[1]WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) – When one of the greatest pieces of literature ever produced becomes a talking point within the greater culture, Christians should take notice. If they want to participate, it’s a good idea to go see the movie.
That’s Ivan Spencer’s advice for those curious about “The Odyssey,” Christopher Nolan’s film that has raked in more than $700 million in its first 12 days in theaters. A professor of history and philosophy at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Spencer has also taught an undergraduate course on Great Books for 30 years. The Greek poet Homer’s epic tale of Odysseus’ adventures returning home to Ithaca is on the reading list.
There are aspects of the movie he appreciates. There are others he doesn’t. And there are aspects only a cyclops’ mother could love.
“Wait for the video,” he says when asked point-blank whether one should go to the theater or be patient for in-home viewing. “If you want to be part of the conversation, then sure, go see it. I’ve gone to movies because of the cultural moment. I emphasize to my students in the Great Books program that it’s fine to read them by yourself. But it’s better to read them when other people are, and you have a community where a conversation is going on about them.
“We’re at a cultural inflection point here. So, go see the movie if you want to be a part of the social conversation going on right now.”
Criticisms of Nolan’s film include hiring actors who don’t historically fit the roles, and in the case of transgender actor Elliot (formerly Ellen) Page, not fitting in ways Homer couldn’t have imagined. Spencer shares those observations, among others.
It seems odd to give a spoiler warning for a story nearly 3,000 years old. Nevertheless, stop reading if you want to go into Nolan’s film fresh.
Not the story
One of Spencer’s chief complaints is that a film called “The Odyssey” really isn’t “The Odyssey” as written by Homer.
“People are going to watch this movie and think they know the story,” he said. “But what we’re getting is Nolan’s mashup of not just The Odyssey, but major elements of Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid, written about seven or eight centuries after Homer.”
The Aeneid goes into detail on the fall of Troy, he explains, something barely mentioned by Homer.
“Virgil was writing this epic poem at the behest of Augustus Caesar with Aeneas as the hero, in both the Odysseus and Achilles roles,” said Spencer, who also has issues with Nolan’s interpretation of Odysseus, portrayed by Matt Damon.
“He’s a rather dull character, unlike anything I’ve seen or imagined when reading multiple translations. Odysseus is a guilt-ridden brooder who’s depressed by his role in the fall of Troy and how his men went too far, which, as I said, Nolan over-emphasized.”
Spencer has no problem with adaptations and retellings of The Odyssey. He’s a big fan of “O Brother Where Art Thou?,” the 2000 movie with George Clooney’s Ulysses Everett McGill on a journey to prevent his wife from getting remarried, despite her suitor’s being bona fide.
In particular, Spencer is a big fan of that movie’s soundtrack. By comparison, Nolan’s score was “really underwhelming,” and sound effects rose to the level, literally, of “painful.”
“There were so many booms and crashes,” he said, admitting it’s a subjective observation. “It was so much that I left the theater for a few minutes.”
Tools built by Homer
He credits Nolan’s usage of three key Homeric techniques – identity recognition as a pivotal plot turn, multiple plot lines converging into a coherent ending and flashbacks to reveal vital pieces of information.
They move the plot forward and engage the audience, Spencer explained. Common tools, they are found in “Saving Private Ryan” as well as most episodes of Seinfeld. “Nolan exploits them well,” he said, “but Homer gave those to us.”
Overall, though, the version is a little too far from the original author for Spencer’s taste.
“It was made with great care and filmed in 70mm for IMAX, so he’s clearly creating a top-tier production, and I appreciate that,” he said of Nolan. “But the overall interpretation is really grim and gritty, violent and vicious at times. The world back then was rough and we tend to romanticize things, so he captures those times. But it’s a dark retelling.”
“Zeus’s law” is a theme woven throughout Nolan’s movie, where hosts are warned to treat strangers well, for they could be a god in disguise.
“In that time, place and part of the world, the rules of hospitality were very important,” Spencer said. “It’s a concept found throughout a reading of The Odyssey as well as in Scripture [2].”
The human emphasis on that, though, “demythologizes” Homer’s original version, he asserts.
“Nolan removes most of the mysticism and mythical elements. Only two goddesses are in it – Athena and Calypso – and they aren’t major deities. Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes are simply absent. It becomes a secularized version that rips the soul out of Homer’s narrative.”
More mashup
In the background of Nolan’s telling is the lurking danger of the “people from the sea.” Ithaca was among those regions bracing for a potential attack from this feared group.
“There are some ancient references to ‘sea peoples,’ but not by Homer,” Spencer said. “The Trojan War sat at the inception of the Bronze Age Collapse (BAC), a turning point in decline for the Mediterranean civilizations as many interconnected peoples and kingdoms experienced a violent era of conflict that dragged them down into collapse about 3,000 years ago.
“Again, Nolan is mashing up a lot of elements. Herodotus wrote about this in ‘Histories,’ [3] and noted there was a string of abductions, Helen’s being the one that tipped off the Trojan War.”
The current film’s presentation and fit of the “people from the sea” into its conclusion is something of Nolan’s choosing, and also a tool for engagement.
“Nolan will let the interpretations fly and probably won’t tell us what he means … like a good artist,” said Spencer.
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