"The Odyssey" Topic

I must confess myself surprised that there hasn't yet been a thread discussing the controversies swirling around Nolan's upcoming adaptation of the Homeric epic.

Discuss…

Me too. Among other problems, why would the most beautiful woman in the entire world have an identical twin sister?

I believe that is discussed in the Lounge or Plus Boards.
However:
Because we are afraid of being called racist for thinking Helen should look Greek.
Also we are afraid of being called trans-phobic for being perplexed that a 110 lb trans man would portray Achilles.
I've read that Penelope is depicted as a real girl-boss. 😱
We are a very sensitive Woke lot here.

Is it safe to lament the lack of Boars Tusk Helmets? I sincerely hope that Nolan does not have a contract with a miniatures company to produce those figures.

According to Greek mythology, Helen of Troy had a twin sister named Clytemnestra. Yes, she who was married to Agamemnon.

Previously

TMP link

I suspect that Hollywood has little interest in satisfying tiny minority group such as wargamers. Sad but probably true.
Wargamers can have a moan , and they do, but who cares?

Recent topics seem to indicate that gamers on TMP are very proud and vocal about how they do not go to the cinema.

I go to the cinema regularly. I choose which films to watch. My main criterion being "Will this be an enjoyable experience to share with my friends?"

I have opinions about US wrestling but do not voice them because I have no interest in watching it.

martin

As for Helen and Clytemnestra…
Typical mythology soap opera.
Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of a swan. Of course, being Zeus, he… had his way with her. This produced 2 eggs.
Leda immediately went and then had sex with her husband Tyndareus.
One egg produced Helen and Castor.
The other produced Clytemnestra and Pollux.
Further digging had Tyndareus sacrificing to the gods, but he accidentally neglected Athena. So she cursed him that his daughters would be adulterous s.

This is off the top of my head. Details might be sketchy.
Now, don't try to pull such nonsense on me as science or biology. Ask Bullfinch or Graves for the lowdown. I'm sure the Greeks accepted it with a smirk and eye roll.

So, yes. Lupita can play both, although I would have preferred Anya Taylor-Joy.

Not sure who Hollywood wants to satisfy these days. Pretty clearly not me, but there has been "Project Hail Mary" and "The Sheep Detectives," so the year has not been a total loss.

The good news is that there are many thousands of books, television and movies produced in previous eras. So until the sale or possession of "divisive" or "problematic" fiction is banned, I'm not in bad shape. (That may yet happen, of course--but with a little luck I can be dead by then.)

"This is off the top of my head."

John, you have a gift for making Greek mythology sound like a particularly disreputable family reunion. Well done.

As for casting — Lupita might bring real gravitas but Anya Taylor-Joy does have that uncanny, dangerous "daughter of a cursed royal house" look the Greeks, and I, would have appreciated.

Well, if it's really The Odyssey, Achilles won't be in it for very long, unless you count being a really whiny ghost.

There is some thinking that the casting was done in an effort to qualify for the Oscars due to the recent inclusion rules. That's about the only way it makes sense.

Money is generally the measurement used in Hollywood, to my understanding.

Seems just another movie to save my money and not see.

"Creative Liberties with Dialogue: Beyond the casting, viewers have scrutinized the creative direction, with early promotional footage revealing that characters use modernized American slang (e.g., "Let's go" and "Daddy") and feature cameos like NBA star LeBron James, causing some purists to accuse the film of lacking proper historical and literary reverence."

What percentage of the cast is actually Greek?
Native to Turkey?

Are there any American Indians? Why not? I looked at the cast and it seems every other race is there. Maybe they just didn't include them in the cast I saw.

Why wasn't an actual Ghost cast as the Ghost of Achilles? Is it "other worldly" discrimination!? Spectralphobia!?

Recent reports and fan speculation suggest that Elliot Page is not playing Achilles in Christopher Nolan's upcoming The Odyssey, but rather Elpenor, one of Odysseus' crew members who appears as a ghost in the Underworld.

There's plenty of criticism outside the wargaming community – indeed, enough hours of Elliot Page memes to last a lifetime.

They also likely missed an opportunity to center and empower differently-abled people, intersectional ones too.

The purported wokeness seems to make people think they can and need to form an opinion now. Why? There's no reason to decide anything. When it comes out there will be reviews and your friends will see it and if it sounds good you go see it. If it sounds bad, you ignore it and get on with things.

The casting decisions that have been extensively discussed seem questionable, but they're none of my business. It's other people doing their thing, and good for them. They're not going to "ruin my childhood" by making a bad movie of The Odyssey.

There are things going on in the world that we should not ignore, but there are things we can, and in fact should, ignore if we don't want to engage them.

I also would have preferred Aaron Rodgers as Achilles. Washed up, past his prime, bitter and totally "It's all about ME!" His glory is all in the past. Spoken as a Steelers fan.

But Charlize Theron as Calypso? Oh, yes. Yes indeed.

I'm thinking of tracking down the Armand Assante version.

Anya in Peaky Blinders…
Clytemnestra vibes for sure.

I'm trying to think who I would have cast as Circe. Cersei? That's where it gets confusing. Jenna Ortega? Maisie Williams?

But let's play the Recasting Game, even though "recasting" is technically illegal on TMP. 😄

The movie is white-washed. So much so, they're sailing around in Viking ships.

The critics of the detractors of Helen's casting choice, do not point out with equal vigor that there isn't a single person of identifiable Mediterranean heritage, let alone Greek, in the entire movie.

Combine this with generi-Greek costumes, dialogue issues, & the idea that a guy whose attention to detail in movies like Dunkirk & Interstellar, seems to be doing a movie to chase dollars & movie awards, I'm giving it a pass.

Damon.

Nolan is using a 2017 translation by British-American classicist Emily Wilson and isn't really based on the classic version.