Hey y'all,

I'm gonna start this off by saying that I actually enjoyed watching The Odyssey. It's beautifully shot (I guess that's what 70 mm meant) and the acting was all very solid throughout. It's the kind of film worth sitting down for three hours.

BUT, I am an English major with disciplines focused on race, sex, and class. Of course I have my critiques. Spoilers for a 2000+ year-old story and its most modern adaptation ahead.

First, let's get into what Christopher Nolan left out:

1. Nobody

   Odysseus tricking the Cyclops by saying his (Odysseus) name was nobody doesn't happen at all.

2. Every other Greek god

   We don't see Poseidon or Zeus or the Sun God. They're all mentioned but never shown on screen.

3. The bed challenge

   Penelope challenging Odysseus to move the bed to make sure he's the real Odysseus (because he knows the bed is immovable) isn't shown in the film. Their resolution was quite soft but not as moving.

Now onto some of the racial dynamics. People complaining about there being BIPOC in the film didn't phase me. We see this all the time. Ancient Greece was a lot more diverse than the faded marble leads us to believe. But that's not what I want to talk about racially here. I think that Lupita Nyong'o is an excellent actress and a great choice for Helen. The few lines she was given were delivered wonderfully. I have some qualms about the scar. Having the only dark-skinned Black woman in the film be visibly scarred as retribution for adultery has some... questionable optics, to say the least. I'm still forming my own opinions there but rest assured, they're not positive.

The old joke about Christopher Nolan killing off MCs wives because he can't write women is one I can't help agreeing with. Though there are moments where these women shine, like when Penelope tears into Telemachus about the throne, or the iconic "back to your disguises" line from Circe. I can't help but wish to see more. Where's more of the manipulation from Calypso? Why don't we get a bit of nuance with Clymnestra? Can't we see Melantho's autonomy in ratting out Penelope's unraveling rather than it being a means of getting closer to Antinous?

I'll list a few books that have been making their rounds on the booksphere that give a bit more insight into these women and others within Greek mythology. In all honesty, several of these are on my TBR and I still need to finish Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey (I'm on Book 9) AND start her translation of The Iliad.

I'd love to hear what you think about all this in the meantime.

XoXo,

Rae

Hey y'all,

For July, we'll be reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. It was one of my top five reads last year and I just can't stop thinking about it and I want you all to understand that feeling.

Moving forward, I'll send out a poll on Discord to see what people would like to see from this book club. Feel free to also comment suggestions here or in Discord. I've been picking the books the past few months, but I do want to bring the voting back soon.

XoXo,

Rae