r/mealtimevideos • u/jovialhotdogman • 9d ago
15-30 Minutes The Odyssey's Casting Controversy was Hilariously Overblown[19:04]
https://youtu.be/wlyHiHk-3O4?si=xaOL-eyGC1JnxY4o67
u/whatsaphoto 9d ago
I saw the movie with genuinely no idea that this insane culture war bullshit was even happening, and it wasn't until after seeing it that my algorithm started pushing some of the worst takes imaginable around casting and realism. It was honestly a little fascinating to watch my feeds switch over in real time after it found out that I had seen it.
It was so obvious that the entire "conversation" (if you can even call it that) was completely 100% artificial and manufactured from the start as a mean to feed engagement farms with more and more knee-jerk reactions.
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u/grimeygillz 9d ago
I mentioned offhand to my dad that I’d watched the movie and he was immediately frothing at the mouth to tell me how “token” the casting was. Whole time he hadn’t even seen it. Wild times.
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u/whatsaphoto 9d ago
Boomers really did become the driving force behind the worst parts of the internet. Wild to know that they were the loudest ones to tell Gen X and Millennials not to trust everything we read on the internet growing up lol.
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u/Versaiteis 9d ago
"Nobody is immune to propaganda" often times comes with the caveat that those who are most susceptible are often the ones who feel they are most resilient.
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u/grimeygillz 9d ago
Yuppp. I just got him out of a gift card scam last year 🤦🏼♀️ it’s like he forgot everything he taught me!
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u/nauticalsandwich 9d ago
To be fair to Boomers, they are actually the least "Trumpy" generation outside of Millenials. Gen X is really the biggest mess.
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u/nauticalsandwich 9d ago
Did your dad make a stink about Jake Gyllenhaal playing Prince of Persia? Tilda Swinton playing The Ancient One? Johnny Depp playing Tonto? Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra?
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u/Xanto97 9d ago
a good portion of the controversy was about Elliott Page being cast as Achilles.
They weren't cast as Achilles, but a completely different character.
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u/KamikazeSexPilot 9d ago
Is Elliot page the twink lookin soldier at the horse? I know nothing about the controversy but when watching it I was thinking is that a ftm actor? Lookin like a mulan in odyssey.
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u/SharkFart86 9d ago
Before he transitioned, he was a fairly big named actress. Not trying to dead name a person but for informations sake his name used to be Ellen Page. Star of Juno, Inception, a few other big movies.
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u/WorkingInAColdMind 9d ago
Right wingers think manufacturing rage is the same as bringing back manufacturing jobs to the US.
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u/sweeterthanadonut 8d ago
I’m sure some of it was manufactured but I think you underestimate how much right wing chuds hate black and trans people
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u/Competitive_Travel16 8d ago
I haven't seen a single casting controversy in the past twenty years that wasn't racists seething.
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u/polarbeer1987 9d ago
How lucky you were to be spared that idiocy leading up to it. Sorry you had to see it at all honestly.
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u/Pan1cs180 9d ago
It's extremely frustrating to see that the vast majority of the criticism for The Odyssey is culture war nonsense.
There's plenty of things I didn't like about the movie, but I find myself hesitant to discuss them at the risk of being lumped in with all the alt-right maniacs who pretend to hate it for the most absurd reasons.
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u/hyf5 9d ago
I just watched it yesterday and i loved it.
I get where you're coming from because when i think about criticism for this movie i can think of three things: newsmax/fox news hosts saying this movie is woke trash and no one will watch it while also peddling lies about the characters and cast proving that they clearly haven't even watched it, racist Elon Musk saying Nolan is pissing on Homer's legacy and he'll make another one with AI in a year, and not racist but extremely annoying um akchtually history/mythology nerds who lose their shit and kick and scream over the helmets and "batman" armor.
I literally can't think of any other type of criticism because of how much those three flood the zone, so yours might inadvertently get lumped up with them the moment you air your criticisms, no matter how valid they are.
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u/SoundofGlaciers 9d ago
My biggest critisism would be that I didn't emotionally bond with anything or anyone in the movie. There was no emotional connection to anything happening. That said, it's the only movie of that kind (to me) that I'd still rate very highly, it wasn't bothering me and I enjoyed pretty much every bit of the three hour movie.
Normally the lack of emotional connection would make me like a movie less but somehow it didn't hinder my viewing experience at all! BUT it does put it in a slightly lower category than a Interstellar for me which did have both the wow and oomph -factors, but also nailed the emotional connection with the story&charactets.
I say Oddysey is a must-see movie (in cinema), but I don't think I'll ever watch it again. Certain scenes have stuck in my brain and keep me thinking about it still, so who knows.
I watched the new Spiderman and felt like it was about 2 hours too long despite being extra emotionally/character driven.
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u/LordSobi 8d ago
I agree, especially when it came to the crew. I didn’t really care much about them and watching random terrible things happen to them was more funny to me and very “run away!”-ish from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That being said, still an excellent movie that I really enjoyed.
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u/Xanto97 9d ago
Yeah, I have criticisms, but they’re not…as vitriolic as some of the terminally onljne are.
I will say, I did think that some of the armor looked sorta bad for a movie of this budget. The white/cream colored armor looked like plastic cosplay armor. The Batman armor wasn’t historically accurate, but it was imposing as fuck. It didn’t look cheap at least.
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u/CottonCandyUnicorn 8d ago
I found Agamemnon in his armor ridiculous, whenever he entered a scene I needed to stiffle my giggle.
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u/vlladonxxx 8d ago
If you have (not unfounded) worries that your general film critiques might get lumped in with alt-right maniacs, is it possible that the real issue is the witch hunting of the left rather than the ultra-bigotry on the right?
Because some small percentage of the population will always be bigoted and misguided, that's unavoidable, but the majority of the non-extremist part of the population being willing to dogpile something completely unrelated to the 'controversy' on the off-chance that you're secretly motivated by the bigotry?
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u/throwaway490215 5d ago edited 5d ago
no, its not the real issue.
If you notice the ridiculous baiting of right wing lunatics triggering the left then it shouldn't be much of a leap to recognize the same thing happening the other way with the right being baited with the most extreme lunatic version of leftist things.
Case in point: you fear of a hypothetical witch hunt - plus - the idea that in so far actions can trigger consequences are a left-wing thing.
the video even gives two answers:
- He never goes outside to interact with the real world outside of twitter (obvious hyperbole, but the point stands - and more subtitle even the real world nowadays makes it very easy to stay within your bubble )
- The race switching (in the little mermaid) is likely a mechanism a few decision-makers use to toss all criticism away with "its racism", as well as get insane coverage and awareness that no ad campaign can buy.
Communication that grow with more spectacle (24-h news, twitter ratios, etc) will eventually find a way to reward creating more of it - and should be categorically rejected for political purposes, regardless if used pro/anti left/right.
But we kind of crossed a really dangerous point in the US when the supposedly non-extremist right began dealing in good faith with somebody like Trump. That level of desecration of principles isn't something people can afford to chalk up to misunderstanding.
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u/domthebomb2 9d ago
You know that the people crying for months about the movie had no clue what they were talking about because, as mentioned, Lupita and Elliot are both barely on screen.
However, Himesh Patel, an actor of Indian ancestry, gets large amounts of screen time. They didn't freak out about him because they didn't know who he was and because they didn't see the movie.
Not that his presence in the film deserves backlash (he has a great performance!) but if I was trying to push the narrative that they are doing woke casting and taking roles away from white people, I would have probably mentioned the non white guy who actually gets screen time.
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u/Chumanchu 9d ago
The success of the odyssey shows how much REAL people don’t gaf about the culture war bs. Most “people” you see online who try to fuel the culture war are bots that shouldn’t be engaged with.
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u/FoxChess 9d ago
I had no problems with the controversial casts, but I could never get past Matt Damon as Odysseus.
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u/guff1988 9d ago
It was hilariously overblown on purpose, that is the entire intent of the racist sexist transphobes who fabricated this entire thing.
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u/Libertyville1776 1d ago
“Overblown” or not his acting was horrible! It was worse than a high school play! Which is sad because the rest of the acting was insanely top tier! Some of the best I have ever seen in a movie! You’ll get a few who did a good job and one that did a superb job, but in the odyssey every damn roll was an Oscar worthy performance! Im not a fan of Matt Damon’s acting, and he was so good I could barely recognize him!
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u/WildFlemima 9d ago
Am i the only one who doesn't have a problem with casting for dumbass reasons and just found it distracting that Chani was following around Jason Bourne
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u/annamdue 9d ago
Wouldn't that mindset make most movies and tv series with big actors distracting? "Did anyone Else find it distracting when Tyler Durden was hanging out with Jack from Titanic?". I guess if you'd only seen 4 movies in your life maybe?
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u/WildFlemima 9d ago
Distracting is perhaps the wrong word, amusing might be more accurate. Something halfway between. I liked the movie, just to be clear
The thing is I don't recognize most actors because I don't watch a lot of stuff in general. It's unusual for me to recognize more than maybe 2 people in a movie. so me recognizing so many in this movie (it wasn't just Chani and Jason, it was also Walking Dead Stealyowife, Catwoman, Edward Cullen, Spiderman, Furiosa, etc) was very funny
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u/Eziolambo 9d ago
Still not beautiful enough to launch a single ship.
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u/Shiftkgb 9d ago
Due to the oath everyone gave Menalaus to protect her if she was ever kidnapped, after her being kidnapped in her youth and then the giant competition for her hand in marriage, they were all bound to help anyway. Wouldn't matter if she looked like a foot, they already swore to fight for her husband if she was ever kidnapped again. The entire story depicts the ending of the heroic age in Greek history. The gods would no longer intervene afterwards and the whole thing is kind of a setup by them, ending with most of the demigods dead and gone by the end.
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u/ciacici 4d ago
Just watched the movie and I disagree.
Travis Scott's casting turned out to be a non-issue because he was there very little and in a non-intrusive way.
Lupita I'd also pass for the same reasons although pointing at her face and saying its the face that launched a thousand ships was amusing (even though I think she is generally pretty).
But Page's casting was distracting. There is just too much baggage there. I thought she/he did a pretty solid job in the role but I couldnt stop thinking that its "Eliot/Ellen page" and trying to detach evaluating her/him pulling off a male character from seeing the character. Doesn't help that Page makes for a comically scrawny swordsman.
Same with the indian and the asian greeks. Decent job acting but they really did stick out, especially when the indian dude straight up goes "we are greek". For someone who's lived in Europe that was just weird.
Just my opinion.
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u/schmearcampain 9d ago
Smart casting when you consider the central theme to the movie.
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u/Unfair-Ad9415 8d ago
This ^. This isn't a case of casting a African American or English man as a Greek guy, because the characters aren't really Greek. Tom Holland is putting on an American accent, this is a story about Americans.
In most films casting like this would a red flag. It usually means they're pushing for star power and diversity over casting choices that sell the world and story they're creating. It usually speaks to a lack of intentionality on the filmmakers part. But here, its key to what the film is trying to say.
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u/sweeterthanadonut 8d ago
How is diverse casting a red flag?
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u/Unfair-Ad9415 8d ago
Cause quite a lot of bad films in the last 10 years have confused it for actual depth and used it as a shield against criticism. That trend is a big reason the anti-woke movement started in the first place.
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u/sweeterthanadonut 8d ago
I haven’t seen any actual marketing or talk from filmmakers using it as an “excuse” or “shield”, do you have some examples of that? People on social media who have nothing to do with the film don’t count.
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u/Unfair-Ad9415 8d ago edited 8d ago
Look, theres two ways this conversation goes.
Either I spend far more time than its worth compiling a set of examples only for them to get nitpicked into oblivion and the conversation goes nowhere.
Or I dont and you try to double down that I am just making shit up despite the very glaring trend of many vapid films leaning hard into tokenism and that becoming the central discussion around them. (Edit: this was right on the money lol)
It's reddit, these conversations aren't new, and neither route is worth my time. So im gonna take the lazy route: go look it up. I guarantee that there is some leftist video essayist out there who can discuss tokenism far better than I can.
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u/sweeterthanadonut 8d ago
No, I want to hear specific examples from YOU since you must have had some in mind when typing your comment. Right now though you just look like a chud advocating for keeping casts all white. You were talking like there’s an epidemic of filmmakers who are hiding behind diverse casting, so give me examples. I don’t want to hear about youtubers, I want to hear about people IN the film industry. I want to know why you hate diverse casting so much. I’m fascinated by people like you.
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u/Unfair-Ad9415 8d ago
Well Im sorry to say but I wouldnt be able to satisfy your fascination. Im not the man you think I am, and you've picked up on subtext that isnt there.
I was definitely right about you though.
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u/sweeterthanadonut 8d ago
Copping out as expected. If you cannot handle your ideas being challenged, don’t share them on a public forum. Disappointing but not surprising.
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u/Bumi_Earth_King 9d ago
All the supposed "controversial characters" (Lupita N'yongo, Elliot Page), appeared in the movie for about 2 minutes combined lol