they/them/theraclitus

Now, if you have any kind of disability, you know it's fucking annoying go have people make you explain something over and over again, or have people go "oh, you have X? You mean, like the [awful stereotype] thing?"

So, I have realized recently that being Vague As Shit is great for making people leave you the hell alone.

I have autism and anxiety, and with that comes the symptom of selective mutism. If you don't know what that is, Firefox is free. But I had an episode where I couldn't speak today in one of my classes, and knew I would have to explain it to my partner and probably my professor.

This usually goes with me writing that I can't speak, them asking why, me saying selective mutism, and them asking me what that is. Then I have to painstakingly write out an explanation. And, obviously, I'm tired of this. So I tried something new. When he asked, I simply told him I couldn't speak, and when he asked if I physically couldn't or just didn't want to, I just opened my mouth and unleashed the terrifying, awful, broken stuttering that comes out when I try to speak while mute.

His response was "OKAY OKAY OKAY YOU CAN STOP NOW" and he did not question me for the rest of class, and even explained to the professor what was wrong when she tried to make me popcorn read.

This also works on doctors. When I tell doctors I have PCOS, POTS, or hEDS, they usually hear "oh the crazy women self diagnosis disabilities" and treat me accordingly. So, instead I drop unhinged symptoms until they leave me alone.

"Yes, my last menstrual cycle started on December 12th, 2025 and ended January 28th, 2026." "I have experienced several events where I have passed out randomly, yes." "My hip has subluxated six times in the past week."

personally i have stopped caring about the movie itself in terms of whether it's a "good" version of the odyssey. there are things i have heard about it that i think are kind of dumb choices to make but i also like my odysseus to suck bigly and unrepentenly and tbh the version of odysseus in my head is not a very homeric one at all! it's more informed by things like the philoctetes and the aeneid because i personally find those depictions more interesting. there are also things i've heard that intrigue me but i refuse to pay money to see this movie

what i find is more important to focus on is the conversations about things like the treatment of shooting locations or the fucking iranian artifacts turned into jewlery for an american actress to wear while the us is actively waging war against iran. just as any ancient telling of odysseus's story, the nolan odyssey does not exist in a vacuum. i'm sure there are interesting things to analyze in the movie as a story but personally the issue that concerns me more is the analysis of this movie as a way for the classics to once again be interpreted and used by someone from a powerful colonizing nation for entertainment while actively appropriating aspects of other cultures. like it feels like heavy handed satire at this point except it's real. if we're going to give this movie critical attention i just think this is more important to think about than whether the movie is "good"

This kind of assessment creates a false dichotomy of the Smart Reaction of Scholars and the Stupid Reaction of Hoi Polloi, when there are plenty of classical scholars (hi) who also very much dislike what Nolan has done with this text. My thoughts on the film are more aligned with the people bewailing the Nobody episode. Now not all those people have the toolbox I have for criticizing the film, and certainly some of them are being a bit myopic and histrionic about XYZ pet peeve, but that doesn’t mean that they’re seeing problems that aren’t there. I’m one of Martin’s fellow classicists, and I seriously disliked what this film was doing as an adaptation. I’ve had conversations with several of my colleagues who’ve seen the film and had similar thoughts to me. So putting it this way is at best an oversimplification, at worst insufferably smug and elitist.

"what if I've read part of it" if it's a large enough part that you would consider yourself to Have Read It in general contexts, then it counts. if it's not, then it doesn't. only you can be the judge of that, but I'm not giving you a nuance button.

any translations count, but abridged retellings don't