The New 'Odyssey' Movie Is Sparking a Right-Wing Backlash. This Female Scholar Knows It Well

The New Movie Is Sparking a Right-Wing Backlash. Emily Wilson's 2017 translation of Homer's epic--the first by a woman--was called a woke "abomination" by online reactionaries. Christopher Nolan's film is facing similar critiques. Who'd have thought Helen of Troy would cause so much trouble? Earlier this year, certain quarters of the internet spun out at news that Kenyan-Mexican Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o was rumored to appear as the impossibly beautiful Spartan noble Helen--whose face, it was later written, launched a thousand ships--in Christopher Nolan's forthcoming Hollywood Homeric epic, The Odyssey The confirmation of her casting in May kicked off another wave of conniption fits.