Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has finally arrived in cinemas, generating near-universal rave reviews from critics but also a wave of incensed backlash on social media. The backlash, ironically, is coming almost exclusively from people who have not yet seen the film.
Critic's positive review sparks torrent of abuse
Tori Brazier, a senior film and entertainment reporter, shared a quick positive opinion about The Odyssey on X following the world premiere. Within hours, she received hundreds of comments calling her a 'crazy liberal b***h' and a 'hideous feminazi-looking grifter'. She was told by Elon Musk's fans that the movie was 'woke garbage', anti-white, and that she was a paid shill for Universal Studios and a Joe Biden voter, despite being British.
Musk fuels anti-Odyssey frenzy
Elon Musk himself helped whip up the frenzy on his platform, dropping into conversations to agree that the adaptation had no merit. The ex-trillionaire criticized the casting of Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy, claiming Nolan had 'lost his integrity' and was 'pissing on Homer's grave' by casting a Black actress as the most beautiful woman in the world. He also questioned the masculinity of trans star Elliot Page, who plays Ithacan soldier Sinon, and called historian and podcast host Tom Holland a 'cuck'.
Ignorance about source material
Brazier points out that The Odyssey is drawn from Greek mythology, not history. Helen never existed, and in the legend she famously hatched from an egg after Zeus raped her mortal mother while disguised as a swan. 'How people can then become enraged at this not-real character not being blonde-haired and blue-eyed is simply unhinged and racist,' she writes.
Musk and his followers have held up Wolfgang Peterson's 2004 movie Troy as a superior adaptation, but Brazier notes that Troy took massive liberties with the source material, such as killing off key figures whose deaths would completely collapse subsequent Greek myths.
Nolan dismisses pre-release criticism
Nolan himself brushed off negative opinions from Musk, MAGA pundits, and archaeologists griping about inaccurate costume and boat design, calling them 'irrelevant because no one having them knows what the film is yet'. Brazier emphasizes that adaptations are a matter of personal interpretation, not a nefarious globalist agenda.
Brazier, who studied classics at university, acknowledges that Nolan's version doesn't exactly match the one in her head, but argues that the story has survived and been re-shaped for audiences across thousands of years. 'It's valid to have discussions about its merits as a movie and adaptation,' she writes. 'It's not valid, however, to use discussions as an excuse to echo racist, transphobic, and frankly preposterous talking points.'
Hope for future discourse
Brazier expresses hope that discussions will focus on genuine concerns, such as the lack of Greek representation in the cast, rather than the toxic rhetoric amplified by Musk. She believes this is just the beginning of the film industry re-embracing sword-and-sandal epics, and with renewed interest will come greater opportunities for all who care about Odysseus and company.
