One of the annoying things about the present day is that so many “influencers” and “journalists” are completely clueless, and our “academic experts” know less about history and literature than an 80s high school student.
The brouhaha over The Odyssey is a perfect example of this. The usual mid-wit Hollywood shills are praising the oddball cast for its diversity while pretending that there’s something new or unprecedented about it.
- “Oh look! Ellen Page is playing a dude! How innovative!”
- “Wow, a black Helen of Troy! Super-transgressive! Expectations subverted!”
- What these drooling idiots don’t understand is that all of this has been done before and done better.
Breaking News from the 80s!
Some years ago I did a write up on The Year of Living Dangerously, an outstanding film from 1983 starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt. Gibson played an Australian journalist, Weaver played an English embassy staffer and Hunt played a Chinese man.
Here’s the thing: they were all great, but Hunt was spectacular. Talk about inhabiting a role. There’s a reason why it’s called acting. Once upon a time, part of the craft of acting was pushing into new and challenging roles. If I hadn’t told you that Billy Kwan was a chick, you’d never guess. I certainly didn’t, only learning about it afterwards. She was that good.
There are tons of other examples, such as Ben Kingsley playing the titular Gandhi, and of course Sir Alec Guinness playing both an Arab sheik and an Indian doctor. Check out Kind Hearts and Coronets where Guinness plays eight different characters.
The idea of stretching for a role even became its own story. In 1982’s Tootsie, Dustin Hoffman famously played an unemployed actor who resorts to impersonating a woman to get a job. It works. He ends up playing a guy playing a girl playing another girl.
Julie Andrews did a similar thing that same year in Victor/Victoria, playing an out of work actress who finds a gig as a female impersonator. A woman plays a man who is playing a woman. Tropic Thunder eat your heart out.
The key point about all these films was that they were good. I’m no fan of Hoffman, but Tootsie is hilarious, and Bill Murray in particular stands out.
These films are also more than 40 years old, so while the Wokes may think they are being subversive, it’s just yet another example of recycled slop.
Diversity Has to Actually Work
The claim that criticism about Lupita Nyong’o playing Helen of Troy is racist is also stupid. The issue isn’t casting a black woman, it’s using a mid one. There are tons of smoking hot women of color for Christopher Nolan to choose from, so why didn’t he. The whole enterprise is about scoring cheap diversity points, not ruthlessly finding a cast that transcends ethnic lines.
Again, there are countless revisionist takes on classical literature. Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Julia comes to mind. Taking a classic and moving its setting is very much a thing, but it has to be done well.
Literally no cultured person cares about that sort of thing so long as it is done well. What people hate is unwatchable crap being praised to the heavens because it checks DEI boxes.
That being said, it is a bit jarring to see a Greek-free production of The Odyssey at the same time that Hollywood is praising the live-action Moana for its purely Polynesian cast. For the last 20 years Hollywood has actively discriminated against whites in costume dramas and period pieces and it absolutely needs to be called out.
Maybe it makes some people feel “seen” but it wrecks the sense of history and, in a setting like Middle Earth, actively destroys the fantasy element because pre-industrial communities were ethnically homogeneous rather than looking like the staff of a Los Angeles Starbucks.
Punitive Wokism’s Last Stand?
Hollywood has had a dismal year so far, with established franchises and famous directors getting their lunch money stolen by upstarts and indie productions. Steven Spielberg pretty much wrecked his reputation with Disclosure Day and Nolan may well do the same.
People want quality entertainment and it has never been easier for new creators to bypass the traditional gatekeepers and find an audience. Nolan’s casting decisions are an insult, particularly the use of Ellen Page as a Greek warrior. In all of the examples from the 80s, the actor fit the role perfectly. Page, by contrast, does not carry herself as a male, nor move that way. Nolan seems more interested in making a statement than making something convincing.
Cross-dressing can highlight and blur differences between the sexes. The key element is studying the real thing, learning the subtle mannerisms and often exaggerating them. That is what makes it work. Or an actor can disappear into the role completely, convincing the audience without effort. People of a certain age will remember The Crying Game. That film was known for its twist, but it held up because the performances were strong.
Nowadays, casting decisions seem to be about “owning the chuds,” which is ironic because many of those same critics have a deeper knowledge of film than the producers and their defenders.
Here’s hoping that another financial bloodbath at the box office finally sends this kind of filmmaking where it belongs.
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English (US) · 