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[jhelp-the-fig]

can I say something.

I actually do not give an actual fuck about (most of) the perceived inaccuracies and adaptive flourishes of Nolan's Odyssey and I think that some of you need to understand that stories can be good even if they are changed to fit a different thematic structure. I simply do not care about perceived mischaracterizations of one of history's oldest blorbos: Idgaf that it didn't include the Nobody detail when Odysseus' connection to the gods is tenuous and his sponsor god/the personification of his guilt wears the face of an innocent murdered as a result of his violations. His defining character traits are established much differently, and in my opinion, serve the medium far better. I think that some of you need to stop the rehash and enjoy a piece of art that claims inspiration, not accuracy.

also the whinging about these kinds of adaptive details is kind of like christians getting upset about jesus christ superstar.

[smilingformoney]

I have so many thoughts about Nolan’s Odyssey

- The body horror of Circe transforming the men into pigs was beautifully disgusting

- I loved how the existence of the gods was never fully confirmed or denied. Were the storms Poseidon’s wrath or just bad weather? Was Athena appearing to Odysseus with the face of the woman he let die or was he hallucinating out of guilt? Magic clearly existed, because we had a cyclops and a witch and shades of the Underworld, but there’s magic and then there’s divinity. Is everything they say about the gods true or are they just an excuse?

- The removal of the Nobody scene was necessary actually. In the poem, Odysseus gives Polyphemus his real name in a moment of hubris and this causes all the problems later on because now Poseidon knows the name of the man that disrespected him. In the film, the problems are caused by the Greeks breaking Xenia by invading Troy. Keeping the Nobody scene would have detracted from the root cause of all the problems.

- I could write an entire essay about how cleverly Nolan uses events from the Odyssey to make a point about today’s society:

The Trojan War was about trade routes and Helen was just an excuse — just as wars today are waged for oil and resources, and governments give excuses to their citizens to make it seem better.

“The people from the sea” are feared as an invasion of bogeymen threatening innocents, but they’re actually just desperate men trying to find safety.

The Greeks pillage an island and ask “why didn’t you just give us what we wanted? We’re the good guys!” while the village burns behind them, not realising that to the villagers, Greeks and Trojans are all the same.

- Whoever let Anne Hathaway freeze her forehead should be fed to Polyphemus

- I hope Tom Holland escapes Marvel soon because he is a damn fine actor

[pigeonstab]

What's killing me about the discourse around Nolan's Odyssey as an adaptation of Homer's work is. That yes it's an adaptation but the movie's goal is not to-- Retell the most researched well documented most accurate version of Homer's Odyssey with all greek actors and all the right kind of- NO It's a movie against war first. It is a beautiful, meaningful movie about the horrors of war, about living in a crisis. This movie is about the world we are living in now, it's using this story told for millennia using it to show us that we are still in this. How can you not see that? how can you nitpick this movie on what it's NOT about? When it's such a powerful statement? When the world feels like it's falling apart in front of our eyes and this movie comes out, and it's about everything we're suffering through, about veterans about the people in Gaza about this ideal of Zeus's law and instead of seeing that it's being criticized for what?? Tom Holland??

[izamon]

MYTHS ARE MEANT TO BE ADAPTED

Ancient myths were told by travelling bard. They were sung to please an audience. To praise a king, to teach children lessons, to entertain the people of the time.

The ancient versions were not written for us. They do not match up to our societal expectations. They do not teach lessons that we consider useful. They tell tall tales rather than histories.

Which is why adaptations very much can and should change things.

It's not a book from a few years ago that they're remaking into a new medium. It's an ancient and well-known story that they're recrafting for a new audience.

Medusa is the perfect example. The original story is a warning of the dangers of messing with gods (The even earlier original has her born a monster with no backstory at all). Today we switch the perspective of the narrative, and she is a victim of higher powers treating her as an object, as many women are today.

It is for the same reason that while in the original Odyssey Odysseus spends a year with Circe and has 2 children with her, in almost any modern adaptation he refuses her advances. Because Odysseus and Penelope's loyalty to each other is a consistent theme of the story, so we adapt it to fit our definition of loyalty.

These myths are meant to be passed down, shared and changed for a new audience to enjoy and learn from.

So while Percy Jackson, Epic the Musical, The Odyssey (2026), even Troy (2004), are not perfectly accurate to the original stories, they are adaptations. They are valid as what they are - new versions of old tales. Repeated time and time again, different but the same. Teaching the same core, human lessons while not losing sight of the audience they are aimed at.

[rynamii]

my personal nolan odyssey hot take:

I actually think it's fine to put your own twist of a story that is literally nearly 3000 years old and been told and retold countless times

I personally think a one to one adaptation wouldn't have been as interesting, it would have likely still been a great movie, but I enjoyed that this one was a bit different

[hipsofsteel]

some of y'all just want a book report on a nearly 3,000 year old story and some of us want to see a man's personal interpretation of one of the oldest written stories we still have even if it's flawed

[breealtair]

I'm gonna be honest, I fuck with a movie that's all about the collapse of a society that perpetuates certain morals and laws that itself is not willing to uphold when it comes to interacting with the rest of the world.

The Greeks used the excuse of a woman and the war of gods to wage war with an economic competitor, then showed up on their enemy's shores and broke their own laws of hospitality to win the war and ransacked the city and its people. The story of those actions traveled the world, making everyone afraid of the "people from the sea," even the Greeks who WERE the people from the sea.

The suitors cried about the laws not being upheld for them but were unwilling to uphold them themselves. The same society was terrified of this invisible enemy that would invade because of their lack of morals, unaware that THEY are the ones who broke the laws first. They are their own boogeyman. The fear of foreignors was never about the actions of foreignors but their own actions.

The gods haunt the narrative as an ideal. If they were confirmed real, then this movie becomes a warning against breaking away from "the correct religion." Instead, it is a warning of how mutual care and respect for your fellow man, whether gods exist or not, is the backbone of society, and without it, morality becomes something to twist and fear monger.

The gods couldn't exist in this adaptation, so a lot of the plot points involving the gods had to be changed or left out. "Nobody" only matters if Odysseus doxxes himself for poseidon to punish. (The crew members insisting that they definitely heard the cyclops say posiedon and jumping to the conclusion that he was poseidon's son and they were cursed was a great change in my opinion.) The wind bag can only exist if the gods exist. Athena can only guide Telemechus and Odysseus if the gods exist. ("Athena" potentially only being Odysseus's guilt for the preistess he let die who only shows up in times where his actions in Troy are thematically important was *chef's kiss*.) The Trojan War is only a war sanctioned by the gods if the gods exist. Odysseus being stuck with Calypso for so long needs another reason (the lotus) if it's not by the will of the gods. What would Circe and Calypso be like if they weren't eternal goddesses? Did the crew go to Hades, or did they just perform a spell that raised the dead?

Magic and Monsters can still exist without the gods, and everything else can be explained by superstition, nature, and bad luck. The ideal of the gods haunt the narrative so wonderfully.

I'm not a fan of Nolan's directorial aesthetic, but for the themes he wanted to explore, I think this was a fantastic retelling of the original. Accuracy isn't and shouldn't always be the goal. Sometimes, taking an existing story and making something new in order to speak to a different aspect of humanity is all we can really hope for.

This doesn't mean people HAVE to like it. There are plenty of "good" movies that I do not enjoy watching. However, acting like it's an objective thing to say that this was a failure of an adaptation is very annoying. It's a subjective opinion of art.

[wrigglewormz]

I'm perfectly fine with people criticizing my favorite stories and frequently do it myself but can you stop being so boring about it

[wrigglewormz]

"This scene made me so uncomfortable" given the subject matter, it would be really, really badly written if it wasn't.

[wiimotion]

T_T I wish bathroom-related disabilities weren’t still today the subject of so much baseless ableism and hatred.. When you learn that kind of shame, it can kill you. People think “it’s too embarrassing to be seen buying an enema, or to go to the ER and need a manual disimpaction. I’ll just wait this one out” and then the bowel perforates and that can kill you in no time at all. And a LOT of it is just because of the meaningless stigma surrounding something as universal and basic as.. peeing and pooping?? That’s insane! Most everyone does it! Get over yourself and stop perpetuating shame!! Knowing someone has to wear a diaper will not kill you, but the embarrassment that person feels might just kill them!!

[daughtervampire]

Both Armand and Lestat openly say they fell in love and entered a relationship with Louis solely because he had that sadness in his eyes you only see in eastern european gay porn but then they DARE to complain and feel scorned when he's depressed and sad all time like "damn when will this bitch have a good day" um never that's why you wanted him in the first place guys these days (19th century) want a brooding tortured prettyboy but get upset when all he does is stand in the rain and gaze at the world in despair c'mon now what did you expect...you made your bed now lie in it

[stillmuseum]

Preach.

[alysmond]

READY OR NOT (2019) dir. Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin THEY WILL KILL YOU (2026) dir. Kirill Sokolov

[onnightshift]

i dislike the whole “horror is so back” narrative people are throwing around recently with obsession and backrooms. both are great movies, but horror was also so back with the long walk. and sinners. and the substance. and nosferatu. and literally anything directed by jordan peele. horror as a genre will always have its flops. but there will always be those few that revive the hype.

[gothhabiba]

god forbid Black women have fun

[gothhabiba]

Black woman invents or popularises a phrase -> it enters the vernacular and circulates widely amongst Black and nonblack people -> people removed from the phrase's initial context read it too literally, do not interpret it with sensitivity, assume that the ideas expressed when people use it are shallow / "over"-sexualised / problematic in some way or another that mirrors their feelings about Black people as a whole -> there is a backlash where a supposedly more 'thoughtful,' 'subversive,' etc. alternative to the initial phrase is offered, implying that the initial phrase contained none of that complexity within it -> rinse & repeat

[stephexmachina]

real talk tho ive seen ppl talk abt how long hair on men isn't intrinsically feminine & assuming so is racist can we get the same convo going for Black women w short hair can we start talking abt how short hair isn't intrinsically masculine or is that a step too far

[thedaygoesupinflames]

by the time im done with your fictional group of friends not only will they not be friends, but they won't be polyamorous lovers either, and they definitely won't be found family— gods no, they're doing something brand new and they are being weirdly physical and vaguely sexual with each other the whole time too

[thedaygoesupinflames]

whose to say i cant make exceptions

[luna-azzurra]

The thing about a good character flaw is that it has to be the same thing as their greatest strength just turned up too high. the person who loves deeply and therefore controls. the person who sees everything and therefore trusts nothing. the person who is so loyal they lose themselves. there are no clean villains and no clean heroes and once you understand that in fiction you can't unsee it in people. everyone is just their best quality at the wrong volume.

[shirleycarlton]

Yes, exactly. Btw this is a theory called Ofman's Core Quadrants.

It's a very valuable model for critically looking at yourself and your "allergies" as well, allergies being the character traits you can't stand in other people, which are basically just the opposite of your personal talent.

For example, you might really admire someone being laidback/relaxed (which you wished you were also), but can't stand laziness (which is the same thing taken too far) when you are a perfectionist.

Being precise= your core quality

Being perfectionist= your pitfall

Being laidback = your challenge

Laziness= your allergy

Being precise and being laidback are both positive traits, but when taken too far, they become each other's allergies.

And yes, this is definitely very useful for writing interesting and convincing characters as well!