Okay. For my money, the entire thesis of Chris Nolanās 2026 film The Odyssey is that society chokes and sputters and dies when we abuse, ignore, or violate social norms like the laws of hospitality. That is not really what The Odyssey (the book/poem) is about, but I can clearly see why in the horror that is the 2020s, someone could read The Odyssey and go oh my god thatās a lot of bad dropping in. Thatās a lot of bad visits. Thatās a clear vision of how the loss of social norms and cohesion fucks you up and how war, literal, brutal war, is a terrible wound that destroys your humanity and your understanding of what civilization and society is. I donāt know that the iteration of Greek society that ultimately birthed the poem would agree with Nolanās take, but I think this movie is quite ideologically coherent, that Nolan knew exactly what he was trying to say with each and every adaptational change, and I think he wasnāt nuts for using one of the most famous classical western civilization works as a way to make that argument.
