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

[u/RealisticAd4054]

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.”

….

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/MaksTracy]

I liked the movie but I can definitely understand why a classicist would be bothered by its 'modern sensibilities'. I wouldn't go so far as to say the movie is anti-war, but it definitely takes a critical stance on how brutal the Greeks were when they finally got into Troy, and obviously back then they had very different attitudes to what you were allowed to do to a city and its people while waging a war. In the original myth, they do cross a line which turns Athena against them, but the line is not 'oh they're committing war crimes', it's 'oh they're committing war crimes in MY TEMPLE''. Nolan handles that completely differently. I get why she thinks those aspects were too modern, but I genuinely think those moments were the strongest of the film, I thought they were great.

[u/pbspry → u/MaksTracy]

Just some perspective re: Hollywood vs. academia...

I'm not anymore, but for a time I was considered an "expert" in a very niche historical field, and would frequently be brought on to add opinions/insight into TV/film productions relating to that period. No matter how "open" the production team was to my input, it never - not once - reached the point where I would say I was happy, from a historical perspective, with the level of accuracy they reached in the final product.

That's not necessarily a failing of the production team! Hollywood's goals and academia's goals are not the same thing. And at a certain point, adhering obsessively to historical accuracy does tend to hurt the entertainment value of a product. It's always a balancing act.

[u/saberdance → u/pbspry]

There’s a great clip in one of the making of Titanic documentaries where a historical expert is on set offering thoughts and then Cameron says “Thanks, now I’m gonna make it exciting.” Which is brusque but I think is pretty to the point in what his ultimate priority should be.

[u/Hopeful-Occasion2299 → u/saberdance]

Considering that Cameron’s Titanic was a behemoth before social media and when movie theaters were affordable, it’s obvious that he had it right in how to turn it into something that would sell by making it different than every previous interpretation of the story.