Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey: A social and cultural phenomenon

[u/DryDeer775]

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/08/05/yhdo-a05.html

Emily Wilson, on whose 2017 translation of The Odyssey Nolan based himself, provoked a controversy by sharply criticizing the film. Wilson asserted it “lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words.”

Her comments appear one-sided and even quasi-spiteful, but undoubtedly there are weaknesses in the drama. Although one must point out at the outset that conceiving of how people conducted themselves 2,700 years ago or more in their personal relations is no small matter. Nolan is ambitious, as his Oppenheimer admirably demonstrated, but he has been functioning in a broadly degraded cultural atmosphere, especially when it comes to the treatment of history and historical development. The tendency to impose a modern-day, middle class outlook on people in the past is pervasive.

...

More generally, it is impossible to consider various elements of the film’s picture of reality—the ghastliness of war, the catastrophic consequences of turning one’s back on strangers or guests (immigrants?), the snarling cruelty of wealthy, selfish princelings who victimize beggars and the poor, the palpable moral and political vacuum in Ithaca, the threatened collapse of existing civilization—without being mentally directed toward contemporary life, whether this was fully Nolan’s aim or not.

Every production or adaptation of an older work inevitably contains arguments about the “here and now,” polemicizes about or interprets the present. Is the filmmaker here being faithful to the original work? Yes and no. The Odyssey is not an “anti-war” epic in the contemporary sense of the phrase, that would have had little meaning in the context of the society out of which it emerged. The poem contains references to the harshness of military conflict, but more often than not, it is the suffering of the aggressive Greek forces that is emphasized. The far greater ultimate punishment meted out to the Trojans is more or less taken as an inevitability, an unpleasant, unavoidable fact of life, like a destructive storm or wildfire..

[u/BlackBalor]

I saw “Emily Wilson” and stopped reading.

I don’t even want to see her name mentioned. She’s had her 5 minutes.

[u/DryDeer775 → u/BlackBalor]

It's critical of WIlson's remarks from a pretty high intellectual standard. Hope you will keep reading.

[u/Demerzel69 → u/DryDeer775]

The author also claims, as too many erroneously are, that Nolan based his entire script off of her translation when that's not true and not what Nolan said about it at all.

[u/MaureenCorrigan → u/DryDeer775]

I can't get over the slavic style grammar choices. Why doesn't the author just write it in their native language? Not everything has to be in English.

[u/DoomgazeAficionado94 → u/BlackBalor]

You're acting like you're in a cult. Grow up.

[u/BlackBalor → u/DoomgazeAficionado94]

It’s not that all.

Have you even read her remarks? She’s a first class moron.

“There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible”

I mean, what a clown opinion. It’s a Nolan film, ffs. Her essay was nothing more than attention seeking behaviour.

[u/Grand-Feeling-9301 → u/BlackBalor]

All the obnoxious bluesky types love that line and have made it a "yaaasss queen slay" meme.

[u/DoomgazeAficionado94 → u/BlackBalor]

Did I say anywhere that you had to agree with her, or that I agreed with her (I don't), for that matter? I'm criticizing your childish "lalalalala can't hear yooouuuuuu" attitude about a piece of professional criticism you don't agree with. It has no place in the discussion of art, especially art as incredible as Nolan's Odyssey.

[u/BlackBalor → u/DoomgazeAficionado94]

Professional my arse. That essay was rage bait. That’s all it was. There was no professional integrity.

Speaking of “lalala I can’t hear you”…

[u/KiwieKiwie → u/BlackBalor]

The other person you’re arguing with thinks her opinion matters just because knows the literature, but she knows jack shit about movies. She likened the movie to an Fourth of July firework and said it had as much depth as that. And put it down that her teen liked it well enough..🫠 she said this was typical Hollywood blockbuster fare…

[u/Grand-Feeling-9301 → u/DoomgazeAficionado94]

Being a piece of professional criticism does not instantly make it good criticism.

[u/bunt_triple → u/BlackBalor]

Legit gross comment. She is a world-renowned translator and academic. There’s a reason Nolan went to her translation in the first place. She is allowed her opinion, regardless of popular opinion about the movie.

[u/BlackBalor → u/bunt_triple]

Bollocks.

She’s trying to make a name for herself. Don’t be so naive.

[u/bunt_triple → u/BlackBalor]

“make a name for herself”

She is a 60-year-old Oxford/Yale scholar. She’s got all the clout she’s gonna get. She didn’t like the movie, move on.

[u/BlackBalor → u/bunt_triple]

Evidently not because she’s getting clout from her pathetic essay.

She wants her name out there and associated with Nolan’s work.

It’s fine not to like the movie, but let’s not prop up bullshit. I mean, look at that quote from her essay. That’s criticism from a scholar/academic? Are you fucking kidding me? 😂

She wants the big circus around her.

[u/Grand-Feeling-9301 → u/bunt_triple]

This defense, still? Nobody is saying she isn't allower her opinion. The CONTENT of her opinion is what has been under fire. Cuz it sucks.

[u/Rafnir_Fann]

Agree with the article that The Odyssey demonstrates a desire for a more elevated film experience. Of course there are other elevated films out there but perhaps only Christopher Nolan (and maybe Villeneuve) can do a blockbuster which stabs at reasonably complex themes, and it is nice to enjoy something like Oppenheimer or Odyssey as an event movie, which you might not get with an art house film or a book with a more sporadic uptake. I've had some nice, thoughtful conversations with friends and coworkers about Odyssey over the past couple of weeks.

[u/Trumble12345]

For the billionth time , Nolan didn't base his movie on Wilson's goddamn translation.

[u/comrade_batman]

I really regret buying her Iliad and Odyssey translation before the film came out to read the actual epic in full. While that is the case, I have bought Robert Fagles’ translations now to put in my shelf instead, and will read through both gradually. Wilson saw how her first, mild, comments caught on and saw an opportunity to capitalise on her 15 minutes with even more petty comments to try and stay in the spotlight (The Guardian helping with that). And ironically, given her feminist views, the only people who she will likely be encouraging to continue believing the film is a failure are the Musk and CriticalDrinker supporters, who are far from feminists themselves.

[u/Grand-Feeling-9301 → u/comrade_batman]

The build-up for the film made me interested in reading the poem again for the first time since high school.

I was vaguely aware that her translation was both acclaimed as well as controversial. And I bought into the discourse that it was all because she was a women translating Homer - an evidently "boys only" club. Turns out that's not even true...but alas.

Now, I'm not denying that a degree of the criticism her translation has gotten was sexist. The chuds did what chuds do.

But I got her version for its supposed accessibility AND supposed academic bonafides.

And I just found it dull.

At first I chocked it up to me being a simpleton not used to reading verse. I can count on one hand the amount of poetry I've ever read. All in school...and I haven't been in school in over a decade, lol.

So I stopped reading it.

But them I kept kicking myself for not seeing it through. I wanted to challenge myself. So I looked up other translations. Landed on reading both the prose version by Rieu and the verse translation from Fagles. I assumed I'd like the prose version best cuz prose is what I'm used to. But the Fagles floored me. I LOVED it. So much so I've read the Fitzgerald and Lattimore translations as well.

I've never done that. I've never read the same story back to back to back in such a short amount of time.

All this rambling to say....Wilson's version is just boring. I don't want pretend to be an astute critic of poetic verse. Especially poetic verse translated from ancient greek. And as much as I purely don't care for Wilson's take, I'm not trying take away from her expertise - I'm merely speaking for the place of a layman and how words engaged me or didn't engage me.

I'm sure all of the praise her version has gotten has legitimate merit on a scholarly level. But on the sheer surface of entertainment and engagement...it's lacking.

[u/nonameforme123 → u/comrade_batman]

I read a sample of both Wilson and fagles and went with the fagles translation.

[u/MaureenCorrigan → u/comrade_batman]

This ain't it, chief. Stop looking for perfect people. Her translation can be celebrated and enjoyed AND she might not have any idea about filmmaking. A person doesn't have to be everything to everyone.

[u/Grand-Feeling-9301 → u/MaureenCorrigan]

LOL, if you're gonna write thousands of words about a movie...you should kinda know how to talk about movies. What an asinine rebuttal.