Posted on 07/16/2026 5:57:29 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Lupita Nyong’o calls Homer’s 'The Odyssey' sexist, but the ancient epic’s women tell a far different story.
Acclaimed British filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s (The Dark Knight, Oppenheimer) newest film, The Odyssey, opens this week in the United States.
But controversy has already surrounded Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s 2,700-year-old epic poem about Odysseus’s 10-year struggle to return home after the Achaian victory in the decade-long Trojan War.
Some of the film’s actresses have suggested that Nolan is offering a more feminist—and long-overdue—take on the ancient poem. Actress Lupita Nyong’o, in particular, has criticized Homer’s purported sexism.
Perhaps her misreading of Homer stems from her admission that, despite receiving degrees from elite Hampshire College and Yale, the 42-year-old actress had never even read the Odyssey until she was cast in the minor dual roles of Helen and her sister Clytemnestra.
The Odyssey was composed orally sometime around 750–700 B.C., contemporaneously with the rise of the Greek city-state. Along with Homer’s other epic, The Iliad, The Odyssey marks the inauguration of Western literature. Over the next three millennia, it came to be recognized as not only the earliest but also one of the most profound works of Western civilization.
Far from being sexist, Homer’s Odyssey offers a timeless and diverse panorama of powerful, independent, and savvy women.
Take Penelope, the wife of Odysseus and queen of Ithaca. Unquestionably loyal to her missing husband, she outsmarts the bloodthirsty suitors who seek to force her into marriage and seize the kingdom through her steadfast courage and cunning.
She confounds them through a series of brilliant ruses, ultimately enabling her husband’s revenge.
Far different, but equally independent and crafty, are the immortal sorceress Circe and the divine nymph Calypso, who both shelter, seduce, and eventually bond with Odysseus. Both ultimately release him to continue his tragic journey
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
“Rotten Tomato’s has this film at 98% today -by people seen it of course”
It hasn’t been an honest appraisal of movies in a long, long time!
I saw "Supergirl" for free and believe I'm owed a refund.
“ “Rotten Tomato’s has this film at 98% today -by people seen it of course”
It hasn’t been an honest appraisal of movies in a long, long time!”
But free republic is supposed to be?
No one here has seen it.
Why am I responded to you Foul creature
do you really think so?
just curious
of course, it is our schools’ (and parents’) fault
Do I think what?
my fault. i usually include the original poster’s key idea when I’m asking a question about it. my booboo
yours:
that the actress had never even read Iliad/Odyssey ... ”
So what?
98% of the critics on this forum haven’t read it”
Do I think what?
But I’m not one of the ones ranting about how terrible it is. See that’s the point. Everybody ranting about how terrible a movie they can’t possibly have even seen yet is just a whiny baby.
Really there’s a sane way to decide you don’t want see a particular movie, and a silly way. If you need a dozen multicolored paragraphs you’re deep in silly land. The sane way is quick, and simple. Let’s take The Breadwinner, a movie I saw the trailer to far to many times (they spammed that crap everywhere). It looks like a bad remake of Mr Mom, which wasn’t that great. So I didn’t see it. And won’t. See concise, 1 sentence, no colors, no ranting.
Nolan, like so many, has gone full racist. Checked the DEI boxes with a tranny and fake black posing as Greek. This is gonna be a bomb since it is based upon the FemNazi “interpretation” of Homer’s writings..
How noble
Race swapping doesn’t bother you
But Damon in period pieces does
My book shelf has, Virgil’s”The AENEID,” Homer’s “The Odyssey,” and “The ILIAD.” I won’t be inviting her to read them though.
I could introduce her to my three volumes of, “The Gulag Archipelago!”
and “Cancer Ward.”
But that would be a waste of my time.
Who will bet that she is familiar with “DON QUIXOTE?”
YALE? SHAME ON YOU!!!!
You will notice that I am the one not attacking other people (in a demeaning way I might add) for voicing their opinion as you are doing voicing yours.
I did not attack you.
I’m basing my opinion on factual things such as the actual actors cast for the movie, and statements by many of those actors on how they interpreted their role.
If you disagree, that’s fine. But don’t go jumping all over people just because they voice their opinion on things that are facts. You can disagree with me.
You’re just putting WAAAAAAAAAAAY too much work into a movie you don’t want to see. That IS silly. It’s a basic working definition of silly. You don’t want to see it, great don’t see it. But why spare more than 2 thoughts to a movie you don’t want to see?
Which is why I said at the beginning: sounds like a you problem.
So now I’m moving. Enjoy your you problem.
This isn’t critique, this is incessant whining. You can’t critique a movie until you see it. But when you devote as many column inches to whining about a movie that isn’t even out yet and you supposedly won’t see as a good critique by someone that’s actually seen it, you’re just performing.
Actually those videos are absolutely to the benefit of Hollywood. All press is good press. And part of the fun of them is laughing along with them, which means you also have to see the movie. Heck I only watch CinemaSins of movies I’ve seen, and mostly of movies I like, it’s fun to take a humorous critical eye to a movie I enjoy. It’s part of the fun. They had a cottage industry of poking at Oppenheimer too. Didn’t hurt the box office.
No. You can’t. It’s a 3 hour movie. And until you see the bits put together the trailers don’t tell you very much. As for what people say away from it, that’s a different thing.
Just because those movies bombed doesn’t mean anything about the press. Snow White suffered from the same problem all Disney’s “live action” remakes suffer from: nobody really wants to see them. And Supergirl suffered from superhero fatigue, people are largely sick of superhero movies. And DC’s got it worse they’re rebooting, again, after making a bunch of terrible movies. DC fans don’t trust them anymore.
The only thing that screams this movie isn’t good is all the idiots ranting based on NOTHING. They scream plenty. Cause that’s what idiots do.
Oh look you just proved my point. See the idiot brigade decided Page, with ZERO evidence at all, was playing Achilles. But that’s not the role Page is playing. Sinon, a spy. Thus proving my point, you CANNOT critique a movie you haven’t seen. You can’t even get the cast right.
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