23 Comments

I also had a long, long Troy phase. Someone needs to form a support group for people like us...

I really liked this. Parsing your Greek took me right back to learning it at school, and made me desperate to go back to Athens. Did you ever read Pat Barker's books? The Silence of the Girls is really more about the Iliad, but in the context of a consideration of all the different recent interpretations of Homer I'd guess it's one of the most popular (though, yeah, not a film). And my guess is that it could be a good example of what you said you don't want: a modern-day feminist retelling of a Bronze Age story (see also: Madeline Miller and all her imitators).

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Troy gang we've arrived 🫡🫡🫡 I have not read Barker's books - let me check them out. Same here - I've now got a strange nostalgia towards these works so I'm looking to read more stuff around them, thank you for your recommendation! And yeah...def not looking for Miller-like prose in the dialogue. I'll stick to my Tumblr fanfiction

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You are that damn good! Great, I mean. You know your craft. You know how to say it so simple and with elegance. The words flow. Thanks for the read. Until then, I'm No One. Keep doing your thing.

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Thank YOU so much Ulysses 💖 Means the world to me

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I hope Nolans odyssey will be more like Eggers Northman than Gladiator II. In his previous films Nolan showed that he cared about physics(Interstellar black hole is the most accurate). I hope he cares also about history and mythology. I think the costumes will look authentic and his insistence on practical effects will create something that will look good.

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wit and wisdom....a homerun

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💗💗💗

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I could read your writing all fucking day.

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Nick, you're making me cry 😭❤️ Thank you for your support!

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Phenomenal, Sophie! Your approach, blending lived-in cultural experience with analysis is just fantastic (and super informative). You’re spot on: if any of our modern filmmakers could take on this task it would be Nolan and yet, there is some trepidation because of that choice, as well.

It will be fascinating to see just how it plays out.

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RYAN!! Thank you so much for your comment ❤️❤️ Yesss, it's so interesting. I'm not as concerned about Nolan getting the plot right but he'll have to use some entirely new film grammar and be ready to get uncomfortable with depictions of violence, exploitation, power structures etc.

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Of course! It really is, hey? Within the framework of his career, as you've highlighted, you can definitely see the thematic language he's developed but the bigger question will be if that evolution/small scale maturity in a post-Oppenheimer world is wholly transferable. I think it is but again, not without quite a few caveats.

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I told you! Not like the others. Purely and brilliantly you. μπράβο!

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Thank YOU omg 🥹🥹💖

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Excellent. So many good phrases.

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Thank you so much, Brendan!

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As a college Classics major the apex of my studies was reading Odyssey in Ancient Greek. In unpacking so many of the glorious attributes of the poem, you very well may give way more credit to Nolan’s ability to handle this material than is due, but at least your readers will understand what all is lacking when they see the film, as no movie can represent the entire tale — and indeed Nolan has yet to put a complex female character on screen. Thank you! I’m sure I’ll read this essay as many times as I watched Tenet. Not because it’s incomprehensible, but because, dense and erudite, it rewards pondering.

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Thank you so much for your comment, Josh (and for supporting my writing!). Absolutely, I hope it comes across that I think he's uniquely suited for the role on so many aspects. As long as he gets the female agency/the woman-rich aspect right, I'll be very happy! He's a fave director of mine.

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Great essay!

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Thank you so much, Andrew!!

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Is the Tsangaris translated into English? I’d love to read it.

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I'm afraid the interview is from a Greek media outlet but I'm sure you can auto translate it on Chrome: https://www.lifo.gr/culture/vivlio/giati-i-omiroy-odysseia-theoreitai-i-oraioteri-istoria-toy-kosmoy-dyo-kathigites

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Thx!

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