Elon Musk has turned Twitter into the global far-right social network, and he has once again demonstrated this with his reaction to the images from The Odyssey, the latest project by Christopher Nolan. Personally and positively responding to accounts that criticize the inclusion of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page as Achilles, this has sparked heated reactions outside of social media. Almost as much as them speaking perfect American English.
Inclusion is “forced representation”
The reason for these attacks is that both Musk and the people commenting believe that Nyong’o and Page are there only for “forced inclusion” and that they actually “do not fit the spirit of the work.” Based on the idea that Nyong’o, an African American woman, cannot be seen as the most beautiful woman in Greece, and Page, a trans man, cannot play a man at all.
This shift towards the far right and its more radical ideas is not new for the billionaire. Musk already said on January 22 that “whites are a rapidly dying minority,” echoing the arguments of the great replacement theory from the French far right that have been adopted in the US for some time. This adds to his systematic statements that whites are experiencing unprecedented discrimination globally compared to any other ethnic group.
Although this is just another example of Musk’s political drift and his platform, it is a demonstration of how no one is safe from it. Not even Christopher Nolan, a prestigious director safe from any political affiliation or interest, escapes controversy for doing something as normal as adding a black woman and a trans man to his casting.
