The Black Achilles Controversy - EXPLAINED | Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy

The Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages

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4y ago 22:32

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In this episode Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy talks about the Netflix mini series titled "Troy: Fall of a City." The show retells the mythical story of the 10 year siege of Troy, which occurred in the 12 or 13th century BC.

However though a mere spin on historical fiction and mythology the show drew major controversy and backlash due to it casting black actors and actresses as major figures in the story line from Zeus to Achilles.

In this talk Dr. Kennedy goes through the various viewpoints that criticized the show and accused BBC of "Blackwashing" and "Whitewashing" ancient history or more correctly ancient Myths.....

From racists to Albanian nationalists we see a simple prejudiced become more complex as we explore the argument of what is and what was "Greek," the peculiar attempt to frame Achilles as not only a real person but as the foundation of particular cultures and etc.

We also sympathize with many Greeks who feel that their myths and stories are being ripped away and whitewashed by British actors who represent an Empire of the past with a long history of taking the history of others and representing it in a way that better suits the colonizer.

Additional reading ARCHIVE FOR BLACK ACHILLES.

http://pages.vassar.edu/pharos/black-achilles/

Support Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy and her awesome work at all of these great sites!

Academia: https://denison.academia.edu/RebeccaKennedy

Blog: https://rfkclassics.blogspot.com/

Buy her books: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B0024JIKS4

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kataplexis

Why I teach about race and ethnicity in the classical world (article.)

https://eidolon.pub/why-i-teach-about-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-classical-world-ade379722170

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