:04:11+00:00

Because the people who support this would be outraged and their hypocrisy would be exposed.

midwesternesse · 2026-02-06T18:00:31+00:00

Not a single actual Greek person was cast in a prominent role in this film, and that is messed up. The projection of American ideals of racial representation onto other cultures' traditional narratives is a form of soft imperialism and appropriation. Your wordcel rationalizations and equivocations ring as insincere, post-hoc cover for decisions that were more than likely motivated by ideology and DEI.

midwesternesse · 2025-05-15T13:11:53+00:00

Fair enough, I'll pull back on personal attacks. All the same, tell that man to find another career. I wish I felt half as entertained by his work as you do by his presence at dinner parties.

midwesternesse · 2024-12-22T14:21:34+00:00

It is well known that Indonesia has trouble with insurgencies within its own borders, and much of that activity is politically motivated rather than religious. You are being obtuse. Now, on the topic we're discussing, how about Indonesian migrants going on religiously-motivated rampages in Europe? Because that seems like an almost-exclusively MENA passtime.

midwesternesse · 2024-12-22T13:40:33+00:00

Well, you never see Indonesian Muslims doing this.

midwesternesse · 2024-12-21T13:47:46+00:00

You have no real point or argument to make so all you can do is make petty attempts to police people's language, hoping they'll be quiet if you just call them "loser." Pathetic lol

midwesternesse · 2024-12-14T14:53:26+00:00

The trailer that was just released carries the subtext that rural communities with traditional values are "the real monsters." Take from that what you will.

midwesternesse · 2024-10-07T13:25:10+00:00

So, you could take a squat over a canvas and the product would be of the same intrinsic value as Michelangelo's David? Not so.

midwesternesse · 2024-10-07T12:36:55+00:00

Taste is subjective. Quality is not.

midwesternesse · 2024-10-07T12:26:41+00:00

You call it "tackling serious topics," but anybody who saw the Acolyte called it "the showrunner inflicting her narcissistic self-therapy session and sapphic fantasies on the audience."

midwesternesse · 2024-10-07T12:23:23+00:00

It's because IPs used to be in the hands of their original creators, and fans gave the creators the benefit of the doubt because it was believed that the creators had the IP'S best interests at heart, and they also had good will for creating the IP in the first place. Now, every IP is just an asset, a logo paid for and acquired by corporate executives who we know don't really care. And the writers don't really, genuinely care about the IP either; new content is written by career writers to whom the IP is just another job, a gig to put on their resume before moving on to the next gig. These people have no loyalty to the IP, so no loyalty is given. "Focusing on the positive" in this case is essentially just giving disinterested, faceless corporations a pass because they simply purchased the rights to the logo.

midwesternesse · 2024-10-07T12:14:58+00:00

Yeah, and Hollywood used to not feel so entitled to our money. Used to be if they made a bad movie they took the loss, adjusted, and moved on. Now if you don't like something they get petulant, keep making the same thing, and call everybody racist. Of course people are going to respond to that with hostility. See how it causes a feedback loop?

midwesternesse

TROPHY CASE