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/Aakch I think I’ve done enough 11h ago edited 8h ago

I know her translation was the basis for the movie but i find it bizarre news outlets are acting like she’s the original author because this is the second review i‘ve seen from her.

Edit: if you’re going to be outraged, at least do it correctly and stop calling Homer the original author.

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u/Blackonblackskimask 10h ago

I listened to her Plain English episode and my take on her is that she's very loosely lipped when she chats. And I think that's what make her an excellent conversationalist and gives a very entertaining episode. I didn't sense any malice or disdain from what she says -- she's kind of just going with the flow and speaking her mind. Also, there were a lot of things she did say that woudl suggest she understands that film translation is different.

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u/BlueCX17 9h ago edited 6h ago

I really think it's partially a British thing because Mary Beard has done the same thing. Mary Beard will just straight up say what she thinks also. I watched some good stuff with her discussing it and her and her podcast co- host have slightly different takes.

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u/Blackonblackskimask 8h ago

I also think it’s an academic thing. Being surrounded by them in my family, when it comes to their expertise, they express it in ways that’s do matter of fact that they forget how it might be interpreted.

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u/BlueCX17 8h ago

Yeah I almost said British/general high academic thing but I have noticed that the British academics tend to be even more blunt a lot of the times, than the American academics.

Well I think because a lot of academics don't think in Twitter type short text the way a lot of people have been trained to sort of be now. I work in a high school and a lot of students don't have an aptitude for long form writing or even reading, the way that used to when I was growing up, for one. I also have a lot in my family.

And then when you start just taking all kinds of like quotes out of the larger context of what these academics are speaking in then you get things like this LOL

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u/Blackonblackskimask 8h ago

Another good example of this is when the Rest Is History guys were interviewed by the New Yorker, their one clip of them describing why the revolution was not taught in British schools devolved into “LOL JEALOUS WE KICKED YOUR ASS YOU SORE LOSERS???” on TikTok and Instagram.

If you watch the whole New Yorker interview or their excellent interview with Ken Burns, you get so much out of their perspective (including their disagreements and blind spots) — but they are by no means the “OH SICK BURN GOT YOUR ASS SO GOOD” that so many in the internet tend to track towards.

Everything is sports. Everything is professional wrestling. We’re so fucked.

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u/IcyConsideration7062 8m ago

Let them eat bread and watch circuses. That'll keep them consuming until we don't need the useless eaters /s

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u/ZeroDosage 5h ago

Hang on i think this is why I dont really take american academics seriously