Christopher Nolan has made an Odyssey for our times – by sacrificing the delicious darkness of Homer's epic | Charlotte Higgins

sensationalism: The phrase 'even dizzying' and the hyperbolic tone around box office success and cultural impact aim to impress rather than inform neutrally.

“It seems remarkable, even dizzying, that the adaptation of a nearly 3,000-year-old poem took $264m (£196m) at the box office”

framing by emphasis: The paragraph emphasizes cultural frenzy and financial success, framing the film as a phenomenon, which sets a tone of awe that may downplay critical evaluation.

“We are living in an Odyssey time, amid an Odyssey frenzy.”

editorializing: The phrase 'There is no point trying to be a purist' dismisses a legitimate interpretive stance without argument, positioning the author’s perspective as reasonable and others as futile.

“There is no point trying to be a purist about a beloved classic text.”

narrative framing: The paragraph frames adaptation as inherently subjective, which justifies the author’s own interpretive lens while minimizing fidelity to source material as a valid concern.

“Whoever reads the Odyssey, including Nolan, inescapably does so through the prism of their prejudices”

loaded adjectives: Describing the revenge scene as a 'Tarantino-esque bloodbath' injects a modern, violent aesthetic that carries connotations of stylized brutality, shaping reader perception.

“before a Tarantino-esque bloodbath of revenge”

glittering generalities: Calling Nolan 'brilliant' and praising his 'complex design' without qualification elevates him uncritically.

“Nolan is brilliant at recreating one aspect of the original poem”

loaded adjectives: Words like 'grim', 'agonised', 'guilt-stricken', and 'conscience-laden' carry moral and emotional weight that frames Nolan’s Odysseus as psychologically burdened, contrasting with the poem’s more pragmatic hero.

“a grim and agonised figure”

cherry picking: The author contrasts the film’s version with 'the poem' as if there is one definitive interpretation, ignoring interpretive variability in Homeric scholarship.

“not the loquacious, rhetorically able, charming liar that I see in the poem”

loaded adjectives: Phrases like 'swamped the poem with his own preoccupations' imply negative overreach and distortion.

“He has swamped the poem with his own preoccupations and anxieties”

sympathy appeal: The description of enslaved women 'hanging, like doves caught in a trap... their feet twitching' is vivid and emotionally charged to evoke pity and moral discomfort.

“a row of enslaved women hanged, like doves caught in a trap (says the poem) their feet twitching as they are killed”

moral framing: The rhetorical question assumes modern audiences would reject such content, framing the omission as a moral compromise rather than a narrative choice.

“Would modern cinemagoers really queue up to see a row of enslaved women hanged”

loaded adjectives: Describing Helen as 'resentful' and 'scarred' rather than 'poised and gleaming' frames the film’s version negatively.

“Nolan’s resentful Helen, played by the excellent Lupita Nyong’o, is literally and metaphorically scarred”

framing by emphasis: The focus on what is 'missing' (wit, flirtation, divine complaints) emphasizes loss rather than creative reinterpretation.

“we miss a blissful moment in which the divine Calypso... rails to the god Hermes against the sexual double standard”

loaded adjectives: Calling the omitted scene 'delicious' and lamenting the loss of 'sexual spark' injects a sensual, nostalgic tone that frames the film as sanitized.

“There is no nervous young Nausicaa finding Odysseus battered and naked on the beach (a delicious scene)”

editorializing: The phrase 'I had a sneaking suspicion' introduces a speculative, judgmental tone about Nolan’s motives without evidence.

“I had a sneaking suspicion that by damping down Odysseus’s extramarital sexual adventures... Nolan has found another way to tame the Odyssey”

moral framing: Framing the changes as 'tame' and 'modern moral acceptability' implies a loss of authenticity due to censorship by contemporary values.

“Nolan has found another way to tame the Odyssey into modern moral acceptability”

framing by emphasis: The paragraph promotes the poem and a specific book over the film, framing the literary experience as superior and more authentic.

“Read the poem. You won’t regret it.”

vague attribution: The claim that Alice Oswald’s book 'superbly draws out the qualities' is unattributed praise, presented as fact.

“superbly draws out the qualities of Homer’s liquidness”

loaded adjectives: Words like 'foreign and wild and strange and delicious and disturbing' romanticize the poem while implicitly criticizing the film as domesticated.

“foreign and wild and strange and delicious and disturbing and so different from our own”

framing by emphasis: The conclusion frames the film as revealing only modern anxieties, while the poem reveals a deeper, truer reality, creating a hierarchy of value.

“What you will learn in the film is about ourselves: about Nolan’s preoccupations, and about what modern sensibilities can stomach.”