Suzy Weiss on why you should stop overthinking ’The Odyssey.’ Plus: That viral raccoon in Seattle. The ‘blessed drudgery’ of motherhood. And more in her latest newsletter.
To me, it was just entertaining - Hollywood has the liberty to reinterpret literature and Nolan did it well, in my opinion. The Odyssey is fictitious, so why does it matter if the actors aren’t Greek or don’t look Greek? The actors did a good job and it was entertaining, with a happily-ever-after ending (except for the violent scenes, which I never watch because there’s enough violence in our real world - I just look down until it’s over:)); it was easy to watch and that’s it. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it :))
By this logic, a biopic about MLK Jr. could feature Matt Damon playing MLK Jr. and that would be totally fine and consistent and not at all retarded and everyone should just watch the movie and not let that affect his opinion of it. Okay.
I am usually so much in agreement with everything Suzy Weiss writes that I'm a little surprised that I'm feeling so critical. "Colorbliind" is the wrong word for the casting. It is intentionally color-diverse. That's very different. Would the same casting folk be interested in casting a white woman as an African princess? And I understand Elliot Page plays Achilles? that is just nuts. Would you think it fine to have a large, strong transwoman play a girl known for her fragility? I often watch Indian movies and movies about black Americans, but seeing black actors and actresses playing 17th c. English dukes and duchesses is just annoying. Yes, movies are make-believe, but they need to be tethered to reality for the make-believe to work. I've heard that the Odyssey is a good movie, but I can't imagine that the bizarre casting doesn't detract from its effect.
Since you "understand" that Eliot Page (or Ellen if you will) plays Achilles, even though he/she/they/it doesn't, perhaps you are also wrong that the casting is intentionally racially diverse. Why care so much about the race of a minor character (4 minutes of screen time) when none of the same people would have objected if the actor was say Scandanavian?
"Colorblind casting works here, like it did in Hamilton"
What are you talking about? The principal cast of Hamilton was intentionally non-white, with white actors representing a very small minority (typically limited to specific minor roles like King George III or select ensemble/swing members). Principal roles were written and cast with Black, Latino, and Asian actors to represent America then through the lens of America now. Hamilton was not colorblind. Hamilton was color centric and completely racist.
Best part about the Odyssey hooplah is that it proves there really are people in this world with no real problems. I am happy for them. Personally I have never liked a Christopher Nolan film. Maybe I am just a Philistine (who knows- I really disliked Oppenheimer tremendously), and will wait for this one to stream for free on one of the services I subscribe to.
Someone needs to explain to me what the hell is the obsession with Natalie Portman. Really kinds creepy...
And speaking of creepy creep, Fergie may be behind bars, but it is in Spain and they like Hamas and celebrate killing Jews so I'm thinking that they not only will NOT send him back to the US, but they will give him a hero's parade through the streets of Madrid before they ship him back to Tunisia.
Kinda sad that al((most) all the comments are about whether the movie is woke or not woke. What about the awesome film itself? Even readers of TFP can't relax and enjoy a movie, apparently.
People who are all-in on identity politics can't make a value judgment on an idea or work of art until they know the identities of the proponents or creators and so can decide based on relative oppressedness.
The right wing woke have the exact same (lack of) thought process. They aren't capable of identifying if something is actually good or bad, but only if it is woke or non-woke. Meaning bad and good, respectively.
So Helen of Troy being black is woke, and therefore the movie is bad. Notwithstanding the fact that Helen is the daughter of a God who was hatched from an egg. Which means, *obviously* that she should look like Sydney Sweeney.
Great comment...I particularly enjoyed the crescendo into Sydney Sweeney. None of the critics, here or elsewhere, has explained why you can have an Odysseus of Scottish descent, but not a Helen of African...I don't like to casually lob accusations of racism, but if the sandal fits....
To combat the subtle destructive drip of radical postmodernist progressivism, the lesson is that hard stops are required with there is any of that crap injected into our media, especially our media entertainment.
Sorry, no woke is to be tolerated. Cast the damn stories as they should be cast, and if you want to give members of sanctioned victim classes a job, then put out stories that include real history of people that are actually within those victim class groups.
WTF if we had a movie depicting US slavery and the slave characters are white? That would piss off your woke brain cells (useless clumps of them). So maybe you can understand why the rest of us clear-thinking people don't accept the mis-charactering based on identity politics.
So, Matt Damon, of Scottish and Scandinavian descent, shouldn't Odysseus the Greek? Or does this lens only apply to black people? Asking for a racist friend.
I don't want to spend my money on anything promoting the mutilation of girls' bodies and yes casting a girl as a man is validating something I find repugnant. If that makes me an overreacting right winger I could not care less. F that movie and f Nolan too.
Too bad for you. He makes the best movies, and most of us won't be turned away from great art because of the weird identity of one of the actors. I'll decide after watching, but I'll watch for sure. I guess you'll decide without knowing what you're missing.
We don’t know Nolan picked the cast to meet Academy diversity requirements. Some suspect it but that’s their bias. They complain about black and trans actors playing Greeks but not whatever non Greek the “white” actors are?
I will say, I’m a bit sick of Leguizamo constantly complaining about non Hispanics playing Hispanics while he constantly gets roles playing non Hispanics. If there is so much bias why does he get so many roles? I believe he is actually on record that he does believe only Hispanics should play Hispanics but it’s fine for Hispanics (e.g. him) to play non Hispanics.
How about Juno as the smallest and weakest Greek ever? Not to mention the Greeks making the horse really hard to get inside the walls. What if the Trojans had just said "f__k it," and left it in the sea?
That term "colorblind" will get you into a shit load of trouble if you tried using it to describe why Brad Pitt took on the role of Mansa Musa.
Wonder what kind of movie Nolan would make for the Iliad, the bible of the Ancient Greeks.
I don't know, but I and millions of others would definitely watch it. Nolan's a movie making genius.
To me, it was just entertaining - Hollywood has the liberty to reinterpret literature and Nolan did it well, in my opinion. The Odyssey is fictitious, so why does it matter if the actors aren’t Greek or don’t look Greek? The actors did a good job and it was entertaining, with a happily-ever-after ending (except for the violent scenes, which I never watch because there’s enough violence in our real world - I just look down until it’s over:)); it was easy to watch and that’s it. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it :))
It's a great movie. Have fun with it and leave the scorecard at the door, like we did when we were kids. Remember?
By this logic, a biopic about MLK Jr. could feature Matt Damon playing MLK Jr. and that would be totally fine and consistent and not at all retarded and everyone should just watch the movie and not let that affect his opinion of it. Okay.
Do you object to all the not Greek actors in the movie, or just the black one?
I am usually so much in agreement with everything Suzy Weiss writes that I'm a little surprised that I'm feeling so critical. "Colorbliind" is the wrong word for the casting. It is intentionally color-diverse. That's very different. Would the same casting folk be interested in casting a white woman as an African princess? And I understand Elliot Page plays Achilles? that is just nuts. Would you think it fine to have a large, strong transwoman play a girl known for her fragility? I often watch Indian movies and movies about black Americans, but seeing black actors and actresses playing 17th c. English dukes and duchesses is just annoying. Yes, movies are make-believe, but they need to be tethered to reality for the make-believe to work. I've heard that the Odyssey is a good movie, but I can't imagine that the bizarre casting doesn't detract from its effect.
Since you "understand" that Eliot Page (or Ellen if you will) plays Achilles, even though he/she/they/it doesn't, perhaps you are also wrong that the casting is intentionally racially diverse. Why care so much about the race of a minor character (4 minutes of screen time) when none of the same people would have objected if the actor was say Scandanavian?
Are there any Chinese actors in leading roles in that movie?
> a problem child, a recently converted Muslim
If I was his imam I'd recommend martyrdom, by, say, jumping off a bridge.
"Colorblind casting works here, like it did in Hamilton"
What are you talking about? The principal cast of Hamilton was intentionally non-white, with white actors representing a very small minority (typically limited to specific minor roles like King George III or select ensemble/swing members). Principal roles were written and cast with Black, Latino, and Asian actors to represent America then through the lens of America now. Hamilton was not colorblind. Hamilton was color centric and completely racist.
I never saw Hamilton since it was a ridiculous portrayal of a very historical figure and time
Best part about the Odyssey hooplah is that it proves there really are people in this world with no real problems. I am happy for them. Personally I have never liked a Christopher Nolan film. Maybe I am just a Philistine (who knows- I really disliked Oppenheimer tremendously), and will wait for this one to stream for free on one of the services I subscribe to.
Someone needs to explain to me what the hell is the obsession with Natalie Portman. Really kinds creepy...
And speaking of creepy creep, Fergie may be behind bars, but it is in Spain and they like Hamas and celebrate killing Jews so I'm thinking that they not only will NOT send him back to the US, but they will give him a hero's parade through the streets of Madrid before they ship him back to Tunisia.
Kinda sad that al((most) all the comments are about whether the movie is woke or not woke. What about the awesome film itself? Even readers of TFP can't relax and enjoy a movie, apparently.
It's just intellectual laziness.
People who are all-in on identity politics can't make a value judgment on an idea or work of art until they know the identities of the proponents or creators and so can decide based on relative oppressedness.
The right wing woke have the exact same (lack of) thought process. They aren't capable of identifying if something is actually good or bad, but only if it is woke or non-woke. Meaning bad and good, respectively.
So Helen of Troy being black is woke, and therefore the movie is bad. Notwithstanding the fact that Helen is the daughter of a God who was hatched from an egg. Which means, *obviously* that she should look like Sydney Sweeney.
Great comment...I particularly enjoyed the crescendo into Sydney Sweeney. None of the critics, here or elsewhere, has explained why you can have an Odysseus of Scottish descent, but not a Helen of African...I don't like to casually lob accusations of racism, but if the sandal fits....
Movie was good. Cast worked fine. If you don't think people should be worked up, stop writing articles about them being worked up.
Lol
To combat the subtle destructive drip of radical postmodernist progressivism, the lesson is that hard stops are required with there is any of that crap injected into our media, especially our media entertainment.
Sorry, no woke is to be tolerated. Cast the damn stories as they should be cast, and if you want to give members of sanctioned victim classes a job, then put out stories that include real history of people that are actually within those victim class groups.
WTF if we had a movie depicting US slavery and the slave characters are white? That would piss off your woke brain cells (useless clumps of them). So maybe you can understand why the rest of us clear-thinking people don't accept the mis-charactering based on identity politics.
So, Matt Damon, of Scottish and Scandinavian descent, shouldn't Odysseus the Greek? Or does this lens only apply to black people? Asking for a racist friend.
I don't want to spend my money on anything promoting the mutilation of girls' bodies and yes casting a girl as a man is validating something I find repugnant. If that makes me an overreacting right winger I could not care less. F that movie and f Nolan too.
Too bad for you. He makes the best movies, and most of us won't be turned away from great art because of the weird identity of one of the actors. I'll decide after watching, but I'll watch for sure. I guess you'll decide without knowing what you're missing.
I screamed out loud in my theater at that damn trailer. Glad it got some love in the lead lol
We don’t know Nolan picked the cast to meet Academy diversity requirements. Some suspect it but that’s their bias. They complain about black and trans actors playing Greeks but not whatever non Greek the “white” actors are?
I will say, I’m a bit sick of Leguizamo constantly complaining about non Hispanics playing Hispanics while he constantly gets roles playing non Hispanics. If there is so much bias why does he get so many roles? I believe he is actually on record that he does believe only Hispanics should play Hispanics but it’s fine for Hispanics (e.g. him) to play non Hispanics.
How about Juno as the smallest and weakest Greek ever? Not to mention the Greeks making the horse really hard to get inside the walls. What if the Trojans had just said "f__k it," and left it in the sea?