This whole thing with “The Odyssey” is getting so surreal. Just when it seems we are living in the most anti-intellectual period of our country’s modern history (and we are), and that nobody reads anymore (according to one survey, 40 percent of Americans read fewer than four books last year), much less has any interest in the past (at our peril: history doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes, and humans of every era have something to tell us about ourselves), suddenly Nolan mania strikes a flint that not only sparks the interest of legions of Americans to revisit Homer, or to read him for the first time, it also has them unearthing scholarly minutiae to share on social media and even looking into learning Greek!
Earlier this week, a clash of the titans was brewing between “Odyssey” translator Emily Wilson (Philadelphia’s biggest celebrity scholar/rock star since Camille Paglia), who publicly trashed Nolan’s adaptation (while expressing gratitude, kind of, for the spike in sales of her books), and Princeton’s own Joyce Carol Oates, frequently shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Oates took umbrage with Wilson’s unscholarly tone in her assessment of Nolan’s film in the London Review of Books, which Oates described as crude and uncollegial. While the puny fight their culture wars on social media, the gods clash on Olympus!
Of course, before the movie even came out, keyboard gladiators were spilling into the arena to have it out over what they perceived as the “woke” concepts and casting of this new version.
I have to say, I enjoyed the movie. I wish I could say I loved it, but they just don’t make movies in a style that I can really embrace anymore. However, it has stuck with me, and I derived further pleasure from thinking about it later, and how the director put his own spin on the story and developed his own themes. It’s not MY “Odyssey,” exactly, but it’s a consistent, thoughtful interpretation.
I do wish the Greeks had ransacked Poseidon’s temple (after all, Poseidon was the protector of Troy), as it would make sense that an angry god of the sea would contribute significantly to Odysseus’ difficulties on his journey home. But instead Nolan changes it to Athena, which makes no sense from a Homeric standpoint, as the goddess of wisdom is Odysseus’ biggest champion.
It does, however, support Nolan’s personalized, more contemporary vision. In the film, “Athena” signifies something more than what at first she seems. Still, I miss the goddess’ spirit and flashing eyes from the original telling. What can I say? I was forged during the last gasp of the Age of Heroism.
Be all that as it may, I am just elated that suddenly “The Odyssey” is so important to everyone, that everyone is so engaged (or so enraged) that people are ready to go to battle over it. That’s the kind of passion we need right now. The populous SHOULD feel strongly about the great works. Of course, they should also read them before making themselves sound like idiots by expressing uninformed opinions. It’s refreshing to see all this care, be it enthusiasm or rage, being lavished on a piece of literary art.
What’s next? An adaptation of the Hindu epic “The Ramayana” is headed for international release in November, complete with vertiginous CGI sequences and Hans Zimmer score. I wish it had employed less of both, but I might have to see it (even though, like “The Lord of the Rings,” I’ll probably hate it).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zip1rNaNYs&
Joyce Carol Oates vs. Emily Watson: Clash of the Scholarly Titans
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13 responses to “Joyce Carol Oates vs. Emily Watson: Clash of the Scholarly Titans”
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I wish that Nolan could make a movie of every book before Anthropic gets ahold of them.
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Brennan Morsette A.I. will be the coffin nail in the world as we have known it.
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I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. I was impressed that he used zero cgi and zero AI in this film – quite the feat these days. My daughter and I also loved the soundtrack. I sadly saw it in a local IMAX and we were too close to the screen. I’d like to see it again at a proper distance as I messed up my back watching it lol. 😂 I’m not sure if I ever read the entire book and so want to read the Emily Wilson version once I’ve gotten settled after my move. I didn’t realize she is from Philly. 🤗
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Ann Losee Actually, he used a little CGI, to digitally scrub out wires and enhance some of the practical effects, but its use was very judicious. It wasn’t an in-your-face video game like your average big movie these days. It’s very cool that they actually built a 60-foot animatronic cyclops, a full-scale Trojan horse, and even a sizeable set, including dozens of full-scale buildings, gates, battlements, steps, etc., for Troy… Who does that anymore? Emily Wilson is the Classical Studies chair at the University of Pennsylvania. I’ll take the gas pipe before I ever walk into an IMAX theater again (unless it’s at a museum). I learned my lesson the hard way, by watching Nolan’s “Dunkirk!”
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Classic Ross Amico yup also watched Oppenheimer in IMAX. 😳Yes he used some digital scrubbing but yeah using 3000 people for the battle scenes instead of cgi, and using stop motion animation for the pig scene omg just crazy. No green screen at all. I loved Dunkirk but never saw it in the theater…
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Ann Losee No stop motion. He was inspired by Harryhausen in making the film, but I get your meaning. It was great to see everything “real” for a change. If the movie had been made in the ’80s, or the ’50s, I wouldn’t have been able to get enough of it. I still would like to see it again, if I get a chance.
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I personally can’t wait for Mel Gibsons next directorial masterpiece ( I’m a fan. He can’t make crap so it’s all a masterpiece) The Ressurection Of Christ. I can hear the left throwing Jesus into the deepest depths of Hell even now. As John Lennon put it “Strange days indeed…..most peculiar momma!! Whoa!!!”
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What I mean by this post is that the old saying is more right than ever. You can’t make everyone happy all of the time.
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Jon Haag That doesn’t sound like it’s what you meant. But maybe that’s how it reads in Troll Land. Hey, I thought “The Last Temptation of Christ” was a very effective (if brutal) movie. Not everything has to be politicized, Jon. You play right into my exasperation about the culture war being raged over “The Odyssey.” You presume that people on the right are the only people of faith, or the only ones who have any interest in Jesus. Of course, the most flagrant abuses of Jesus’ teachings come from… well, what do know, the right. So you might want to keep your politics out of it, buddy boy. And if you’re a Christian, surely you know about Jesus’ harrowing of hell. He’s already been there!
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Classic Ross Amico uhhhhhh I was just trying to say the film your talking about is considered woke by the right. Gibson movie will be considered crap by the left. You can’t make everyone happy. That’s all I was saying….buddy boy. If anything you made it political.
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Jon Haag You wrote: “I can hear the left throwing Jesus into the deepest depths of Hell even now.” I did not mention “the right” anywhere in my post. Nor did I start bandying Jesus and constructing straw men out of the irreligious(?) left. What I wrote above was in direct response to what you commented. I’m this far from deleting the entire thread. It has nothing to do with “The Odyssey.”
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Classic Ross Amico oh no.
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Carpe epic.
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