The Odyssey, The Northman, and Three Doors to the past

Why do some adaptations of ancient stories transform you and others just hand you back your own opinions? A video essay on Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Robert Eggers' The Northman, and the three choices I believe every filmmaker makes when they retell the past. 🍿 JOIN FESTIVAL (Direct-to-Fan Platform for Indie Filmmakers): https://www.covertfilm.com/waitlist-1 ☕ TIP JAR FOR RICH PEOPLE WITH MASSIVE WALLETS: Buy Me A Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/covertfilm Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/luke-cove... Buy the FESTIVAL developer a Red Bull: https://buymeacoffee.com/covertfilm --- CHAPTERS: 0:00 Can Modern Audiences Handle a Myth? 01: Did Odysseus Know He Caused The Dark Ages? 03:30 DOOR #1 SUPERCHARGE (Moulin Rogue! & 300) 05:03 DOOR #2 COMMIT (The Northman and Apocalypto) 08:28 DOOR #3 DOWNSAMPLE (Troy, VeggieTales, Wishbone) 10:40 Which door did Nolan's Odyssey take? 11:49 Does Odysseus Need to Change? 13:41 METIS: The Greek Word Nolan Cut 15:20 Watching The Northman on an airplane 17:05 The real problem with Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey - ABOUT FESTIVAL: I’m building a platform called FESTIVAL that removes the middleman so filmmakers can sell their movies directly to film lovers. No subscription. No slop. Filmmakers keep 90% of every rental, 100% of every tip, and get to build an email list from day one. Join the waitlist above! MY FEATURE FILM: Stream "TURBO COLA" now: https://covertfilm.com/turbocola CONNECT & SOCIALS: Instagram: / covertfilm TikTok: / covertfilm Business Inquiries: luke@covertfilm.com | www.covertfilm.com MY GEAR: Camera: https://amzn.to/4gSD7cw Lenses: https://amzn.to/3XqNAoA Tripod: https://amzn.to/3iFNPFv Diffusion: https://amzn.to/3h39uqo Negative Fill: https://amzn.to/31ICE7W Sound Recorder: https://amzn.to/3fQuAXT Shotgun Mic: https://amzn.to/3fSMvgo Wireless Mic: https://amzn.to/4gHKQe8 --- ABOUT THIS VIDEO ESSAY: This video essay uses Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey to ask a much older question: what happens to an ancient story when you hand it to a modern audience? It starts with the discourse everyone is already having, the American accents, the modern dialogue, the casting of Matt Damon and Tom Holland, the armor, and argues that all of it is a symptom rather than the disease. The real change is buried in the mythology: in Homer's original poem, Athena inspires the Trojan Horse and Odysseus is never punished for it, but in Nolan's rewrite the goddess of wisdom withholds her favor until he admits the trick was a sin, and the film cannot end until he repents. I also propose a loose framework for every historical and mythological adaptation ever made, three doors filmmakers walk through. from Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! and Zack Snyder's 300, to Robert Eggers approach in The Northman, and the oldest technique of all, running from the medieval Biblia Pauperum through Wishbone, VeggieTales and Muppet Treasure Island all the way to Troy (2004), which quietly removed the gods from The Iliad entirely. Along the way: what mētis actually means and why "cunning" is a bad translation, why polymētis is Odysseus's defining epithet, the myth of Zeus swallowing the goddess Mētis and Athena being born from his skull, the Bronze Age collapse and the Greek Dark Ages, whether a hero needs a character arc, why Amleth doesn't have one, and what it actually feels like when an ancient story refuses to meet you halfway. All footage & audio is used under "fair use" for the purpose of commentary, criticism, and education.