One of my favorite stories of the week is about Classics professor Emily Wilson’s scathing review of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. I love when academics put their two cents in and critique a piece of art, and I appreciate the fact that Wilson didn’t pull her punches. There are several reasons why Wilson’s scathing review has gotten so much attention and commentary this week. One, she wisely saved her criticism for two weeks after the film’s release, which is classy (in general) and it means that millions of people have already seen the movie and they have their own thoughts. Secondly, few critics and academics are actually willing to go out there and really burn down an already-popular movie, especially when that film is directed by the one and only Christopher Nolan. Part of Wilson’s argument was rooted in the-emperor-has-no-clothes of it all, the fact that people are so blinded by the genius and mystique of the great Christopher Nolan that they seem unwilling to actually turn a truly critical and scholarly eye to any film he makes.
Another piece of the drama around Wilson’s Odyssey criticism is that she’s one of the rare academics with expertise in this very particular niche subject, if we’re calling the greatest Greek myth a “niche.” This is literally her field of expertise, she translated The Odyssey, and she cannot be blamed for having an opinion about it. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening – too many people are upset that a professor said mean things about a film. This is all part of a larger issue: the replacement of true art/film criticism with paid partiality and stan culture. Well, Joyce Carol Oates (more like Joyce Carol GOATes) decided to chime in about Wilson’s critique. Enjoy JCO’s take:
The literary debate over Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey is still not over. On Wednesday, author Joyce Carol Oates defended the hit film following acclaimed translator Emily Wilson’s viral review slamming the movie.
The Blonde and We Were the Mulvaneys author wrote on X that Wilson’s “tone of dismissal & haughty superiority strike a sour note.”
“Rather than disagreeing with interpretations of Homer in a collegial manner, this person, who has benefited enormously from Nolan’s film, speaks in the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers,” the National Book Award winner continued. “One would expect a translator, of all people, beholden to a text, in service to a text, to be just a wee bit more thoughtful & respectful of others who are acting in good faith just as (she would claim) she is.”
Oates was responding to a commenter who had written, “This is tough because on one hand I deeply respect Wilson as a classicist and enjoy her translation of The Odyssey, but on the other this review is grounded in such bad faith and filled with outrageous takes that make me feel like she would’ve been hostile to any adaptation.”
In general, Oates said she liked Nolan’s film: “[I] highly recommend both Nolan’s film and the 1997 miniseries co-produced by Francis Coppola. The adaptations are notably different: one American, with the brooding middle-aged-boy-hero Matt Damon; the other very Mediterranean, with charismatic Armand Assante who more naturally inhabits the role … no reason why Nolan, or anyone else, should not re-imagine/re-envision a classical hero through the prism of his own invention.”
Wilson is an acclaimed translator of Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, and the opening line of the latter (“Tell me about a complicated man”) was previously cited by Nolan. Her review of the film earlier this week for the London Review of Books was a lengthy hot take on the project.
“Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great,” she wrote. “It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbours. It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.”
It’s interesting that JCO’s take is basically tone-policing Wilson, right? I don’t agree with JCO’s take but, again, I love that she chimed in as well. Scholars, academics, professors and an 88-year-old American literary giant, all fighting over a piece of popular art. And fighting about who has the right to critique art and what is the best way to critique art. I love it!!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
