Why isn't anyone listening to me about 'The Odyssey'? | Opinion
Why isn't anyone listening to me about 'The Odyssey'? | Opinion
Rex Huppke, USA TODAYSat, August 1, 2026 at 9:30 AM UTC
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Like most normal, well-adjusted men, I have spent every waking moment since Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” opened in theaters feeling apoplectically angry about Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
I have rage-posted online, noting that by casting people who are different than me, the director ruined a beloved epic poem I never actually read. I have blamed wokeness for creating a world in which an ancient work of absolute fiction can be sullied by what I, making perfect sense, angrily claim to be historical inaccuracies.
Yet despite all my productive and intellectual online shouting, the movie has made $652 million worldwide since its July 17 release. And even more frustratingly, I’m still single.
I'm mad that a fictional movie is historically inaccurate
I struggle to understand these developments. Are people not hearing my well-thought-out protestations that the boats we see in the movie look like Viking ships and not the penteconters used by ancient Greeks? Have I not been agreeing loudly enough with right-wing intellectuals like Elon Musk, who back in May responded “True” to an X post that read: “The destruction of the Odyssey by Nolan and the Left isn’t just about a movie. It’s about Western Civilization. The Greeks were its foundation. From Democracy to Art to Philosophy to Culture. The Left wants to destroy Western Civilization and everything that helped create it.”
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Why are people shelling out millions of dollars to see a film that so obviously presents a clear-and-present danger to everything men on the internet have told me I must hold dear? Has Big Hollyweird shadow-banned my social media accounts? Did I forget to turn on the microphone before yelling into it on recent episodes of my podcast “Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Is a Threat to Masculinity, Please Date Me”?
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Why are people not listening to my sensible anti-The-Odyssey rage?
You can’t tell me rugged online men, sweatily exasperated that Nolan portrayed the Greek king Agamemnon wearing a black helmet that looked like it came off a Batman movie set, are somehow a minority voice in America.
You can’t suggest that White, cisgender guys whose views on masculinity were adopted from wealthy, bigoted men who yell about things on the internet are overreacting to a fictional story involving a Cyclops and mythical sirens by demanding historical accuracy.
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How dare moviegoers not listen to me! Don’t they know there’s a male loneliness epidemic going on and nobody can figure out why it’s happening?
Follow columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why isn't anyone listening to me about 'The Odyssey'? | Opinion
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