The Odyssey : Does Nolan understand xenia ?
Xenia or ξενία is refering to how hospitality was practiced and perceived in Ancient Greece, this notion is reflected in many myths, notably the Illiad and the Odyssey
This notion is central in the Odyssey (2026) and is evoked multiple times under the name of "law of Zeus" or "Zeus's law", but some took issue with how it was described in the movie and some of (and by most i mean practically all) of Nolan's answers in an interview that was shared recently
Nolan isn't wrong in saying that there are principles that are universal and can be found in all cultures even if the reasoning changes, and if he wants to make a movie preaching about the importance of treating each other well, that's a pretty inspiring message, however
I am asking if he really understands xenia based on these because of a lot of stuff that don't really add up
Firstly, while xenia is an important cultural rule in Ancient Greece, it's never something that he acknoweldges as being a rule tied to hospitality. It is merely ONE aspect of mutual respect. Respect in ancient greek is aidos/αἰδώς not xenia, yet he takes from this very specific form of respect, that is to say, hospitality, to extrapolate it into the Golden rule, a much larger doctrine of respect. There's a pretty interesting essay on the notion of respect in Ancient Greek text I am linking here
Secondly, there are many quotes and words that corresponds more to the Golden rule than xenia does in the ancient world, whereas xenia is more often compared to the concept of hospitality as it's define in the Scriptures, which is separate from the golden rule.
That is something that in the movie you can sense when Peneloppe (if I recall) explains xenia as being "treat other as you want to be treated" rather than the obligation to treat your guest well. I think that is mainly that phrasing and then, Nolan's explicetely saying that stripped down to its simple basics, xenia is just the Golden rule that made many come of with "of his " he is trying to Christianize the Odyssey" (that and the concept of atonement).
In the interview, he says that it's refered in the movie as Zeus' law to be understood more simply, but I don't really think that's all there is. The movie, despite being set in Greece, lacks a lot of elements tied to greek culture and the costumes merely "evokes" it, but in the case of xenia, by calling it Zeus's law, it only makes it feels even less tied to a notion specific to Greek culture. I know it sounds crazy considering that it's explicetely tied to a greek deity, but that's how the phrasing sounds. That's the effect it has. It's not even inaccurate considering that Zeus is considered a patron of hospitality through one of his epithet, Xenios.
Another thing is that, it's true that xenia plays an important role in the Odyssey and the Illiad, but in the movie, it mainly focuses on the idea that breaking this custom caused the end of the Bronze Age by framing it as though the Greeks broke it in the Trojan War with the offering of the Horse. If I am being honest, I was a bit lost there.
See, the movie went out of its ways to justify the idea that the Greeks were actually waging war against Troy because Agamemnon wanted control on the Sea market and used Helen's rescue as a pretext. Putting aside that this begs some questions as to how she was even there, it only makes sense as a rationalization if you think that Helen is the cause of the war, which she wasn't in the poem either.
The Trojan war is portrayed as resulting from breaking the rules of hospitality or xenia. In reality, everyone partook in the war because, by kidnapping or seducing depending on the versions the wife of his host, Paris broke Zeus's law. Violating xenia was seen as a big offense to Zeus and all gods by extension. Yet in the very movie that centers around this idea of xenia being so important to respect or else it will cause the doom of civilization... that is no longer the reason they partook in the war....
If I am being honest, the end of the movie and the interview made me wonder why Nolan didn't do an adaptation of the Illiad focusing on Hector and Andromaque instead of Odysseus, it would have served his idea of a movie about the behavior of men causing the downfall of civlization a lot better.
However, on the downside, this also means that many people came out thinking that Odysseus in both the epoch and the movie was punished with not being able to go back to Ithaca as a result of the Greeks violating xenia... when the Trojan Horse seemingly didn't count as violating xenia. Remember, xenia is hospitality. The Greeks had not been received as guests. Morevover, xenia is something that goes both ways, if someone had offended the principle, then what happens to them is seen as punishement from the gods. That's why when Odysseus slaughters all the suitors on his return, and that the families of the suitors are at the doors of the palace, Athena shows up to advocate for Odysseus, because according to the understading of xenia, he was within his rights to punish the suitors. By that token, the Greeks did not violate xenia not only because of the context but also because Paris already violated it by kidnapping Helen.
Another weird instance is the Cyclop. I've already talked about how Polyphemus's presentation in the movie didn't align with fantasy due to how he is presented as this silent monster who crawls in the dark to pick up Odysseus' men for a snak before his nap. In fact, it seems some came out of the movie thinking that Polyphemus was a baby Cyclop and was actually innocent, that he lived all alone with only his sheeps as his best friend and eat Odysseus's men only because he wanted to protect his sheep ? You even got to see Polyphemus did nothing wrong posts being shared ??
It could be just bait, but I think this shows well how the presentation of Polyphemus differs significantly due to how the movie handles it.
As a result, this means that Polyphemus violating xenia is never a thing in the movie, or at least, not one emphasized enough.
In the epoch however, it's explicetely demonstrasted. Odysseus and his men request the Cyclop's hospitality. Polyphemus responds that he owes them nothing, he doesn't fear Zeus, Cyclops are stronger than the gods and then he decides to keep Odysseus and his men as his little snacks, eating 2 of them before doing his little nap.
Again, another instance of xenia being showcased as being disrespected and it's not there... for some reasons
I've already made a video hinting at the idea that movie was very paradoxical and not in the good way, but it was merely focusing on how contradictory it was for its defenders to invoke the idea that the movie was a "fantasy" when the actual movie was stripped of it, not without reasoning, but it was stripped of it, all the while maintaining a realistic Ancient Greece during Bronze age setting, a tone that didn't really allowed for artsy anachronism but then, when you have them evoke a concept as culturally rooted as xenia and discussed what happens when you strip away the cultural context, it becomes even more confusing.
It's almost as if the movie was scared that if it embraced the Greek setting and culture that it references, then it would not be understood as universal...which given how the media literarcy rate is in our age, I could see why...but if that's the case then, how did Nolan came out of reading the Odyssey and was thinking "oh yeah, our modern age could definetely make some use of it"
And sure, changing stuff in an adaptation or a retelling is fine and dandy, but if xenia is such an important concept, I don't really see the point in evacuating some important instances of xenia being showcased, and xenia being the cause of the war even moreso.
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