LindyMan Profile picture
May 16 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Hollywood and TV never put Greeks into their movies or shows on Greek epics (or Roman too). That's how it has been since the movie industry started. I'm not even talking about the stars, even just background characters.

When it makes Japanese history films, it casts Japanese actors. When it makes Nordic epics, it casts Scandinavians. Medieval English or French stories usually get English or French actors. Native American films cast NA actors.

Even, Christopher Nolan himself has done a historical film on Dunkurque and cast British actors.

The reason is most people see Greece as medieval Europe with sandals. Medievalism.
Medievalism means the clothes look like 12th century france or uK. the actors look like french or english. The setting resembles some sort of village somewhere in western europe. Image
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With the Odyssey, Nolan is expanding Medievalism to include minority groups in the contemporary west. As the west changes in demographics, so do the Greek epics. But it never leaves the Medievalism domain Image
Medievalism is not just about clothes or how the actors look.

It also is about a certain people in a certain time. Northwest Europeans. They have their own culture

But their culture is not the same culture as Ancient Greece. It's different.

Odysseus is from the Ionian islands. If you want to know what he would have looked like, and the people in the entire poem looked like. You don't have to go far. Image
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Excalibur was a mythological story. So was the Northman. So was all the asian mythological films. All filled with actors from those cultures.

Only with Greek history and stories do they never cast anyone who is greek or even looks Greek

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More from @PaulSkallas

Jul 10
No one has given me a good enough answer for why Americans never got interested in Soccer. America is a sports obsessed nation. Soccer is a great sport.

So what why isn't popular?

Soccer is a lower-body sport, and America is an upper-body culture.

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/your-competi…
There's an upper body bias that runs throughout American culture that we can't recognize.

For the same reason people don't notice their own accents.

Every Popular American sport is built around the torso Image
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But it runs deeper than sports. Watch how Americans walk. They walk with heavy shoulder, lead with a chest, they take up space.

Other people tend to walk more with their core or sway with their hips. Take a look around if you're on vacation somewhere in another country. There's a lot of information in gait.Image
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Read 9 tweets
Jul 8
This is another flaw of representative democracy.

A whole Senate race can collapse into the personal drama of one man, even though the real question of government is supposed to be policy

Feminizes the electorate

Forces citizens to think like gossip columnists instead of law
Sometimes we forget. Democracy has two forms. We assume it only has one. That's because 98 percent of countries use only one form. It is not the original form though.

It is deeply flawed. Some would even say it is a broken model right now. Image
Representative Politics is broken.

The good news is we have an alternative.

Citizens can vote for the laws directly

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/mass-dissati…
Read 8 tweets
Jun 24
Is New York City a cult?

The goal for many people now is simply to live in a superstar city. Not do anything interesting there. Not to save money, not to own a home, or start a family. Being there is the achievement.

The city is not a means to an end.

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/the-cult-of-…
The truth is, cities are really nice now. The human capital there is top tier. They have morphed into adult playgrounds. They are fun places. NYC is much different than today than it was in the 60s/70s/80s.

Cities are Lindy, they outlast the nations they exist in. Image
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But the modern superstar city is changing. It is not the same. There are big historical trends happening now that are unprecedented.

1) Mass urbanization - for the first time in history the world is urban.

2) Mass migration - superstar cities are 30-60 percent foreign born, and not from the country itself but outside the country. Essentially becoming city-states that have more in common with each other than with the land mass it sits in

3) Global connectiveness - everyone wants to live in 3-4 cities because we are all connected. Both indians and german ministers want to live in NYCImage
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Read 6 tweets
Jun 12
Why are Americans known as easy to scam? Why do they get overcharged at restaurants, taxis and tourist traps around the world? Even by businesses at home. Or with FIFA and WC ticket prices.

Because being a sucker is less shameful than being a loser

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/on-getting-s…
French newspapers did an investigation in Paris and found out restaurants were scamming Americans with extra charges. Serving them different food than other french people.

This is somewhat surprising to many, as Paris is supposed to be safe. Image
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This is an observation from over a hundred years ago. Foreign writers saw Americans didnt mind being fooled.

But they're wrong Image
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Read 11 tweets
Apr 27
Remember the Lindy rule. Humans only talk to things that are alive

1) Other humans

2) Themselves

3) animals

4) Things embodied with spiritual significance (gravestones, holy places, prayer)

We could all just sit and talk to our computers now. We have the technology. But we don't. It feels weird. We sit and type in silence.

Many people have tried so far to create a talking device. all have failedImage
Remember the Lindy rule.

Humans only talk to things that are alive
1) Other humans
2) Themselves
3) animals
4) Things embodied with spiritual significance (gravestones, holy places, prayer) Image
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Read 4 tweets
Mar 30
America was built on the assumption of upward mobility. That expectation has shaped Americans' nature.

Now that downward mobility is becoming more common, the country lacks the cultural tools to absorb it.

It is producing new types of people.

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/downward-mob…
Take a second to reflect the optimistic nature inherent in American english Image
This bothers a lot of foreign people, like this Polish Director

Read 11 tweets

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