The Odyssey and the Anti-Culture of Online Criticism

[00:00:01]Hello everyone. The Odyssey and the anti-culture of online criticism.

[00:00:08]Now, I saw The Odyssey yesterday and I have to admit that I, for the most part, absolutely loved it. I was really taken away by it. Now, I have wanted them to adapt The Odyssey into a big-budget uh film for years because there really hasn't uh been a big-budget adaptation of The Odyssey until now. And it was something that I that I hoped for for a long time. In fact, I left a comment on TikTok a couple of years ago where I said, "Why haven't they made a big-budget film version of The Odyssey?"

[00:00:49]And then just about a week or so later, they announced that uh Christopher Nolan was going to to to make a big-budget version of The Odyssey. And then and then that comment started getting flooded with replies and I thought, "Wow, it's very rare that I say that I want Hollywood to make something then they actually make it."

[00:01:10]And so and so just on that front, I'm I'm quite amazed. But I I loved it that the film for the most part. I thought that it was a very faithful to the overall structure of The Odyssey which I hadn't quite read all of actually until um a few nights ago when I decided to prepare for the film that I was just going to read the last 100 pages um in 6 hours. And so the ending was very fresh in my mind when I went to see the film.

[00:01:40]But but I thought that the film overall was quite well done. Again, it it followed the structure of the the original poem.

[00:01:50]And a lot of people were complaining about um um in the trailers, the dialogue and how they thought the dialogue might sound too naturalistic or too modern.

[00:02:02]Well, I actually felt that for the most part that if you actually watch the film and there's probably no one who is more critical of dialogue and how it is used in films than I am. But when I watched it, I thought that the dialogue the dialogue was um very well balanced in the sense that there was enough elevated and even at times poetic dialogue that the naturalistic dialogue did not distract.

[00:02:34]Now, would I have liked the dialogue to have been even more elevated and poetic at times? Yes, but for a mainstream Hollywood film, that's about as good as it gets. That's about the best I can hope for for a mainstream Hollywood film and therefore I judge the dialogue on on that basis, not against what I might write or do.

[00:02:55]And in that regard, I I felt the dialogue was very well written. Probably my favorite part of the film is and it's also my favorite part of the story as well is when they visit um Cersei and the men are are turned into uh pigs. And in terms of the acting and performances, I actually felt that Samantha Morton gave a phenomenal performance.

[00:03:23]And and she was I I think one of the few people in the film where I wasn't distracted at all by star power. She was just a great actress who gave a phenomenal performance as Cersei and it was such a a terrifying scene where you had to have these men just giving them the stew and then she's like turning them into pigs with her bare hands. I thought I thought that was that was a disturbing but also just a phenomenal scene and I also felt that she had, um, a lot of the best, uh, uh, dialogue, um, when she and and I think some of that was actually pulled and and, uh, taken, um, from the, uh, the Odyssey directly, or at least a a translation of it, because I definitely recall some of the lines, uh, from the version, um, that that I read that were used in the film which where she talks when when she, um, guides, um, when she, uh, guides Odysseus and gives him, um, directions to the to the underworld where she talks about, um, um, this is a paraphrase, but a travel down a river of fire until it meets a river of ice, um, um, I really like that line. I I I thought it was, uh, a very poetic and and, uh, and beautiful and had the the exactly the right tone for this kind of story. And it actually reminded me a bit, um, reminded me a bit of this line from my book The Ecstasy and the and the Ignominy. There are probably other lines that are even more similar, but it's just this is what came to mind, um, when you have, um, different context, but when you have the character of, um, uh, of Catherine who is, uh, speaking, um, to Edward who is in love with Catherine, but then she says that but she's a married woman, she says, "We we we cannot be together." Essentially, when she says, um, "I know this might be difficult for you to understand, Mr. Compton, but when fire and water intermingle, only vaporous sorrow will remain."

[00:05:18]Now, I really like that line because it it essentially it essentially is the getting at the same thing. Is that when fire and and water, uh, intermingle, you only get a kind of vaporous sorrow. Kind of like the underworld only results in in a kind of, uh, vaporous sorrow. So, I I really, um, I really, uh, loved, uh, Samantha Morton's performance and overall how her character was written. But I also thought just thought that, um, the the film itself was highly emotional highly uh, uh, resonant and it actually changed some of the thematic material from the from the story in a way that I thought really actually worked because in the story for example Odysseus is portrayed as as a hero and he isn't really given a lot of he isn't really feel a lot of guilt about what he's done or anything else and the this version of the Odyssey added a lot of thematic elements here where where where for example there's this idea of of of Zeus's law where where you should treat you should treat others the way you want to be treated because you don't know if they might might be a god in disguise well that's actually more of a Christian principle about the golden rule than a Greek principle was and you have and so you have a lot of Christian themes that are inserted here that I actually think elevate the material and make it quite powerful but but but also I loved it the scene at the end I know spoiler alert but at the end where um where Odysseus massacres the suitors which is a very vivid and visceral scene from from the from the from the book and I thought that was handled really well there was a lot of tension there and so in many ways writing wise structurally tonally the Odyssey was really everything that I wanted it to be would I have chosen some things would I have gone in different directions with some of the casting choices yeah yes for example I definitely would have casted a more Greek looking actress and a more pale looking actress as Helen and and there's been a lot of uproar about that but she's only in a few minutes of the film so it really doesn't it didn't ruin it for me. If it were the Elliot where Helen's where Helen's in a lot in a lot of it, it would. But because her character is rather minor, it didn't really bother me for the most part. And yes, I would have cast probably um some some lesser-known actors who could fit the material a little bit better and not I wouldn't have gone with as many movie stars as Nolan uh seemed to do. But they didn't really distract for me because there is a huge difference between well, this I would have made a different casting choice and this is a problem um that's distracting. Those are entirely two different things. Um for example, Matt Damon for example, he might not be what I would picture as Odysseus, but at the same time he's he's an everyman actor movie star he that he he can carry the film where he's not distracting even though he's not my ideal choice. Um so to me so that those are my thoughts overall um on the casting. And when it comes to things that and so I think that when people make a big deal out out of the cast before they've even seen the film, you cannot really judge a film and how and how and whether or not it's going to work in terms of the casting until you've actually seen it and how it's actually been been put together.

[00:08:53]And the and um the same thing with with historical accuracy. When when people complain about oh this or that, but here's the thing. Historical accuracy doesn't really matter as much uh it doesn't really matter as much.

[00:09:04]What matters is verisimilitude. The idea that you're immersed in a world and you can feel um the tone of the world and you could and and it makes sense and it coheres. Um there are a lot of films that are not historically accurate historical that are still good.

[00:09:20]Braveheart is not historically accurate.

[00:09:22]Think of any of the sword and sandal films from from the 50s and 60s and and whatever. Um Ten Commandments is certainly not historically accurate.

[00:09:29]They're wearing what looks like costumes. Um but the style is so elevated and and idiosyncratic to DeMille's vision that it doesn't really bother doesn't really, bother you or it doesn't bother me. Um, you know, it's certainly not realistic for Edward G. Robinson going around going, "Yeah, Moses. Moses, what are you going to do, Moses? We need to We need to get Moses."

[00:09:50]It's like, you know, he's kind of he's he's he's really, uh, it seems like he doesn't belong, but yet because it's Edward G. Robinson, it still works. Um, he still works in the film. And so, a lot a lot of the criticisms that this film has been getting has been has been very petty.

[00:10:05]And it's been, I think, somewhat it's been anti-culture, I think, because the way that online criticism works, um, a lot of the time, is that people don't actually want to build anything up. They would rather tear everything down. So, when they see something that seems ambitious, that seems unique, um, they want to try to tear it down with culture war language, mainly because they do not have, in many cases, any art These people do not have artistic vision themselves and are quite mediocre, and therefore they want to make others feel mediocre as well. Um, there is, I think, a great, um, jealousy and envy, um, especially, um, within, um, online, uh, critics who want to, let's say, go after someone like Christopher Nolan because he's a highly successful, uh, filmmaker and they and they can feel and they can feel intimidated by that. Doesn't mean that no one is infallible or doesn't make mistakes because he certainly does, in my view, um, but I think a lot of the the this criticism, though, is coming from a place of of jealousy and, um, and, uh, resentment. And, um, I can relate to that in some way, even though I'm I'm I'm not in the I'm not as, uh, successful or famous as Christopher Nolan. Of course, I'm an author, so it's a different medium, but I can definitely relate to, um, to being attacked because people are because people want to tear people want to tear you down because because because they think that you are somehow looking down on them because you are highly talented within your craft. I can relate I can relate to that and I think that all great artists I can relate to that because all great artists throughout history have been criticized and lambasted by others who felt inferior and I think that's where a lot of this criticism is coming from but it's also just an anti an anti kind of culture thing where people they don't want to create new art or great art.

[00:12:07]They don't because when was the last time you I saw when was the last time that I that I saw um these like say anti-woke critics for example actually praise something. Um hardly ever. Most of the time it's about tearing things down and even if there are some political aspects of something that you have a problem with that doesn't mean that a film is entirely terrible or it doesn't deserve praise just because there may be a few things that you have a problem with. Um and so yeah I I this came this this a lot of this comes from a place of anti-culture and and anti-intellectualism um in my view and I completely reject that. You know a lot of people might think that because I criticize modern modern books modern cinema for being for for having let's say being minimalist or having certain political agendas or this and that that I am going to criticize everything and I can't recognize when when something when something is actually a great work of art but but criticism loses loses all power if you aren't also capable of praise.

[00:13:14]And I think that's something that a lot of people miss. If I think that something is legitimately a good work of art I'm going to acknowledge it as such.

[00:13:21]I'm not just going to be a contrarian because if you are simply just a contrarian um then you are engaging in um, in anti-culture because you're not actually building anything up and I think that's the problem with a lot of online criticism is that it's about being contrarian.

[00:13:39]It's not about actually building anything up.

[00:13:42]And that's why I think that we are quite now living we are right now living in an anti-culture.

[00:13:49]And and I think that this and I'm laughing right now though because a lot of these critics are so are so angry and so mad and upset because the Odyssey is actually doing well critically, commercially and these people are realizing that they actually don't have a lot of power to influence things and that the loudest voices in the room aren't don't always represent the majority opinion.

[00:14:17]And that's the thing that a lot of people don't seem to realize is that the loudest voices in the room rarely represent the majority opinion.

[00:14:26]Now it is said that people who do represent the majority of opinion don't always speak up like they should but when people talk about oh, they need to cater to the taste of us. Well, you're assuming that you actually represent the popular sentiment which obviously the popular sentiment isn't always right of course but you they are assuming that these people are assuming they represent the popular sentiment but then quite often they actually do not represent the popular sentiment at all.

[00:14:56]And no, and so I think that a lot of the criticism around the Odyssey has been a result of of anti-culture.

[00:15:05]When I would I would love to see I would love to see more criticism that is about um, lift Yes, acknowledging mediocrity where it exists which I think is important.

[00:15:15]I'm not asking people to be just positive all the time because I don't want that but also recognizing when when a film or a book or a work of art is truly great because you don't just change culture by tearing things down. You also have to build things up and I think that is what online internet criticism is lacking right now.

[00:15:37]And so I I hope you have enjoyed this video. Again, my books are linked in the description section. My latest book is titled The Ecstasy and the Agony and the Agony.

[00:15:48]It is somewhat a combination between books like A Tale of Two Cities, Anna Karenina, a little bit of Crime and Punishment. It has a very Shakespearean, Dickensian, and Melvillian tone to it. I am also on Patreon now where you can get get access to behind the scenes content about myself. You can get access to updates on my work in progress, The Disappearance of Richard Blackwood. And until next time, goodbye.