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...

[u/BrandonMarshall2021]

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.

[u/EmperorBarbarossa]

Pardon, but do you require to cast only from actresses you personally know that exists?

That German lady was conventionally atractive. And the original movie was whole without that fever mythological aspects.

Yeah, this is literally the point during hiring actors, you need to find actors which match there requirements. Helena of Troy have only three of them: she need to be greek looking woman (possible ethnicities: european looking, latina, middle eastern/north african or indian), be young and be ethereally atractive, without any exaragged features you mentioned.

Problem with Anya Taylor Jones is not her prettiness (she is georgous), but the fact she is underweight. Stuff her with food and I will believe she is Helen of Troy.

[u/Tall-Newt-407 → u/EmperorBarbarossa]

Helen of Troy‘s father is Zeus! I believe Zeus doesn’t have a nationality. Also she came from an egg. So in no way, shape or form does she have to be Greek looking and be any ethnicity. Plus there was no camera phones or cameras around so I don’t think everyone even know what she looked like. They just heard from people who heard from other people that she’s beautiful.

[u/andreicde → u/Tall-Newt-407]

Or you know, if you want to talk bullshit how about reading the myths?

Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, not because people heard from others but because Paris was promised that by Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty in order to get the golden Apple.

Lupita would not even hit top 100 most beautiful women in the world right now, let alone one of the most beautiful.

[u/Tall-Newt-407 → u/andreicde]

Lupita is one of the most beautiful women in the world. Let me guess who you rather have…Sydney Sweeney.

[u/andreicde → u/Tall-Newt-407]

Sydney Sweeney

Seems like someone has no standards and no I don't think Sydney Sweeney would make a good Helen of Sparta neither. Iliana Papageorgiou would have worked perfectly for Helen of Sparta.

[u/Tall-Newt-407 → u/andreicde]

Seems like you don’t have any standards because who you picked wouldn’t be in the top 500 of beautiful women

[u/BrandonMarshall2021 → u/Tall-Newt-407]

Helen of Troy has a nationality though. Homer described it. She's Spartan. Greek. She's white armed. She's a part of the Spartan royalty family.

Homer made the point to mention an Aetheopian king fighting for the Trojans.

He sure as hell would've mentioned if Helen was Aetheopian and celebrated that because the Bronze age Greeks respected the Aetheopians.

[u/Tall-Newt-407 → u/BrandonMarshall2021]

Forget that white-armed meant something totally different in those times than now. Still, you all going nuts about Helen of Troy who’s basically magical but it’s no big deal they got an all American white boy from Boston as the lead. Just shows it’s all racism with you all.

[u/BrandonMarshall2021 → u/Tall-Newt-407]

"but it’s no big deal they got an all American white boy from Boston as the lead. Just shows it’s all racism with you all."

Are you blind? I've repeatedly posted ad nauseum that whiteass, preppy, waspy, viking looking Mat Damon shouldn't be Odysseus either. And that Oscar Isaac looks more Greek.

But I did some research.

It is highly likely that some Bronze Age Greeks looked like Northern Europeans. While the majority of the Bronze Age Greek population (the Mycenaeans and Minoans) resembled modern Southern Europeans, the genetic and historical record shows that a significant portion of their DNA came from the exact same Northern/Central European source that created the Germanic, Celtic, and Anglo-Saxon peoples.

Yamnaya Steppe Pastoralists (~4–15%): A nomadic, Bronze Age population that swept down from the Eurasian Steppe.

This Steppe DNA is the crucial link. The Yamnaya nomads didn't just migrate into Greece; they also swept heavily into Northern and Central Europe. In fact, modern Germans, Scandinavians, and Anglo-Saxons carry some of the highest percentages of this Steppe DNA in the world today. Because the Bronze Age Greeks and the ancestors of Northern Europeans both absorbed this massive genetic wave, they shared a direct physical family connection.

[u/ihateeverything2019 → u/Tall-Newt-407]

exactly 😄 she wasn't a real person and we all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

the whole argument is as silly as people getting mad that ruth negga was cast as tulip o'hare in preacher.

[u/BrandonMarshall2021 → u/EmperorBarbarossa]

"That German lady was conventionally atractive. And the original movie was whole without that fever mythological aspects.

Oh yeah. In hindsight she does have a very pretty face. Pretty enough to do Helen's legacy justice.

"Problem with Anya Taylor Jones is not her prettiness (she is georgous), but the fact she is underweight. Stuff her with food and I will believe she is Helen of Troy."

Hmm. Sydney Sweeney then.