Myths don’t break when they change…. they survive
A while ago I made a short video on the paradox of oral composition, what it was and what it meant for how stories endure.
I hadn’t thought about it much but the recent announcement of Lupita Nyong’o playing Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, made me think of it once more. It is safe to say, people were upset with this casting choice. Another chapter in the ever-grinding culture war.
Apparently, the idea of a woman being so beautiful she could start a war and also being black, is a bridge some struggle to cross. Ironically, the casting choice has started a war of words, so Nyong’o is living up to her character!
But seriously, how could one not be upset by the choice! The casting choice for a fictional character in a fictional film, based on a mythic text written from an orally composed tale, handed down over a number of generations about a woman who was birthed from an egg laid by her human mother who had sex with Zeus while he was a swan – but no, her being black and not Greek is too far-fetched for me!
The sad thing about it is, it misses the point and beauty of what the orally composed tale achieved in its time. The story was flexible for this exact reason – to reflect the world you live in. The fundamentals of the plot remain fixed while the small details such as skin colour are inconsequential, redundant and therefore fluid. This allows the story to be told to a range of different people who then, (as the story is adapted to them) are able to view themselves within the story and connect with it more personally.
An incredibly simple yet masterful way to get value out of the same story across different communities, cultures, and countries. It is important in moments like this to remember that the moral weight of a story is rarely carried by a character’s skin colour, but by their choices and actions.
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