Keeper

Like don’t get my wrong, I love that bit as much as the next person but saying that it’s so central to his character that not including it is disloyal to the original is just kinda dumb and annoying to me. The original character of Odysseus is so complex that trying to narrow him down to one point is just kinda shallow and closed minded. I appreciate the reading of Ody has tricksy and clever, and I appreciate the reading that it’s important bc he’s very clearly not nobody. But also, he’s so much more than that. And I think that in this adaptation, the nobody bit would actually take away from the story.

Odysseus is a strategist. He’s cunning and immensely smart and so much more than just a clever little prankster. The strictly “clever” reading of him reads really well to a modern audience, and also to a younger audience like the people who were forced to read the Odyssey in high school. He gets the job done and he’s really smart about it and THATS the point of the nobody bit.

Also the nobody bit just straight doesn’t translate well into English because it’s an Ancient Greek pun, but that’s beside my point.

In Nolan’s adaptation, the nobody bit isn’t important for Odysseus’ character, and I don’t think that makes it disloyal to the text at all. In fact, for the version of this story that Nolan decided to tell, I think it would have actually taken away from Odysseus’ character. This version of Odysseus doesn’t have the time or mental capacity for joking around. Nothing about this version of the odyssey is something that should have jokes or puns or clever word play because it’s a Christopher Nolan film.

Also, the way that Nolan chose to do the cyclops doesn’t have a need for the nobody scene. I much preferred this version of a cyclops that is simply a monster with nothing human about it to a monster that Ody could have had a conversation with for this adaptation specifically. Also, there weren’t other Cyclopes. There was no reason for the nobody bit to happen.

I think most of the critique I’ve seen people talk about for this film comes from a place of not understanding or respecting the art of adaptation. If you wanted something perfectly true to the original, go read the odyssey. Even better, learn some Ancient Greek and go listen to a bard recite it in dactyllic hexameter. Honestly, I think this was maybe my favorite movie I’ve ever seen. I thought it was amazing. And as far as adaptations go, it was very true to the original text and also the mythos and tradition of the odyssey. For this VERSION of Odysseus, the nobody scene wasn’t important, and for the VERSION of this story that Nolan chose to tell, it wasn’t important. For this INTERPRETATION of the cyclops, it wasn’t important either.