Conservatives Lose A Culture War Battle Over ‘The Odyssey’

It’s no secret that conservatives are the David to Hollywood’s Goliath on the pop culture front.

Much of that isn’t their fault. The Heartland is mostly shut out of Hollywood, Inc. Conservative stories rarely get a close-up on screens of any size. The list of openly conservative stars remains microscopically small.

Yet conservatives may have hurt their own cause by going to war with “The Odyssey,” mostly sight unseen.

Director Christopher Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic poem drew endless online attacks from both Right-leaning YouTube creators and conservatives. It’s woke! It’s D.E.I. gone wild! The source material’s translator is a woke feminist!

A woke feminist, for what it’s worth, who had some unkind things to say about Nolan’s finished product.

Now, with the film generating rapturous responses from film critics and audiences alike, that knee-jerk response is looking worse. The film earned a whopping $264 million globally in its opening weekend, and the subsequent numbers show little sign that it’s a one-weekend wonder.

Nolan isn’t your average Hollywood storyteller. He never weighs in on politics directly, lets his art speak for him, and once made a blockbuster that side-eyed the Occupy Wall Street movement – “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).

He spent an entire Oscar campaign for 2023’s “Oppenheimer” without shouting “Free Palestine” or attacking a certain U.S. president. He’s also not a social media diva. He reportedly doesn’t own a smartphone and has his assistants print out emails for him. (Maybe we can all agreed that’s a bit much.)

That should have earned him some respect on the Right, the sense that this wasn’t your average Hollywood progressive weaponizing a classic against Red State USA.

No.

Social media allowed some Right-leaning souls to predict the film’s financial doom and slam the film sight unseen. Even Elon Musk entered the chat, pummeling the film for weeks prior to its release.

On one key front, the Right had a point.

Nolan cast trans actor Elliot Page in “The Odyssey,” but he and his team refused to explain what role Page played. That sparked rumors that the part was Achilles, known to all as a fearsome warrior.

Page is five-foot-one and slender.

No matter. That Fake News story ricocheted around the web, desperate for a fact check that took too long to arrive. It’s notable that Nolan didn’t immediately debunk the misinformation, nor did his marketing team.

The latter likely possess smartphones.

Casting Page deserved some raised eyebrows. The actor is intensely political, before and after the transition. Page’s on-screen appearance is a distraction, no matter where you stand on so-called “representation” and trans rights. Period. Good filmmakers should understand that, but like even the very best storytellers in Hollywood, Nolan isn’t perfect.

Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o co-stars as Helen of Troy, a character described as fair-skinned in the text and played by white actors in previous takes on the source material. It’s a race swap! Yes, yes, it is, but it’s a very minor point in a much larger story.

Some savaged the star for not being beautiful enough for the role, a characterization that is both subjective and silly. Plus, Nyong’o has little screen time.

Nolan spoke repeatedly of his attempt to “modernize” the epic tale for modern audiences. Nyong’o’s casting may have been part of that effort. Some other minor “Greek” roles also clashed with the time period. Was Nolan pulling a minor “Hamilton” move, where casting choices took a creative turn to say something about the culture at large?

Right-leaning podcaster Bridget Phetasy leveled the cruelest dig at the film’s conservative critics. She called their attacks “liberal” in nature:

You had a criticism of making everything political for a decade, and now you haven’t seen the movie and you’re making it political and telling people not to go enjoy a good movie.

That’s not to say some conservative arguments weren’t solid or leaned on little more than tired talking points to fit their agenda. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh skewered “The Odyssey” while bringing up salient arguments about the casting, the impact of Page’s character and more.

He actually saw the film and gave his two cents thereafter. Agree? Disagree? He stated his case well.

Andrew Klavan mostly praised the film but found the screenplay wanting, to put it mildly.

The Critical Drinker, who isn’t overtly conservative but leans to the cultural Right, served up a nuanced take that mixed criticism with praise.

Conservatives should take great care in “jumping the gun” on pop culture matters. In a way, that’s what the Left often does. Consider the L.A. Times’ recent assault on “Run Hide Fight: Infidels,” a movie that doesn’t hit Daily Wire+ until the Fall.

The newspaper read a generic synopsis of the film, set on a college campus where Islamic radicals take charge, and declared the film deeply problematic. The film could inspire violence, the paper argued, while implying it should be censored.

The worst part of this ugly culture war battle? The anger and absolutism behind the critiques. “The Odyssey” is just a movie, albeit a massive one with cultural heft. We can love or loathe it, find it inspiring or wanting.

Walsh is right, to a degree. So is The Critical Drinker and the Left-leaning mainstream critics who adored “The Odyssey.”

Conservatives should still engage in the culture wars, create art on their own terms (when feasible) and not cede Hollywood to the modern Left. The latter would be disastrous.

They also should hold their fire until they see the art in question and bring vital context to their culture war crusades. The Right is working at a distinct disadvantage here. They shouldn’t make matters worse.

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Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. He’s also the host of The Hollywood in Toto Podcast. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.