Why Is Christopher Nolan's Odyssey Controversial?

Tom Holland (0:07)

Hello everyone, Callum era. You should have received two episodes about The Odyssey, released of course to coincide partly with the release of the Christopher Nolan film. And those of you who have listened to the two episodes will know that we were using a very precise translation. And it's the translation by the great Daniel Mendelsohn, who we had on about a year ago when his translation came out. And I'm delighted to say that Daniel is back with us today to talk over a few of the more controversial aspects of the Christopher Nolan film. Neither of us, we have to say at this point, have seen it. So we're going entirely on the previews and on the pre-release chat. But already it has thrown up a couple of controversies, I guess. And then we thought we might look at some of the issues that we didn't have time to discuss in the two main episodes, which you will have received. So Daniel, welcome back to The Rest Is History.

Daniel Mendelsohn (1:06)

Thank you. I'm glad to be back.

Tom Holland (1:08)

It's been quite an odyssey the whole year. You could have spent it on Cersei's Island or whatever.

Anyway, it's wonderful to have you back. And let's just have a look at some of the controversies that have blown up and have been very much online. And I see that you've been engaging with some of them on X. Which of the controversies have particularly grabbed your attention?

Daniel Mendelsohn (1:33)

Well, I think the biggest one and the one that people are most likely to be familiar with is a tremendous controversy about Christopher Nolan's casting and particularly his casting of the actress Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy, which has excited the Homeric wrath of a number of people, not least of whom is Elon Musk, who has denounced this choice on the part of Christopher Nolan. He says that Nolan has lost his integrity. Shame on Christopher Nolan for desecrating Homer. He'll never live it down. Pissing on Homer's grave. So you can see why it's been controversial. And of course, it's all about the fact that according to these vociferous critics of Nolan's choice, a white actress ought to have been chosen to portray Helen of Troy. And this has created a tremendous amount of online fuss about what Helen looked like.

Tom Holland (2:29)

Danny, can I just ask, it is specifically a white actress, is it, rather than say, a Greek actress?

Daniel Mendelsohn (2:35)

Yes.

And their argument is that if a white actress were cast as a famous black figure, everybody would be up in arms. So this has generated a lot of discussion about what Helen of Troy actually looked like.

Tom Holland (2:49)

Yeah. I mean, she didn't exist, so...

Daniel Mendelsohn (2:53)

Well, that's it. As some classicists have pointed out, you know, you're talking about a character who was hatched from an egg. So the whole question of realism is a little bit silly, although there are some serious and interesting considerations that flow from this, you know, starting with the fact that Homer barely describes Helen of Troy. Homer very cannily withholds descriptions of Helen. So you're always sort of having to imagine her.

Tom Holland (3:21)

Well, because she is the most beautiful woman in the world, she is the daughter of Zeus. It's very difficult, isn't it, to evoke absolute beauty. It's much better just to leave it a blank and that the individual listener can project his or her kind of ideals onto that blank.

Daniel Mendelsohn (3:40)

Exactly. Although it's not Homer who refers to her, by the way, as the most beautiful woman in the world. The first person to refer to her that way, as far as I know, is the lyric poet Sappho in one of her poems about Helen, Sappho fragment 16 She calls her the most beautiful of all mortals. Homer actually only, as far as I know, has two adjectives for Helen of Troy. And they're both very conventional when describing beauty. One is calicomos, meaning she has very nice hair.

He doesn't say what color it is, whether it's curly or straight. And he calls her white-armed.

Tom Holland (4:15)

Right. So I wanted to ask you about that, because that is a kind of standard epithet, isn't it, for women in Homer.

Daniel Mendelsohn (4:22)

Yes. And that's because women remained within doors. Women culturally were expected to remain indoors, and therefore their skin was fair, whereas men are always depicted as having sort of bronzed skin.

Tom Holland (4:36)

Or I suppose upper-class women would also be a kind of class dimension, because if you're a slave or whatever, working out in the fields or in the yard or whatever, then you, then you tan. So it's a bit like in Victorian times, the paler your skin, the more upper-class you look.