Universal Pictures
'Odyssey' translator Emily Wilson has now publicly criticized Christopher Nolan's film twice
Emily Wilson, the Oxford classicist whose translation of Homer’s Odyssey was cited by Christopher Nolan as a primary inspiration for his film, has now published a second critique of the film. Wilson is clearly not a fan of Nolan’s adaptation.
In her second published analysis of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Emily Wilson — a prominent British classicist, translator, and author — doubled down on her original takedown in the London Review of Books, calling the film “emotionally empty.”
Homer translator Emily Wilson calls Nolan’s The Odyssey “a Trojan horse” because it preaches kindness but shows an “emotionally empty” obsession with spectacle
“Nolan’s Odyssey is itself a kind of Trojan horse,” Wilson wrote in The Atlantic in a piece titled ‘A Trojan Horse Is Supposed To Have Humans Inside It. “The script grandly insists on the importance of human kindness, while the camera shows us an entirely different set of values.”
“In these times of hatred and misinformation, we need more than the ‘apparent magic’ of deceptive images. We need art that is truthful about the costs and the necessity of compassion, and that recognizes that a sense of spiritual superiority may not protect us from lies. These lessons are legible in Homer and Virgil, but are elided by Nolan’s visually stunning, emotionally empty film,” she continued.
“The script tells us loudly that people matter, but the camera shows us that what matters is the mechanical challenge of moving objects through space.”
Wilson’s essay in The Atlantic comes after she wrote in the London Review of Books that she “would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.”
Wilson also called Matt Damon’s Odysseus not “complicated, wily, or artful,” and described the film as lacking “psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth,” comparing it to “a family-friendly audiovisual spectacle, like an elaborate Fourth of July fireworks display — and with about the same level of narrative and emotional depth.”
While Nolan previously described the pre-release criticism as “irrelevant,” Wilson’s may carry some weight with the Academy Award-winning filmmaker, as she’s not only now seen the film but is literally an expert on the topic.
Nolan’s detractors like Elon Musk cannot claim Wilson’s take as validation, though, as her criticism is entirely removed from their anger over casting decisions, namely Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy.
The Odyssey continues to churn out profits at the box office and has now grossed over $1 billion worldwide.