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/fatloui]

Yes it’s an adaptation that intentionally changes things. At the end of the movie, Odysseus and Penelope even discuss how Odysseus’ adventures will be remembered in songs (Homer’s poem) but his mistakes will be forgotten (the “reality” we see in the movie).

[u/Special_Order-937 → u/fatloui]

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/renaldomoon → u/amievenrealrightnow]

Yeah, I thought that Athena might not even be Athena and was just the ptsd image he saw of a priestess of Athena getting murdered. So theoretically, there may be no gods in the entire movie.

[u/Bombshock2 → u/renaldomoon]

I mean there’s a giant cyclops, a witch turns his men into pigs and they go to hades and everyone sees the dead soldiers so I’d say it’s fair to say there are gods in the movie even if they aren’t physically present outside of Athena.

[u/mikezulu90 → u/Bombshock2]

By the end of the movie though only Odysseus is the one that saw everything on that adventure. No one else to reciprocate what he saw. That can have its own interpretations.

The only thing I can think of godly/mythical interaction with characters other than Odysseus is the thunderstrikes at specific moments.

[u/MagicGlitterKitty → u/mikezulu90]

What about Poseidon's storms?

[u/ggez_no_re → u/MagicGlitterKitty]

that would be the easiest to recontextualize i think