News Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

[JD]

I think you need to adjust the settings on your screen because there are a lot of natural, ambient colors in that trailer.

As for fantasy, I guess cyclopes, giants, monsters, the undead, and massive whirlpools don't count for anything.

Not to mention we've also got at least one god with Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron as the nymphy Calypso, and we haven't gotten a casting announcement, but I can't believe we aren't going to get Circe the witch since she's one of the most well know parts of the story. We've got quite a few actors who's roles haven't been announced yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we get at least a few more gods like Poseidon, Hermes, and Zeus.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Nolan was deliberately coy about the gods in his interview with Colbert but Athena is definitely confirmed and, as you said, there's no way we don't have at least Poseidon, but I could see it going either way with Zeus and Hermes.

I think the gods will play a role in the film but they won't be as directly involved except Athena as a guide and Poseidon as an obstacle.

 

[JD]

I admit, I was just skimming the Wikipedia article and saw Hermes and Zeus mentioned a couple times. It looks like Posiedon has a fairly significant role, so I can't imagine him not being in the movie. I'm planning on reading some of the classics that I've never read over the next few months, and The Illiad & The Odessey are on the list, so I'm hoping to have them done by the time the movie comes out.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Gods such as Athena could be like Baltars's head Six in new Battlestar Galactica. I've already forgotten what we see in the trailer and can't be arsed to watch it again, so I don't know if that's demonstrably not the approach taken.

The only word about Circe, Calypso, Polyphemus etc. is that of Odysseus, and he's a known deceiver, having devised the wooden horse of Troy. He says of himself: "I am Odysseus, son of Laertes,
known to all for my deceptive skills—
my fame extends all the way to heaven."

Has Nolan explained why he didn't use late Bronze Age armour and weaponry as Homer describes? Perhaps he thought modern audiences wouldn't accept anything other than what we see.

There is no word for the colour blue in ancient Greek, so perhaps Nolan should have eliminated that hue from the movie as well. The sea had better be wine-dark or I'll complain to the manager. /j

ETA: I asked Chat GPT: "What evidence is there in "The Odyssey" that Odysseus is making up the stories of his encounters with the sirens, Circe, Calypso, Polyphemus and so on, when in reality he might have been taking part in the raids of the Sea Peoples in the hope of acquiring booty?"

This was its summary:

The best scholarly position is probably not:

“Odysseus invented everything.”

But rather:

the poem may preserve mythologized memories of real Bronze Age maritime violence, displacement, trade, piracy, colonization, and intercultural encounters.

Odysseus is simultaneously:

• a heroic king,
• a traumatized veteran,
• a raider,
• a con artist,
• a survivor,
• and a master storyteller.

Homer leaves enough ambiguity that the reader can never entirely separate:

• history from legend,
• truth from performance,
• or memory from propaganda.

The details of its analysis seem pretty much spot on, I would say:

ChatGPT - Odysseus and Sea Peoples

Shared via ChatGPT

chatgpt.com

 

[The Nth Doctor]

You lost me at ChatGPT.

I admit, I was just skimming the Wikipedia article and saw Hermes and Zeus mentioned a couple times. It looks like Posiedon has a fairly significant role, so I can't imagine him not being in the movie. I'm planning on reading some of the classics that I've never read over the next few months, and The Illiad & The Odessey are on the list, so I'm hoping to have them done by the time the movie comes out.

Poseidon is the main reason why Odysseus struggles to get home because of what Odysseus did to Poseidon's son, Polyphemus. He doesn't have much of the way of dialogue (except with Zeus, I believe) and instead acts from afar to deter Odysseus' journey.

Zeus' role is mostly as an observer (much as seen with the gods in Jason and the Argonauts, which Nolan is a fan of), one who deliberately doesn't get directly involved but sends Hermes to act in his stead in a few situations.

Athena has a large role in the story, often guiding events in disguise (both as women and men!) before directly advising and aiding Odysseus upon his return in Ithaca.

As I said before, I can see Zeus and Hermes going either way while Poseidon would needed to be present as an obstacle. I suspect Athena's role would more of just a guide until Odysseus arrives in Ithaca.

 

[Samurai8472]

Nolan was deliberately coy about the gods in his interview with Colbert but Athena is definitely confirmed and, as you said, there's no way we don't have at least Poseidon, but I could see it going either way with Zeus and Hermes.

I think the gods will play a role in the film but they won't be as directly involved except Athena as a guide and Poseidon as an obstacle.

From past interviews it seems he doesn’t believe in god or aliens. Remember the teserect in interstellar was sent by advanced humans

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In the Colbert interview it seemed like Colbert was ribbing Nolan to acknowledge that’s god exists

 

[JD]

Gods such as Athena could be like Baltars's head Six in new Battlestar Galactica. I've already forgotten what we see in the trailer and can't be arsed to watch it again, so I don't know if that's demonstrably not the approach taken.

The only word about Circe, Calypso, Polyphemus etc. is that of Odysseus, and he's a known deceiver, having devised the wooden horse of Troy. He says of himself: "I am Odysseus, son of Laertes,
known to all for my deceptive skills—
my fame extends all the way to heaven."

Has Nolan explained why he didn't use late Bronze Age armour and weaponry as Homer describes? Perhaps he thought modern audiences wouldn't accept anything other than what we see.

There is no word for the colour blue in ancient Greek, so perhaps Nolan should have eliminated that hue from the movie as well. The sea had better be wine-dark or I'll complain to the manager. /j

ETA: I asked Chat GPT: "What evidence is there in "The Odyssey" that Odysseus is making up the stories of his encounters with the sirens, Circe, Calypso, Polyphemus and so on, when in reality he might have been taking part in the raids of the Sea Peoples in the hope of acquiring booty?"

This was its summary:

The details of its analysis seem pretty much spot on, I would say:

ChatGPT - Odysseus and Sea Peoples

Shared via ChatGPT

chatgpt.com

I don't see any reason for any of this stuff to be lies, there are tons of other mythological stories from that era that unambiguously involve gods, monster, and magic, so I don't see any reason why it would all suddenly need to be fake in The Odyssey.

You lost me at ChatGPT.


Poseidon is the main reason why Odysseus struggles to get home because of what Odysseus did to Poseidon's son, Polyphemus. He doesn't have much of the way of dialogue (except with Zeus, I believe) and instead acts from afar to deter Odysseus' journey.

Zeus' role is mostly as an observer (much as seen with the gods in Jason and the Argonauts, which Nolan is a fan of), one who deliberately doesn't get directly involved but sends Hermes to act in his stead in a few situations.

Athena has a large role in the story, often guiding events in disguise (both as women and men!) before directly advising and aiding Odysseus upon his return in Ithaca.

As I said before, I can see Zeus and Hermes going either way while Poseidon would needed to be present as an obstacle. I suspect Athena's role would more of just a guide until Odysseus arrives in Ithaca.

Even if the gods don't have a huge presence in the movie, I'm just glad this is taking place in a world with all of fantasy stuff in it, I'm tired of adaptations of stories that try to ground and get rid of all of the gods, monsters, magic, ect. That's my favorite part of these kind stories, so getting rid of all of that kind of ruins it for me.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Odysseus wasting 20 years of his life, losing all his companions, fighting useless wars, being a piratical raider and consummate lying con-artist (as he admits to another potential rube) is probably not what I'm after. I see no reason to empathise with his plight at all. He deserves to be miserable.

We have enough fantastical magical thinking in reality at the moment, so I'd prefer something more grounded.

The Critical Drinker on YT had a pop at the movie because of some of the actors, the USAian accents and the feminist translation of The Odyssey on which the adaptation is based, but I don't think that's fair.

I don't go to the cinema anymore, so I might catch this on streaming if I hear it has any merit. Perhaps the music will be good.

 

[Tosk]

I asked Chat GPT

The Critical Drinker

Thanks for the reminder of just how different we can all be here as people.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Thanks for the reminder of just how different we can all be here as people.

ChatGPT saves a lot of time if you use the rule "trust but verify", and/or know the answer already and merely want it phrasing nicely. I always state if I use AI so it can be ignored.

The Critical Drinker I agree with perhaps 75% of the time. I believe he forms preconceptions based on too little information sometimes - just as in this case. We have yet to see if Nolan is pushing a "message" or even the "Message".

If Odysseus is presented as an unsympathetic violent criminal huckster, who is repeatedly undone by listening to his one-eyed trouser (or more correctly, perizoma) snake, that's pretty much spot on. People are still claiming they listen to the advice of a personal god or someone who knows one, so not much difference there after three thousand years.

I think I'd be more interested in a movie about Aeneas of Troy's wanderings, as he gets to see firsthand evidence of the results of Odysseus' trickery.