Bad Signs: Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" Looks Like A Woke Disaster
The signs are not looking good. Christopher Nolan's version of Homer's classic Greek epic "The Odyssey" was, at first, greatly anticipated. The director's filmography is largely celebrated with blockbusters like Interstellar, The Dark Night, Dunkirk and Inception. However, woke ideology is like a virus infecting everything in Hollywood, and rumors were spreading from very early in the production that wokeness has invaded the brain of Christopher Nolan.
Even though the vast majority of "woke coded" films fail miserably at the box office, the Tinsel Town cult continues to lose billions of dollars every year pumping out one disastrous production after another. If we apply the universal definition of insanity (making the same mistakes over and over and expecting different results), then Hollywood is truly a lunatic asylum.
Well, it appears that the rumors of the new Odyssey adaptation being a leftist propaganda vehicle are true. The long running blackout on casting decisions now makes perfect sense, because it's a DEI circus.
It is now confirmed that Nolan's film features a race-swapped Helen of Troy. The "most beautiful woman in the world" will be played by Lupita Nyong’o, a Kenyan-Mexican actress. Truly a downgrade from previous iterations of the story on film. Not to mention, Helen of Troy was a Greek - A Spartan Princess.
But the sideshow doesn't end there. Nolan has also been forced to defend his decision to cast rapper Travis Scott in “The Odyssey” after receiving harsh backlash. The filmmaker addressed the controversy surrounding Scott’s appearance:
“I cast him because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap..."
Perhaps one of the most contrived and idiotic explanations ever spoken. Unless you're making "Mel Brooks' The Odyssey", there is no reason for this decision.
Keep in mind, this is an Ancient Greek epic, a story depicting some mythological elements, yes, but also historically important to the pillars of western civilization. And, by modern standards and genetic standards, Ancient Greeks would be considered largely "white" today.
Sub-Saharan Africans, though mentioned as "Aitheopes" in Greek literature, were an exceedingly rare minority and are never mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as prominent characters. In fact, only one fleeting character is mentioned as black; a figure named Eurybates.
Then there's Zendaya, cast as Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom. At least she's not a dude, but Zendaya is the most over-exposed actress in Hollywood and doesn't come across as "wise" or Greek.
And it gets worse. Actress and trans activist Ellen Page (now known as Elliot Page) is confirmed as a cast member in the film. It is not known which role she will play, but leaked info suggest that she is set to play Achilles, known as the greatest of all the Greek warriors.
This might be the most ridiculous casting choice of all time, given that Page is a hundred pound skeleton, and also a woman.
It is a common woke propaganda trope to race-swap and gender swap figures from western classics and European history. From black female viking warriors, to black Roman Emperors, to Black Cleopatra (she was Greek and white) to black royals in the British court and female knights defending the realm; no historical setting is safe from Marxist rewrites that defy the record of events.
The message being sent is clear: We control history now, and the European west has been targeted for erasure.
Christopher Nolan's decisions come off as incomprehensible, until we look into his inspirational sources. The director's source material for his adaptation is the very first "interpretation" by a female scholar, published in 2017. Emily Wilson, a far-left activist, essentially rewrote The Odyssey as a feminist exploration on the "evils of masculinity". She is noted for describing most women as "slaves", instead of servants or maids, and highlighting the "evils of ancient forms of patriarchy".
“We should be shocked that the English-speaking world hasn’t had a translation by a woman,” Wilson said during a visit to Harvard. “Slightly more women than men get Ph.Ds. in the classics in the U.S., and yet the vast majority of translations that readers read in English for classics are by men. This is an issue, and we should talk about it.”
Her work is a perfect example of why it's best to keep modern women away from interpreting the classics. The British-born professor, in a lecture titled “Translating ‘The Odyssey’: Why and How”, stated:
“It’s very visible to me how misogynistic some of these translations are, and not because they were consciously imposing misogyny, but they had some unconsidered biases...Men are never asked about their gender, and this omission is seriously distorting. It’s very clear gender has an impact on men’s work.”
Wilson also injected modern vernacular into her interpretation, which is allegedly applied in the Nolan version of the story. In the highly insulated and inbred world of academia, this kind of rhetoric is considered a revelation. However, to everyone else, it sounds like a blend of pretentious conceit and woke zealotry.
It is also a fact that, in order to be considered for an Oscar, a film is now required to have at least one non-white/non-straight lead or significant role. At least 30% minor roles non-white/non-straight people. And, at least two Departments headed by non-white/non-straight people. But not all of Nolan's choices can be explained away by his bid for an Oscar.
In other words, The Odyssey is most likely going to be a theatrical flop. Nolan was smart to hide his casting choices until now (the movie trailers also try to hide the casting), but the film's July release gives the public plenty of time to discover the truth before they waste their money. It could have been the movie that saved Hollywood, but instead, it is escalating into yet another epic woke bomb.