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Given that people tend to be somewhat looks-blind across race, my personal standard for black actresses is "if I were swiping on Tinder in Cape Town or Dar or Dakar, would she stand out", and Lupita Nyong'o fails that bar. But she fails it in a very particular way - she's a white liberal's idea of an Attractive But Strong (But Not Too Attractive) black woman. A couple decades ago and Hollywood would have dolled her up in a perfectly spherical afro.
Personally, I suspect she was cast because some extremely canny publicist identified her as ideal to cause controversy to drive marketing metrics, but most people aren't ready for the level of conspiracy theorizing you need to actually understand Hollywood (Mulholland Drive was a documentary).
Agreed she should not have been cast as Helen and it probably was deliberate choice to rouse up publicity via outrage, but she's not the ugliest woman I've ever seen. She's averagely attractive, and given proper hair, makeup and costuming, I wouldn't object at all to seeing her cast as Calypso, for instance.
Would you have preferred that black actress with Bette Davis eyes I keep seeing used in video games?
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This is what really annoys me about the Odyssey casting. It's so clearly deliberate outrage bait. It's a classic bully tactic: make a big deal about some minor controversial issue, then belittle anyone who responds by asking why they're so weirdly invested in this little thing no one cares about, trusting that their superior social status will make everyone forget they're the ones who started it. I'd almost respect Nolan more if he had given Lupita or Elliot Page bigger roles, because that would indicate that he's just really passionate about a very particular vision for his film. The fact they're basically throwaway characters with like 11 minutes of screentime between them makes me think the controversy was the whole point.
Maybe you're right, or maybe the point was making the film eligible for Best Picture.
A real baller move would have been to make the biggest film of the year and then watch everyone's confusion when they realise it isn't eligible.
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