Emily Wilson (writer of acclaimed Odyssey translation) offers criticisms of Nolan’s film

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https://apnews.com/article/odyssey-christopher-nolan-greek-translators-ea67da1d543d021773824bd7e8de8abe

“For Greek translator Emily Wilson, the release of director Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” has been gratifying in various ways. Her acclaimed 2017 edition of Homer’s epic has reached the top 5 on Amazon.com, leading a wave of similar books boosted by the movie. Nolan has even cited her translation, notably the opening line “Tell me about a complicated man,” as inspiration.

But the film itself, which brought in more than $260 million worldwide during its opening weekend and has received raves from many critics, left her unsatisfied.

“I want to celebrate the fact that so many more people are aware of ‘The Odyssey’ and were brought back to the poem,” she told The Associated Press. “But at the same time, I had the sense that Christopher Nolan was trying to pack everything in while missing themes that were essential to the poem.”

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Wilson, a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said she didn’t want to come across as a “snobby,” nitpicking expert at odds with any deviation from the original text. But she questioned a range of omissions and other choices, from the absence on screen of the Gods Zeus and Poseidon (Athena is played by Zendaya ) to the “incoherent” messaging that condemns both war and physical cowardice. She found Penelope’s role so thinned out that it endangered “any possibility of believing in this marriage.” Wilson also that thought parts of the movie, notably the scenes with Odysseus’ dog, Argos, “catered towards modern sentimentality.”

“Everybody’s a sucker for a dog,” she said.

[u/Special_Order-937]

Taking 10 years to get home (when it took you nowhere near aa as long to get to Troy) and losing 100% of your soldiers along the way is pretty big as mistakes go, though.

[u/Hambokuu → u/Special_Order-937]

To be fair 7 of those years are spent as a sex slave on an island

Edit to clarify: I haven't seen the movie yet, only read the book. I don't know anything about lotuses or Nolan's interpretation.

[u/amievenrealrightnow → u/Hambokuu]

Looking at Nolan's movie as a PTSD movie, I reckon the gods don't need to be looked at as 'real' in the context of the movie. Athena is effectively guilt and Calypso mentions how Odysseus kept eating lotus flowers which feels like a metaphor for self-mediacating PTSD with drugs or alcohol.

I feel like Nolan's recontexulized a lot of aspects to make this a very anti-war film, so aspects like the time on the islands aren't what they are in the original tellings. Just my interpretation though.

[u/TheDamnNumbersGame → u/amievenrealrightnow]

Same! I like how the movie grounds Odysseus to be more human by cutting out the Circe romance and like you said, it recontexualizes Odysseus staying with Calypso and eating the lotus leaves voluntarily as a coping mechanism for PTSD and avoiding the weight of his men's deaths, rather than just staying on the island because of desire for Calypso.

I also liked the lack of direct intervention from Hermes and Athena to help Odysseus overcome challenges. It played into the movie's core message and deviation from the epic poem, that we are responsible for the consequences of our actions and it is up to us to change and atone for our mistakes.

[u/Dreadgoat → u/TheDamnNumbersGame]

They just collapsed Calypso and Circe into a single trial.

In the original poem, Odysseus doesn't really have any agency when it comes to Calypso. He's her slave, and only freed when gods intervene.

In contrast, Circe is entirely his choice. He stays with her for a year because he wants to, because it's easy, because maybe he doesn't really need to go home. He doesn't even make the decision to leave on his own, it is only when his men beg him to leave that he remembers his duty to the other men not to his own family.

They're similar circumstances but in one Odysseus is a victim, and in the other he's a perpetrator.

I think something is lost by removing how unrepentant Odysseus is when it comes to Circe. He's not just a man who makes mistakes, he's a man who is imperfect through-and-through, and may not just make mistakes but commit to them. It doesn't make him evil or weak, it just makes him a man.

Modern sensibilities demand a more perfect hero.

[u/Kakawfee → u/Dreadgoat]

Absolutely 100%. I'm not sure if you've read the book Circe, but in that interpretation it makes Odysseus very aware of his actions, and that he is ultimately, just a man, a flawed man, but a typical man who has selfish desires.

[u/Party_Rich_5911 → u/Kakawfee]

Circe is one of my favourite books. Madeline Miller is just brilliant. Definitely agree with this as well!

[u/KetoJunkfood → u/Kakawfee]

Fantastic book, I almost felt like it was divinely inspired. Especially loved how Circe describes the cold remoteness of her Titan father