GradzCulture 😉

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey – What’s the Epic Deal Anyway?

by Lena Tippelt

With the recent release of the official trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, our social media timelines have once again been set ablaze. At first glance, this is not surprising, as in our current internet landscape, any time there is anything that could possibly be criticized, the professional internet trolls will crawl out of the woodwork to hate on it, loudly complaining their way to the top of our feeds. Exacerbating the discourse surrounding The Odyssey in particular is the fact that, with this being Christopher Nolan’s first project after the enormous success that was Oppenheimer, lots of people have followed the entire process of The Odyssey’s production from its very beginning. Whether it was the leaked set photos or official releases, from the actors that were chosen to play the roles, to the filming locations, and the overall production design, a significant number of people have not been impressed with what they have seen so far. And while for many this disappointment is genuine, it is not possible to express such opinions without being lumped together with those who simply nitpick and rage-bait with the aim of farming engagement. Thus, for those of us who want to use online spaces to actually critically engage in cultural discourse, the task that we have to undertake is akin to finding a needle in a haystack, as we must separate the valuable takes from the bad-faith ones. The issue that has drawn most of the ire in the discourse surrounding The Odyssey has been the perceived historical inaccuracies included in the film. And while I think this is a relevant discussion to be had, I also think a lot of the discourse about this topic tends to be misconstrued, with people maybe not realizing what the actual core problem is.
    
Those who vehemently defend Nolan and his film most commonly counteract those criticisms with an attitude of “who cares?”; The Odyssey is a work of fiction after all, and there cannot be historical accuracy in a world that includes mythical gods and monsters. In response to this, I will put aside both the historical implications of Homer's works in the Greek cultural context, as well as the common criticisms of the casting, which, on one hand, are made by people concerned about the lack of Greek actors, and on the other, by racists who use it as a dog whistle because people of color have been included. This is a whole other can of worms. Beyond that, I would say that the “who cares?” crowd is not fundamentally wrong; The discussion around historical accuracy in film and television is a tale as old as time. What is important to audiences is not always in line with the priorities of the filmmakers, with money, of course, always being the ultimate holy grail. From the view of producers, Hollywood movies do not have any didactic role at all, and many film academics agree that films should never be used as a source of knowledge. This attitude, however, starkly clashes with that of the casual viewer, as surveys have shown that many people actually do use popular cultural products as a way to learn about history, even if they rationally know that what they are watching will not be totally historically accurate. Besides, filmmakers have the right to do whatever they want. There is no policing of creative decisions in art, and there should not be. Fresh takes on old things are necessary not only to keep audiences entertained but also to further culture itself. Anachronistic artistic license is most certainly a part of that and has become common within Hollywood period productions. 
    
 On the whole, I think that talking about historical accuracy at all in this situation is plainly just a misnomer, and that using the term ‘historical believability’ instead would circumvent a lot of the misunderstandings surrounding this discourse. The key concept here is suspension of disbelief; how much of what Nolan has shown the audience so far can each individual reasonably accept as creative license before we are turned off by any given feature? For many, if not most, costumes, props, and general world-building are important for proper immersion. Thus, it could be argued that those bothered by the trailer are inadvertently saying that they do not believe in the world that Nolan is presenting. They feel that the script, the props, and the costume design do not make for an immersive experience; the language used seems out of place, it is weird for Greek warriors to use boats that look more Viking, and all the costumes generally look unrealistic, cheap, and almost plastic. This is especially contrasted with the fact that the audience knows what we could have potentially had, as it is public knowledge that an expert in making period-accurate armor was first consulted and then ghosted during the production process. And just when people might have started accepting that Nolan simply does not care about historicity, the film’s composer, Ludwig Göransson, emerges from the shadows proclaiming that the director asked him not to use an orchestra in the soundtrack because “it’s not like orchestra existed back then”.
    
Consequently, while it is undeniable that Christopher Nolan is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of all time, and that many fans would rather defend every creative decision he makes and have ultimate faith that it is the right one, it also makes sense to be completely baffled by the all-around decisions he made in this case. If we examine the issue at face value, it becomes clear that the whole matter is actually rather silly, because everything is based entirely on subjectivity. People have a right to be content with what they are given, but they also do not have to pretend to be satisfied and keep quiet when they are not. It ultimately does not seem like as big a deal as our timelines make it out to be, and we definitely cannot know anything for sure before the film is even out, but if social media has ever been good at anything, it is the fanning of embers until they turn into wildfires.

Next post: Editorial: Dismissing it will not make you more “grown-up” – People’s odd prejudice against animated Media