Special Episode 38: The Odyssey

Braving such obstacles as treacherous downpours, scheduled subway track work, and paying for a babysitter, Flourish and Elizabeth reunited to see Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey on opening weekend. What did Flourish (a True Nolanhead and also a pedantic Classics major) and Elizabeth (someone who read the poem in high school and likes Nolan well enough but really loves Oppenheimer) think of the film? On Nolan’s many interesting adaptation choices, including his decision to ground the gods, the reworking of Penelope’s test for Odysseus, and whether the ending fundamentally undercuts the rest of the film. 

Show Notes

[00:00:00] As always, our intro music is “Awel” by stefsax, used under a CC BY 3.0 license.

[00:03:44] All Day Permanent Red [To welcome Hector to his death] by Christopher Logue

[00:04:31] 

(From this gorgeous gifset of O Brother, Where Art Thou? scenes by rogerdeakinsdp)

[00:07:53] Based on what she would have been reading in 2004, Elizabeth suspected this review of Troy was in The New Yorker, and she was correct. David Denby’s precise words: 

But Pitt’s face is pretty, rather than noble, and he doesn’t have the right voice for tragic heroism. Petersen and his producers surround Pitt, an Oklahoma boy, with expert English, Irish, Scottish, and Australian actors (films that revive the classical past invariably draw from the London stage), and when he tries to match the others he comes out sounding hollow, as if he were reciting in a school play.

[00:14:18] Please note that this was the Oppenheimer trailer Elizabeth watched, which was released in May 2023. The trailer that came out first, in December 2022, is actually a lot more abstract and foregrounds the themes from the start: 

 [00:16:58] Nolan discussed finishing early and under budget on The Daily Show.

[00:18:42] They filmed in Greece, Morocco, Italy, Iceland, and Scotland.

[00:21:22]

[00:22:19] Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths? by Paul Veyne

[00:23:54] Elizabeth cannot figure out where she learned about the earthquake + half-creatures via fossils thing (not Radiolab??) but “geomythology” is a whole field of study!

[00:28:00] We did a Black Sails special episode back in 2019!

[00:35:14] “Our Age of Bronze is collapsing…”

[00:48:31]

[00:56:14] “Be Gay, Do (Sea) Crimes: Pirate Tropes and Queer Resistance”

[01:02:43] Nolan had the cast and crew watch three movies: Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev, Kurosawa’s Ran, and Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.

[01:04:31] The literal quote from the Emily Wilson translation: “And anyway, I know my body is / better than hers is. I am taller too. / Mortals can never rival the immortals in beauty."

[01:05:25] Our special episode on The Devil Wears Prada 2.

[01:10:06] Gavia Baker-Whitelaw’s Vampire Lestat recaps!

[01:12:05] Our outro music is “Pane in the glass” by Lee Rosevere, also used under a CC BY 3.0 license.