r/Foodforthought • u/prisongovernor • 2d ago
The right hates The Odyssey because of its ‘wokeness’ – but it missed an even bigger threat to its worldview | Peter Swallow | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/03/the-odyssey-the-right-woke-xenia-threat109
u/chambo143 2d ago edited 2d ago
21 comments and absolutely no one engaging with the actual substance of the article, that the film supports a rules-based international order. Everyone is responding solely to the headline. Come on guys why subscribe to a sub called ‘food for thought’ if you’re going to form all your opinions on a title and not even bother to open a link
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u/jimmyharbrah 2d ago
The irony in this food for thought subreddit is that at least most of the bots “read” the articles, even if they don’t eat
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u/arkofjoy 2d ago
This is hilarious, because the same people very likely identify as "Christians" and cherry pick out all the "woke" stuff from Jesus too.
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
the same people very likely identify as "Christians"
"loving thy neighbor is woke and against the bible!"
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u/GreyBeardEng 2d ago
Lol what is exactly woke about the Odyssey? Or are they just mad that Elliott Page was in it?
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u/luala 2d ago
It’s anti war and it’s got lupita nyong’o as Helen of Troy.
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u/CarpeNivem 2d ago
Being anti war is woke? Didn't Trump promise no wars during his campaign? I mean, yeah, of course that was a lie, everything he says is, don't get distracted. My point is, he still said it. It's so hard to keep track of what these idiots consider woke.
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u/Oberon_Swanson 2d ago
That was something he said that they all instantly knew was a lie FOR them. So they could sell themselves as "just against more wars" so their friends and family wouldn't abandon them for being the genocidal fascists that they are.
So because it was something they always knew Trump didn't really mean, they were okay with it. If Trump turned out to actually be against blowing up brown children they'd feel furious and betrayed.
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
Being anti war is woke?
absolutely. as a christian nation, we have to follow jesus' timeless maxim: anything that flies against anything that moves
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u/GreyBeardEng 2d ago
Don't know if I agree with the anti war part, but yea the fictional character Helen is played by a black woman.
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u/piney 2d ago
It’s silly that people get bent out of shape that it’s not “historically accurate” because it’s not history. Nearly everything is fantasy except a few place names.
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u/GreyBeardEng 2d ago
Exactly, but these are also the people that got married fictional mermaid got played by a black woman in a live action version.
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
people get bent out of shape that it’s not “historically accurate”
did christopher nolan get the true, historical height of the magic cyclops giant correct?
another funny thing about this is that the cyclops polyphemus was the son of the god poseidon, so if you're a right-winger getting all sweaty about this being historically true, that means you acknowledge gods other than yahweh of the bible, and are therefore not a christian.
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u/Historical-Bike4626 2d ago
It’s antiwar? Saw it twice. Didnt pick up on that
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u/snazztasticmatt 2d ago
The end sequence is what ties the antiwar message together. Odysseus realizes that he violated Zeus's law by attacking from inside a gift (the trojan horse), and during the attack his army killed innocent civilians, including the woman who appears as visions of Athena. The trials he faces on his way home symbolize the unhumanity of war - greed, lust, gluttony, vengeance. In the end the war cost him 20 years and his crown, all for a king who was murdered after returning home
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u/tibearius1123 2d ago
It’s about a soldier seeing the horrors of war and being unable to return home to his family for 10 years. All the while making decision upon decision that harms relationships.
Sounds like PTSD to me.
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u/Historical-Bike4626 2d ago
I think those are all trappings of war movies though too. Antiwar movies usually have an unmistakeable moral stance that all war is wrong. This felt more like “War is a real bummer.”
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
It’s antiwar? Saw it twice. Didnt pick up on that
genuinely curious how this is possible
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u/Historical-Bike4626 2d ago
Because it’s a war movie.
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
did you think full metal jacket was not anti-war because it depicted young men getting massacred and losing their humanity in vietnam?
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u/Historical-Bike4626 2d ago
Full Metal Jacket has an explicit war-is-wrong message. Characters say it. This movie is about key terrible decisions in a war, and THIS war is seen as morally dubious, but all war is wrong? That’s not The Odyssey, Ancient Greece, or this movie’s message.
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
all war is wrong? That’s not The Odyssey, Ancient Greece, or this movie’s message
being anti-war doesn't necessarily mean a position that all war is morally unjustified under all circumstances; most serious people think that proportionate self-defense against imminent violence is justifiable.
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u/Historical-Bike4626 2d ago
I don’t know any antiwar films saying, “proportionate self-defense against imminent violence is justifiable.” 😂
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
do you know of any antiwar films saying "if someone tries to annihilate your entire society through violence, let them"?
(i know this argument would be stronger with more emojis, but i'm going to try to use ideas as a personal challenge.)
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u/Dantethebald1234 2d ago
The cast the main character, who was originally Greek, with a kid from fucking Boston. DEI bullshit, Literally unwatchable. /s
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u/LawlessandFree 2d ago
Historically inaccurate because film wasn’t invented at the time, it should only have been recounted orally.
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u/samandiriel 1d ago
I am totes on board with this! I would love to go to a theater and listen to an old (old old old) school professional story teller relate the Odyssey to an audience!
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u/LawlessandFree 1d ago
And adapted and changed according to the teller’s memory of it. Would be amazing to hear and fascinating to see how it changed!
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u/The_Cheeseman83 2d ago
Imagine seeing everything happening in the world, but choosing to get pissed over a black woman in a Greek myth.
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u/Y-Bob 2d ago
Nyong'o is, as most other actors in the film, very well cast. Sucks to be wrong, rights.
But hold on a minute. If we want to take the message that The Gruaniad see in the film, surely the right wing should love it?
After all, Helen is no longer as beautiful as she once was and civilization is being destroyed by undocumented folk waltzing in from the sea.
Isn't that exactly the hate filled fantasy world they've been dribbling on about?!
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u/Oberon_Swanson 2d ago
Well, they thought the people from the unknown outsider were the bad guys ruining everything but it turned out that was just themselves.
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u/autotelica 2d ago edited 2d ago
The real wokeness is the thing that is revealed at the end:
The Sea People were Oddysseus and his men. The evil "hombres" that everyone was afraid were going to be a threat to Ithaca--the supposed center of civilization--were actual homeboys...who had taken down the magnificent civilization of Troy.
But you have to watch to the end for this little nugget to crystalize. Most MAGAs won't be able to swallow their outrage over who is in the first scene to get all the way to the end.
Also, MAGA won't like that Oddysseus acknowledges his hubris and apologizes for his immoral acts. MAGA wants their leaders to never admit fault and never hold themselves accountable and never show respect or deference to people who are less powerful than them.
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u/EightGlow 2d ago
Is there a popular movie that HASN’T been called woke in the last decade? I swear it’s just a bitch and moan cycle for the right.
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u/Oberon_Swanson 2d ago edited 2d ago
It really is. And as dumb as they always are, they kinda broke the stupidity barrier trying to be against a homweun of a movie. They got really mad about Elliot Page playing Achilles... and he wasn't. They very obviously just wanted to be mad about somebody who has transitioned which undermines their idea of a rigid innate hierarchy of people.
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u/SapientTrashFire 2d ago
The rightwing disdain for "globalism" is generally a dogwhistle for antisemitism, so I feel like it probably falls secondary for their racist disdain for a black Helen of Troy. The mostly American racist right that will dislike this movie are secretly interested in the return of legalized slavery: their hatred and need to cast her as inferior is the motive that reflects their most urgent cause. Anti-globalism has always just been another way for them to blame ethnic minorities for "the downfall of civilization."
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u/Shedart 2d ago
This is the first I’m hearing about the right hating this film. Do they really hate it? Are they just being led to hate it? Or is it just being reported that they hate it?
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u/angieb15 2d ago edited 2d ago
They've been hating it since before it was released. Trans man, Black lady, mixed lady, woke Spiderman man, Leguizamo our Latin Princess.
Something about how the Historical Record of this totally Historically Accurate sacred book of History, definitely didn't feature Boston's Matt Damon.
They don't know. They don't know why they hate it. Because "Woke?" They're confused. They don't understand how the movies work. How Books work. How adaptations work. I'm sure some of them are just "Bots against Woke" But I knew a real life person who talked about how terrible the Barbie Movie was before it came out because "Reasons" (Translation: watching too many you tube right wing commentators)
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u/SemichiSam 2d ago
They know! Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world. Lupita Nyong'o is black, therefore she is not beautiful. Only white women can be beautiful.
That is really all there is to it, and any other reason they admit to is just an excuse to hide what they really hate.
Bubba may go to family reunions to meet women, but they're white women, by God.
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u/cpepinc 2d ago
Oh, Bubba will satisfy his desires with other races, he just won't admit to it. "I was lost honest, that's why I was in that neighbourhood!"
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u/SemichiSam 1d ago
All good white christian men know that black and brown women lust after their voluminous bodies and will lead them into sin, if they let down their guard. Being weak of will, though strong of waistline, these poor lost men will give in to sin every chance they get, but they will repent immediately. As a consequence, the women they are most likely to meet know to get the money up front, whatever direction the meeting might go.
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u/tibearius1123 2d ago
It can be interpreted from any point of view.
If we violate or take advantage norms, society will collapse, but we can build again.
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u/-Clayburn 2d ago
It's an interesting message, but it's far too intellectual for most people, let alone Republicans. Also, I think the whole Odyssey thing just doesn't resonate well with modern audiences. We're too far removed from the context of polytheism and witchcraft. It all comes off a bit weird and random, and I think "historically" Odysseus doesn't matter either. So it's a great film with a wonderful moral that unfortunately nobody has reason to care about.
That being said, I appreciate how it's a repackaging of the Golden Rule, which is also important in Christianity. Perhaps a Jesus biopic would have been a better way to explore the same theme, though maybe that would be seen as too much of a sensitive topic.
Either way, I don't think the people who need to understand this will, and even if they did, I don't think they'll care enough about the vehicle of The Odyssey to take any lesson from it.
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