Speaking of language and fantasy, I could not help commenting on the latest Hollywood blockbuster by acclaimed director Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey. This movie has generated some controversy over a range of issues from casting to language, reflected in the gap between professional critical reviews which shower it with effusive praise, and more divided audience reactions which range from enthusiasm to anger.
Having seen the film, I found that the controversial casting choices are something the viewer can adapt to and accept over the course of such a long film. What I could not accept was the use of language, with characters employing modern American accents in a way supposedly designed to make the Odyssey “relatable” and “accessible” to modern viewers.
This to me is an intolerable mistake. The Odyssey never employed accessible language, as even when performed in Ancient Greece as a play, the language was a formal, archaic and poetic type very different than the ordinary spoken Greek of the agora. This was to signal to the viewer that they had been removed from the mundane everyday world they lived in, into an elevated and mythic past. The characters themselves are not meant to be relatable, for they are mythic archetypes used to explore themes like hubris, nemesis, betrayal, loyalty and longing for home. And I dare ask, how can any character from a 3000 year-old epic be relatable, or someone who could represent the viewer? That there should be an attempt to make them so profoundly misunderstands not only the text, but fantasy epics as a genre (or else it deliberately “deconstructs” them in a dubious attempt to be clever.)
The use of more formal language helps to detach the reader or viewer from the present day and immerse them in this world of mythic archetypes, gods and monsters, where magic is woven into the fabric of existence and the fantastic is around every corner. So, when we hear Odysseus talk as if he is stuck in the drive-through of a Boston Dunkin Donuts, or Antinous and Telemachus sound like rivals carping at each other in a Southern California high school cafeteria, the effect is jarring. The viewer is immediately pulled out of the epic scenescape of the film, and reminded they are watching modern actors larping as the characters they are playing.
Ultimately, while the movie is visually spectacular and has some thrills and twists, I simply couldn’t get over the constant interruption of my immersion in this world through the inappropriate choice of language, for which the director is solely responsible. Moreover I do not accept that language in a mythological or fantasy epic film must be modern to be accessible to the viewer. If it does, then how did The Lord of the Rings film trilogy enjoy massive popularity and financial success when it is replete with examples of formal and elevated language, such as much of the dialogue of Theoden King?
I suspect that in time, the critical praise for The Odyssey will not age well, and the film will be judged unworthy of it. But, what are your views?
