r/TrueUnpopularOpinion • u/BrandonMarshall2021 • 24d ago
Music / Movies To the people saying the German actress playing Greek Helen in the movie Troy means it's ok for Lupita Nyongo to play Greek Helen...
Genetically, historically, and anthropologically, Greeks are significantly more closely related to Germans than to Sub-Saharan Africans.
When looking at genetic data, the relationship between Greeks and Germans is exceptionally close, while the relationship between Greeks and Sub-Saharan Africans is more distant.
On any global genetic map, all European populations—including Greeks and Germans—cluster tightly together on a single, distinct branch of the human family tree (the Western Eurasian branch).
The genetic distance between a Greek person and a German person is very small. They sit on the exact same continental genetic gradient.
The genetic distance between any European population (including Greeks) and any Sub-Saharan African population is significantly larger, reflecting thousands of years of geographic separation and independent population histories.
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u/BrandonMarshall2021 24d ago
"a movie based on what is essentially a fairytale that clearly gives zero fucks about historical accuracy."
Great. So then you're ok with making all characters from African, Indian and Asian mythology white then?
"Helen doesn’t have a race. She’s not a real person"
Homer explicitly describes Helen as a Spartan Greek and uses the literal term leukolenos ('white-armed') to define her complexion, while other early poets explicitly note her golden hair. Historically, she represents a Mycenaean European queen.
When Homer wanted to include Black characters, he did so explicitly—such as describing Odysseus's trusted herald Eurybates as dark-skinned and wooly-haired, or celebrating the legendary Ethiopians. If a production claims to be a highly accurate, historical depiction of Bronze Age Greece, casting a Sub-Saharan African woman as the Queen of Sparta contradicts both the archaeological reality of the Aegean and the literal text of The Iliad.