The ‘invisible Greeks’: Hollywood, the Odyssey, and the question of cultural identity

It has been three years since I wrote a media article criticising Netflix's Cleopatra for what I saw as another example of woke Hollywood distorting Graeco-Egyptian history. The controversy centred on the "race-swapping" of Cleopatra by casting the British actress Adele James, who is of African descent, in the role. For many critics, including myself, the issue was not "race" itself but historical inaccuracies and disrespect for Graeco-Egyptian history. Once again, Hollywood has turned to the ancient Greeks, and once again it has sparked controversy. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has received widespread criticism over its casting choices and its reinterpretation of one of the greatest works of Greek literature.

The controversy surrounding the new Odyssey is not simply about casting and fulfilling DEI agendas. It reflects a much deeper cultural problem: the growing separation of ancient civilisations from the people and traditions that produced them. Hollywood has repeatedly transformed Greek mythology into a global product while removing Greek cultural identity from the very stories that made Greece famous. Ancient Greek civilisation is celebrated, consumed, and monetised; its gods, heroes, and temples are glorified, but what of modern Greeks? Do they actually exist on their own terms? Well, Greek presence is optional at best. My argument is that the Western mind has long celebrated ancient Greece while distancing modern Greeks from their own civilisational inheritance. One may ask why. The answer is complex.

I would argue that the modern roots of this disconnect can be traced to the establishment of the modern Greek state in 1832. Many Western European Philhellenes idealised ancient Greece while often viewing contemporary Greeks as having fallen short of that classical image. The Western Europeans even gave the Greeks the Bavarian prince Otto as Greece's first king. In effect, the Europeans attempted to remodel the new Greek state to resemble other European nations while embodying classical antiquity-an impossible project.

The Nazis also promoted their own kind of disjuncture between the ancient and modern Greeks. On the one hand, the Nazis sought to emulate the ancient Greek aesthetic ideals of the human body in their monumental 'Nazi art', while claiming that modern Greeks were no longer the authentic descendants of the ancient Hellenes because of alleged racial mixing. It should be remembered that Greece lost an estimated 7–8% of its population during the Second World War as a result of occupation, famine, reprisals, and military action by the Axis powers.

Fast forward to 2025. When Greeks, whose country provided the locations for the film's production and contributed financial support, are nevertheless absent from the principal cast or their concerns are simply disregarded, this operates within what I call the Invisible Greek Syndrome. The Invisible Greek Syndrome extends beyond Hollywood itself. On 15 July 2026, the YouTube programme Piers Morgan Uncensored featured a five-person panel discussing Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, including the noted American historian Victor Davis Hanson. Yet not a single Greek was invited to contribute to the discussion.

This raises an uncomfortable question: why is it acceptable to retell Greek stories without Greeks, while other cultures are expected to maintain ownership and visibility over their historical narratives? The usual explanation is economics. Hollywood argues that international audiences want globally recognised actors in order to guarantee commercial success, even at the expense of historical authenticity. However, this assumes that Greek identity is somehow less valuable or less important than other cultural identities.

An equally disturbing issue paralleling the Invisible Greek Syndrome is how ancient Greece has become a target for 'woke' academics and Afrocentrists over the last few decades. The achievements of Greek philosophy, science, democracy, literature, and art form the foundation of much of the Western intellectual tradition. This has made Greek ideas globally visible and, in turn, the target of intellectual attacks aimed at diminishing Greek contributions. For instance, the attempt by Afrocentrist revisionists to undermine Aristotle by alleging that he plagiarised his ideas from the Egyptians is a case in point. According to George G. M. James's 1954 book Stolen Legacy, Alexander the Great sent philosophical and scientific texts from Egypt to his former teacher Aristotle, who allegedly built much of his philosophy upon them without ever acknowledging their Egyptian source. I would argue that the targeting of ancient Greek achievements fits squarely within the Invisible Greek Syndrome. The aim is simple: diminish the scope of Greek influence, question its originality, and make its contribution to world civilisation appear less significant.

Of course, Greek civilisation should not be placed beyond criticism. No culture is perfect. But criticism is different from erasure. Questioning Aristotle, Plato, or Homer is part of intellectual life; removing their cultural context is something different.

Greeks have not disappeared. They are not museum pieces. They are a living people connected to one of humanity's oldest continuous cultural traditions. The world has no problem celebrating ancient Greece. It is modern Greeks who continue to be treated as optional. The new Odyssey film is the latest example.