Elon Musk says Christopher Nolan is desecrating the greatest story in Western literature by turning Homer’s Odyssey into yet another pile of woke slop.
One correction, as an European, olive skin is basically white tanned, so technically Ancient Greeks were basically white, just in the Mediterranean sense.
Also, I personally doubt that Nolan’s film will be great based on the fact that its trailer alone seems to be made as a “so bad it’s good” experience, which cannot be considered a serious work of art. Also, artists can change in their mindsets, and not always for the better.
But since the film is not out yet, it remains to be seen how it will turn out.
Just based on his resume so far, I'm willing to give him a chance to disappoint me. I certainly will not be boycotting the film, as some folks are, because then I think you disqualify yourself from having an informed opinion.
"Honestly, why are people like this seemingly incapable of grasping the very simple concept that people dislike propaganda? You may not agree that this particular film is woke, but if you literally cannot grok the fact that people are mad because they think yet another film is preaching the same ideology, or you cannot see how this film maps onto that ideology, and instead all you can come up with is that it must be because the critics are racist transphobes, then maybe you’re just too stupid for life."
Page can’t play Achilles because she was born female, and females do not have the strength of a man, period. Andrew Klavan talks about this often. He was a Hollywood film writer, and Clint Eastwood made one of his books into a movie.
Klavan says that every time a woman beats up a man in the movies, he laughs. That’s not how reality works. People born male have much stronger bodies. I don’t care how fast Page is, she’s not faster than the average man I bet; and certainly not stronger or a better fighter.
Remember when both Serena and Venus Williams played a man ranked 203rd in men’s tennis, and he beat them both?
Biological male strength is a thing, and I think we should be grateful for it, because it has built the society we live in. Women have their strengths too, just different ones.
Agreed. When you see a woman in a movie knock a dude out with one punch or something similar because she's a girlboss, every man who has ever actually hit another man or been in an actual fight just sees that shit and laughs. It's like watching your 3-year-old daughter talk about how she can do surgery. You love her, so you just nod and play along. But you don't take it seriously because you're not an idiot.
To quote Bo Burnam, it's "the backlash to the backlash to the thing that's just begun." But seriously, it's just the current Thing. The latest chapter in the Discourse. I agree with you that, technically speaking, one should watch the movie before having an opinion. But in another sense, when society is talking about X, then X gives you an opportunity to talk about society, and how society talks about things like X, and that's what I tried to do. I would never try to write a move review about a movie I haven't seen.
I'm not sure a 2017 Esquire article should count as a non-woke source regarding "beautiful women". 2017 was well into the woke era and one year after the first "plus sized" SI swimsuit cover model.
Kidding aside, I’ll put my opinion this way: The touring company for Spamalot is coming to Chicago, and it appears the lead is black as are some others in the cast. Internally I did a little double-take, but then I think the only ethical stance is to shrug, because how the hell is it right to object to someone who looks like my geeky friends in high school getting a role they’d absolutely love to play? That casting ought to be unremarkable.
“But what about white people playing black roles?” Until recently, there was a way to do this with voiceover work. *That’s* where things have gone off the rails. And look, there’s ways to do that well, and ways to do that badly that are effectively racist minstrelry (and keep in mind, that was also one way until Eddie Murphy and the Wayans Brothers in the ‘80s)
So you’re not going to get a hard and fast rule or perfect balance, even if we can get past this contemporary neuroticism where, to invert Chris Rock, “If it’s white, it’s not alright!”
In the interests of sincere accuracy in casting, I demand an all-swarthy cast for this movie! Oscar Isaac, John Tuturro, Tony Shaloub as the headliners. Make. This. Happen.
I hate the woke shit as much as the next guy BUT it occurred to me that maybe one way to look at this, instead of as cultural vandalism, is that it’s the fruition of western hegemony. The odyssey is lore of western civilization to which all these racial groups actually belong. Maybe it’s almost better that they’re signed on to representing it rather than indulging in the vanity of ethnic identity. I’m likely far too optimistic tho
One correction, as an European, olive skin is basically white tanned, so technically Ancient Greeks were basically white, just in the Mediterranean sense.
Also, I personally doubt that Nolan’s film will be great based on the fact that its trailer alone seems to be made as a “so bad it’s good” experience, which cannot be considered a serious work of art. Also, artists can change in their mindsets, and not always for the better.
But since the film is not out yet, it remains to be seen how it will turn out.
Just based on his resume so far, I'm willing to give him a chance to disappoint me. I certainly will not be boycotting the film, as some folks are, because then I think you disqualify yourself from having an informed opinion.
"Honestly, why are people like this seemingly incapable of grasping the very simple concept that people dislike propaganda? You may not agree that this particular film is woke, but if you literally cannot grok the fact that people are mad because they think yet another film is preaching the same ideology, or you cannot see how this film maps onto that ideology, and instead all you can come up with is that it must be because the critics are racist transphobes, then maybe you’re just too stupid for life."
They aren't stupid. They are dishonest.
This bit made me laugh out loud. So true.
Page can’t play Achilles because she was born female, and females do not have the strength of a man, period. Andrew Klavan talks about this often. He was a Hollywood film writer, and Clint Eastwood made one of his books into a movie.
Klavan says that every time a woman beats up a man in the movies, he laughs. That’s not how reality works. People born male have much stronger bodies. I don’t care how fast Page is, she’s not faster than the average man I bet; and certainly not stronger or a better fighter.
Remember when both Serena and Venus Williams played a man ranked 203rd in men’s tennis, and he beat them both?
Biological male strength is a thing, and I think we should be grateful for it, because it has built the society we live in. Women have their strengths too, just different ones.
Agreed. When you see a woman in a movie knock a dude out with one punch or something similar because she's a girlboss, every man who has ever actually hit another man or been in an actual fight just sees that shit and laughs. It's like watching your 3-year-old daughter talk about how she can do surgery. You love her, so you just nod and play along. But you don't take it seriously because you're not an idiot.
it’s not even out yet what are we doing
To quote Bo Burnam, it's "the backlash to the backlash to the thing that's just begun." But seriously, it's just the current Thing. The latest chapter in the Discourse. I agree with you that, technically speaking, one should watch the movie before having an opinion. But in another sense, when society is talking about X, then X gives you an opportunity to talk about society, and how society talks about things like X, and that's what I tried to do. I would never try to write a move review about a movie I haven't seen.
I'm not sure a 2017 Esquire article should count as a non-woke source regarding "beautiful women". 2017 was well into the woke era and one year after the first "plus sized" SI swimsuit cover model.
Matt Damon looks like a barbarian of the Schwarzwald who happened upon a cache of Greek arms and armor.
Kidding aside, I’ll put my opinion this way: The touring company for Spamalot is coming to Chicago, and it appears the lead is black as are some others in the cast. Internally I did a little double-take, but then I think the only ethical stance is to shrug, because how the hell is it right to object to someone who looks like my geeky friends in high school getting a role they’d absolutely love to play? That casting ought to be unremarkable.
“But what about white people playing black roles?” Until recently, there was a way to do this with voiceover work. *That’s* where things have gone off the rails. And look, there’s ways to do that well, and ways to do that badly that are effectively racist minstrelry (and keep in mind, that was also one way until Eddie Murphy and the Wayans Brothers in the ‘80s)
So you’re not going to get a hard and fast rule or perfect balance, even if we can get past this contemporary neuroticism where, to invert Chris Rock, “If it’s white, it’s not alright!”
In the interests of sincere accuracy in casting, I demand an all-swarthy cast for this movie! Oscar Isaac, John Tuturro, Tony Shaloub as the headliners. Make. This. Happen.
This movie is Tashlan-approved.
As such no one in our family is interested and it’s a shame because we love Nolan’s work.
Hmm...then why did Grok like the flick so much?
Grok is based and therefore spends a lot of time thinking about Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece.
Damn. Now I feel like I need to write my own essay on this topic sooner or risk getting swept away. 😂
Drop a link if you do.
I hate the woke shit as much as the next guy BUT it occurred to me that maybe one way to look at this, instead of as cultural vandalism, is that it’s the fruition of western hegemony. The odyssey is lore of western civilization to which all these racial groups actually belong. Maybe it’s almost better that they’re signed on to representing it rather than indulging in the vanity of ethnic identity. I’m likely far too optimistic tho