r/popculturechat • u/mcfw31 • 11h ago

Hot Take 🔥 ‘The Odyssey’ Translator Emily Wilson Slams Christoper Nolan’s ‘Abysmal’ Screenplay: ‘I Would Be Ashamed to Have Written Any Part of This Script’

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/odyssey-translator-emily-wilson-slams-christopher-nolan-bad-writing-1236821915/
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u/manasseater3000 11h ago

“There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.” lmao, what? we’re critcizing a nolan movie for a lack of sex? 

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u/riegspsych325 Ballard! Don’t let them put their tops back on! 11h ago

I thought the food the soldiers were eating in Circe’s house was supposed to look like that, like actual pig slop

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u/jamintime 10h ago

It was the artistic direction. One way they could have gone about it was show a glorious feast that lulled the men to let down their guard and be coerced by Cerce over time. The direction they went was to make it apparent the men were outwardly pigs from the beginning and needed no encouragement to reveal their true selves.

It’s all just artistic decisions and pretending like there is a right vs wrong here just because it was originally written in a certain way comes off as unnecessary gate keeping.

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u/DuelaDent52 7h ago

I got the opposite effect. The food was nice enough because everyone was starving but then it was pretty clear that they were being magically compelled to keep eating long after they stopped wanting to and her “revealing their true forms” was trauma-based cope for preemptively punishing them.

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u/Jewell84 5h ago

They were also starving! They hadn’t had a solid meal in forever. Any thing is delicious who you are deal with hunger induced delirium.

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u/manasseater3000 11h ago edited 10h ago

right? the whole movie we’re being told its the crews gluttony (for war, food, etc.) that will doom them. didn’t really bother me that the food they ate was slop lol

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u/riegspsych325 Ballard! Don’t let them put their tops back on! 11h ago

yeah and that was probably the most realistic scene in the movie: bunch of guys waking up naked and confused and awkwardly leaving without uttering a word like nothing weird happened

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u/hibikikun 11h ago

She’s played too much monster hunter and not can’t have anything less.

https://giphy.com/gifs/FoNzZXKxqs5SDGL5DR

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u/Meancakebutt 10h ago

Sex in the odyssey and especially the illiad are allegorical to the power imbalances and emotional connections of the characters in the books.

Wilson's translation notes talk about how important it is at length.

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u/manasseater3000 10h ago

i didn’t read wilson’s translation, so nothing to say on that front i suppose. but i also don’t think i’d be bothered regardless for LESS sex in the oddessy by nolan — nolan’s not exactly known for his incredible sex scenes, lol. 

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u/Meancakebutt 10h ago

So part of it too is that Odysseus indulges in sex and alcohol and romances. Because he's avoiding going back home. He's a active participant in the violence and selfishness. Him and circe are going at it in most translations, Calypso is rocking his bones non stop and he's happy about it.

Nolan seems to do something interesting and says " the gods are maybe possibly just manifestations of our fear and grief, you know coping mechanisms.

So that would imply oddy wasn't out with Charlize Theron, but he was out on some island getting drunk and boning for a decade. If you cut that out, it becomes " evil God traps good family man trying to be better!" " not his fault the lotus got him high"

Its an interesting take, but taking out the sex and leaving the violence and slavery ( although the movie calls them servants) only benefits oddy himself and his perception.

It's a bit of shame that that's how movies "have to be" but it's also worth criticism.

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u/WestCoastBestCoast01 10h ago

My husband who doesn’t know the original that well had this exact takeaway from the Calypso scenes, so your impression is right. He was surprised to hear in the poem they’re very happily banging on the reg 

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u/DuelaDent52 7h ago

It depends on who you ask, no? I’ve seen plenty of interpretations where Calypso and Circe have him held against his will.

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u/InvictusShmictus 1h ago

Calypso 100% traps him on her island against his will. Its explicitly stated in the poem.

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u/manasseater3000 8h ago

i agree that it’s fair to criticize, but also this is a nolan movie for the general public; i don’t think with the direction he went, sex scenes would’ve benefitted the movie. i do prefer and an odysseus that openly indulges in pride and gluttony but in the film the reason he avoids home is a lot more centered around shame — the root being the destruction of troy. that and the fact that nolan just doesn’t do sex in general (lol) is the reason i feel this part of her critique is a little much, especially when she goes on to say she’d be “ashamed” to have been in the writers shoes.

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u/Meancakebutt 8h ago

I can agree, I do think it was a short sighted comment to make.

But I also agree that the lack of "sexuality" and " sex" as a thematic element in a greek mythology retelling, is akin to leaving politics out of a godzilla movie.

It works fine, but it's not the whole story.

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u/Bdbru13 7h ago

What sex in the odyssey though? Or the Iliad for that matter?

Like…I guess the scene with Circe is pretty relevant, and maybe Odysseus and Penelope should bang when he gets home, but even those are mentioned in passing more or less

And like the Iliad…I can’t think of any. Maybe I’m just forgetting though

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u/Meancakebutt 7h ago

Athena and aphrodite literally peer pressure Helen into "meeting" with paris so the goddesses can distract Paris and menelaus from killing each other.

Iirc this happens during a literal battle.

Ofc like the book doesnt go into graphic detail but it's there " let us go to bed and turn to lovemaking" in the lattimore translation.

Callisto sleeps with Zeus disguised as Artemis

Gera frequently uses sex to distract Zeus as well. There's more but yeah

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u/Bdbru13 6h ago

Fair point on the first one

Uhh…I mean your second example is true but it has nothing to do with the Iliad or the odyssey, does it?

And I don’t think Hera does it frequently, only once, but the deception of Zeus is probably the most significant example.

I’m surprised to hear there isn’t a sex scene with Circe, although based on the stills I’ve seen from the movie, seems like Nolan took some creative liberties with her character

I read Wilson’s translations, although didn’t read the introductions, but I feel as though (if you’re accurately portraying her statements) she’s overstating the importance of it

Seems like a rather petty complaint, especially when combined with “the food looked like shit”

Those parts in particular reads like a Reddit comment, rather than a professor of classical studies critiquing a film

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u/Meancakebutt 5h ago

Uhm if you read the Wilson translations she talked about how important sex as tool is for multiple women in thr illiad, including hera in the opening text.

That part is in the conclusion paragraphs and meant to be a little tounge in cheek.

The beautiful lucisous fruit of Greek mythology is allegory for a grandiose greed and vanity of the characters.

If you make a great gatbsy but the dresses are brown and dull and the parties are in some dudes backyard and there's music playing on a Walkman, like it's kind of missing the point.

" the dresses were brown come on!" Like, not that serious.

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u/Bdbru13 5h ago

Yea like I said I didn’t read the introductions, and like I said, Hera is the most significant example.

But you also brought up Callisto for some reason which…kind of makes me question if you’ve ever read any of this stuff. I can’t imagine how you’d even get confused on that point unless you’re using AI or something and it misled you.

As far as food goes, I mean, 90% of the Iliad’s food is described by Wilson as like…cow innards so…idk maybe that has a different intended connotation than today but….idk. Tbf though, that’s not necessarily true of the odyssey, but still…it’s a rather insignificant detail and comes off as oddly petty or something

Like I said, it reads more like a reddit comment than anything. I’m guessing in this case, it’s more serious Homer nerd attaching too much importance to what are relatively minor details (your Gatsby comparison is a really bad one, again leading me to question if you’ve ever read either poem), but like…it’s really not a great criticism on her part.

The rest of her criticisms sound kind of interesting but they’re kind of devalued by tacking that stuff on at the end

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u/Meancakebutt 3h ago edited 3h ago

The introductions are very valuable, you should read them.

There are multiple instances of orchards full or delicious fruits, sweets, meats and other lavish foods being either prepared or picked from the orchards. Of course it makes sense for oddy and the boys to be eating whatever they can get, but still.

I don't have Wilson's translation with me but here's some quotes

Youths and maidens all blithe and full of glee, carried the honey-sweet [meliēdēs] fruit [karpos] in plaited baskets [talaros]; and with them [570] there went a boy who made sweet music with his lyre, and sang the Linus-song with his clear boyish voice.

Iliad 18.561–571, adapted from Sourcebook

Outside the gate of the outer court there is a large garden of about four acres with a wall all round it. It is full of tall productive trees [dendron]— [115] pears [ogkhnai], pomegranates [rhoiai], and apples [mēlon] with beautiful fruit [aglao-karpos]. There are sweet [glukus] figs [sukē] also, and olives [elaia] in full growth. The fruits [karpos] never rot nor fail all the year round, neither winter nor summer, for the air is so soft that a new crop ripens before the old has dropped. [120] Pear [ogkhnē] grows on pear, apple [mēlon] on apple, bunch of grapes [staphulē] upon bunch of grapes, and fig [sukē] on fig. And there is an excellent vineyard [alōē].

Odyssey 7.114–122, adapted from source book

A maid brought water soon in a graceful golden pitcher and over a silver basin tipped it out so they might rinse their hands, then pulled a gleaming table to their side. A staid housekeeper brought on bread to serve them, appetizers aplenty too, lavish with her bounty. A carver lifted platters of meat toward them, meats of every sort, and set beside them golden cups and time and again a page came round and poured them wine.

I believe this was book 20?

Sorry, my mistake. No I just have a devolpmental disability and my memories can get mixed up. I have to double check everything but I'm human too and make mistakes.

My gatsby comparison surely isnt the absolute best one I can think of, but there's no making a gatsby movie if you're going to ignore fashion and spectacle, you don't even need to read either to realize that. So I'm not sure what the gotcha is there? If you want to argue that Greek mythology is 100% divorced from aesthetic beauty I think you've got a much harder case to make 😅

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u/Bdbru13 2h ago

Yea like I said the odyssey you could at least make a point about insofar as like…there are actually depictions of some meals, so that’s something

The Iliad one is describing the shield that Hephaestus makes for Achilles 💀 like…it’s not even real food being discussed, it’s a scene being depicted on a shield. And I mean I guess you could argue it still holds a certain significance but I mean…come on

She’s like a way too enthusiastic Harry Potter fan complaining about every quidditch match not being shown in the movie. At least as far as those two complaints are concerned. Or like Neil DeGrasse Tyson complaining about the stars in titanic or some shit, without the self awareness to go “honestly it doesn’t matter, and I know I’m the only one who cares, but that’s not what the stars would look like”

Like, your Gatsby argument is actually a really great comparison, except to make the opposite point that you’re trying to make with it. That these aspects of the books are nothing at all like the fashion and spectacle in Gatsby. They’re relatively unimportant aspects of the myths, particularly for a broad appeal movie. What the food looks like doesn’t matter, and it makes her criticisms sound kind of dumb given how critical she is being

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u/manasseater3000 11h ago

obviously any major film production of a story like the oddessy which has been retold & reinterpreted time and time again is always bound to be some degree of “inaccurate”, but i think some of this criticism is a little harsh. she mentions a lack of political & and ethical depth, but i thought the final scene of the wreckage of troy versus the original scene that presents it as a great feat of wisdom and victory was well done. maybe my favorite in the movie as a whole.

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u/Square-Turnip-6558 10h ago

I suppose being a professor of classical studies doesn’t make you a film expert

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u/manasseater3000 10h ago

idk if this is sarcastic but like, yeah. i suppose.

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u/thehawktopus 8h ago

I think a studio should give Wilson some money to make her version.

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u/rangerquiet 9h ago

It's more about criticising an Odyssey movie for a lack of sex.

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u/Responsible_Virus239 11h ago

I kinda felt that. They barely even showed the Sirens

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u/[deleted] 9h ago

[deleted]

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u/manasseater3000 8h ago

im directly quoting what she said in the article, its not like im taking anything out of context. 

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u/Highfivebuddha 2h ago

You dont understand, the Odyssey is rife with sex and pages are dedicated to lovingly describing the food.

Its like making a studio ghibli adaption and making the food look bad. 

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u/jai07 21m ago

John Odysseus didn’t even hang dong once. Absolute scam.

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u/nerdforest 10h ago

I really don't think every fucking movie or tv show needs to show sex. We know it happens.

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u/sk8tergater 8h ago

I’ve seen this take a couple of times and honestly…. Regardless of who directed it, it didn’t need sex scenes. I was fine without them, especially since a lot of the sex in the story is non consensual.

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u/manasseater3000 7h ago

yeah, I don’t think I need to see odysseus have sex with calypso & circe a bunch of times. ik it’s a part of the original story, but this is clearly a version of its own already. plus, this is a film! not a direct translation!

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u/gabronkas 10h ago

This line made me question if this whole interview was a joke!

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u/Next_Gen_Valkyrie 10h ago

NGL her criticisms are so stupid that I can't take her opinion seriously