The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan‘s new epic film, The Odyssey, comes out today, and it has received some major backlash from people on the right because of the way Nolan decided to cast the movie. Helen of Troy and Athena are being played by black women – Lupita Nyong’o and Zendaya, the rapper Travis Scott is the narrator of this Greek epic, and 5’ 1” 115 pound, transgender man, Elliot (nee Ellen) Page is playing Sinon, a fierce warrior. It makes no sense. Most of the critics assumed that Nolan has gone woke, and the movie would become something akin to the new iterations of the Star Wars franchise – ‘go woke, go broke’.

For years, white artists have been lectured and screamed at by the woke left about “cultural appropriation”. White musicians are not allowed to cover songs that were originally performed by artists of color. Elvis Presley has been greatly criticized because several of his early recordings are covers of black artists, and there is a strong R&B influence throughout his music. Justin Timberlake was criticized heavily for recording hip-hop songs, even though he performed them much better than many the hip hop artists. 

In movies, we’ve been told again and again and again that it is completely wrong for a white actor or actress to portray a character of color. If you happen to like the original movie, West Side Story, you’re a racist because Natalie Wood, a white actress, portrayed a Hispanic character. It didn’t matter how good of an actress she was and how good the movie is, you’re a racist if you like it because the movie is the prime example of cultural appropriation. 

The left has been very clear that white people are not allowed to perform any art that is somehow connected to people or cultures of color. And if they do, they are immediately labeled a racist. This is what we’ve been told for the past two decades. You can’t do that. Art must be racially and ethnically pure. They have made their point very clear. Every character that is portrayed in a movie or on a TV show, must be racially authentic to who the character is. Black characters can only be portrayed by black actors. Hispanic characters can only be portrayed by Hispanic actors.

The star of the movie, Matt Damon speaks about how difficult The Odessey shoot was. He said every location and every set in the entire movie was more difficult than any one location or set in any of the other movies he has been in because that is how rigorous Christopher Nolan was with the details. After they digitally edited the movie on a computer, Nolan went back to the original analog IMAX film and had that re-cut exactly the same way it had been cut on the computer, because analog film has “infinite gradations of color” compared to the digital, and he used analog in the distribution of the film because he wanted the viewers to see the more precise color. That is how exacting he is with details, getting it right and being authentic in the film, and yet he made these completely inauthentic casting decisions anyway.

So, why would Christopher Nolan do this. It appears to be an unforced error. Or was it? If you have not noticed, Western culture is under attack. The Odyssey is a foundational piece of Western literature. It is an ancient Greek epic poem that was written by Homer around the 8th century B.C. It set the blueprint for the classic "hero's journey" that underpins much of Western literature. It remains one of the oldest stories still read today. 

The left and the woke are actively trying to eliminate Western civilization and Western culture from our society. That is one of the reasons why they are flooding Western countries with millions of migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. They are using mass migration to erase Western culture. High Schools throughout the United States no longer require the teaching of Western civilization – not only the greatest civilization and culture in human history, but also the culture and civilization that are at our country’s roots. It should be the first subject that is taught, not something that has been phased out and replaced by courses in Middle Eastern or Asian studies. Ivy League colleges and Stanford University have greatly reduced their teaching of Western civilization and have dramatically cut their Classics departments.

The modern left views Western civilization as greatly problematic. They focus solely on its darker historical realities like colonialism, slavery, and systemic inequality, and ignore all the greatness that Western civilization has brought to the world. So, if Christopher Nolan made an epic movie based on one of the most foundational pieces of Western literature and cast the movie entirely with white actors and actresses, he would be immediately cancelled by the left. The left-wing media and movie critics would absolutely destroy the movie regardless of how good it was. There would be boycotts in front of the movie theatres. It would be panned as another movie about a white male protagonist hero.

The very successful Broadway musical, Hamilton, which is about the founding fathers of our country who were 100% white and of European descent, were all portrayed by black performers, and the critics gushed over it. That musical would never have been able to be made with white actors. It could only have been made with black actors. The left hates the founding fathers. They view the founding fathers as patriarchal, racist, slave owners who colonized this land and stole it from the indigenous people, yet, the play about the founding fathers became one of the most successful and critically acclaimed musicals in Broadway history, grossing over $1 billion worldwide, winning 11 Tony Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and a Grammy. And it achieved all that because it only cast black actors. It never would have gotten off the ground if they cast white performers. The backlash from the left would have been too great.

Nolan knew exactly what he was doing. He made these apparently “woke” casting decisions to shut up the critics on the left who hate Western culture and have been indoctrinated to knee-jerk hate this movie. Nolan cast black actresses in white roles and a frail transman as a fierce warrior to throw a bone to the far left to keep them quiet. And it has worked. Most of the critics on the left have been praising the movie that their politics informs them to hate. Nolan put them in a no-win situation. To steal a metaphor from The Odessey, they are caught between Scylla and Charybdis. If they attack the movie then they are the same side as the critics on the right who they hate; but if they praise the movie, then they are praising a classic of Western culture which they hate.

It’s easy to call Christopher Nolan a coward for not standing up to the left, but it’s much safer and easier to draw the ire of people on the right. They simply decide not to go to your movie, and move on. The people on the left, if they don’t like what you’re doing, they assassinate you. Charlie Kirk was teaching about Christianity and the founding principles of the United States, when he took a bullet to the neck from some far-left loon, because of it. Christopher Nolan is making a movie based on a work that is the foundation of Western culture, I wouldn’t put it past a wacko on the left to try to take him out because they thought he is promoting the evil Western civilization.

Ultimately, I don’t know how this movie’s going to do. It could be a complete flop; it could become an all-time classic, despite the miscasting of certain characters. What I do know is that the far-left critics have already written their reviews and they will give it five stars simply because of the way it was cast, and many people on the right won’t go to the movie or they will pan it because of the way it was cast. Ultimately, that’s the problem with so many things these days, especially in the arts. Once you politicize art, you destroy art. And this movie was politicized long before they began shooting. In the end, the left destroys everything it touches because it politicizes everything it touches.

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Mr. Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.