So I saw The Odyssey. My first reaction is: why were people on the conservative right so triggered by this film? Because it had a trans actor? How would we even know this? Perhaps more importantly: Why would we care? And as far as an African-American woman playing Helen of Troy, she had so little screen time (even if you count the dual role of twin sisters, Clytemnestra and Helen), it didn’t seem like much of a concern to me. In fact, it seemed like a waste of an excellent actor’s talent. I was more taken aback by Helen‘s scarred face: when did that happen?
I thought there were many excellent subtle touches in the film: the pluck of the bow as a recurring motif, the realization by the servant that it’s Odysseus from his scarred ankle, and the dog’s recognition of his long-awaited master.
However, I did wonder about the omission of one thing. The film makes repeated mention of the Law of Zeus, the law of hospitality, which my grad school professor repeatedly referred to as “Zeus the guest god.” You honor the stranger in your home because it might be a god in disguise.
Note this also appears in the Bible; see:
- Leviticus 19:33-34
- Deuteronomy 10:19
- Job 31:32
- Hebrews 13:2 (alluding to Genesis 18)
- Matthew 25:35
- Romans 12:13
Thanks, Google!
This law allows Telemachus to visit Menelaus and sit at his side at the feast, and also burdens Penelope with the parasitic suitors. But there was another violation of the law that isn’t mentioned, and that’s sort of important to the whole story—the fact that Paris violated the divine law when he either kidnapped Helen or let her run off with him.
This violation is what precipitated the Trojan War, although casting Agamemnon as a corporate-minded businessman concerned with trade routes certainly did bring him into the 21st Century. It just seemed to me that this would have been an interesting way to repeat this motif one more time.
MUSOFYR 