'Crude language of MAGA’: Author Joyce Carol Oates defends 'The Odyssey' after translator's scathing review
The cultural debate over Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ continues, with Pulitzer Prize-finalist Joyce Carol Oates defending the film following a scathing review by translator Emily Wilson, who wrote that the film had “nothing convincing to say.”
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is officially 2026's fourth highest-grossing film, having surpassed the $700 million mark at the worldwide box office after just over two weeks in cinemas.
While audiences continue to flock to theatres to watch Nolan's take on Homer's epic poem, the film has become something of a cultural lightning rod. It has sparked renewed interest in the source material and Greek culture, a positive side-effect tempered by Elon Musk taking against the film from the get-go, fuelling a culture war surrounding the film's diverse casting.
He even announced that his AI tool Grok Imagine would make a “historically accurate” full-length feature version of Homer’s text.
Then there are purists who have been left frustrated with Nolan's take on the source material – specifically the use of contemporary English language.
One recent criticism came from British-American translator Emily Wilson, whose 2017 translation of Homer's poem was the first by a woman into English verse. Wilson wrote a viral review for the London Review of Books in which she attacked Nolan's film, writing that it lacked “psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth” and had “nothing convincing to say.”
Wilson summed up her take with: “I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.”
Now, American author Joyce Carol Oates has come to the defense of The Odyssey, taking issue with Wilson's language and tone, which Oates describes as one of "dismissal & haughty superiority".
“Rather than disagreeing with interpretations of Homer in a collegial manner, this person, who has benefited enormously from Nolan’s film, speaks in the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers,” Carol wrote on X. “One would expect a translator, of all people, beholden to a text, in service to a text, to be just a wee bit more thoughtful & respectful of others who are acting in good faith just as (she would claim) she is.”
Nolan previously praised Wilson for her translation of the ancient text, telling Empire that he used the opening line of her version, “Tell me about a complicated man,” as inspiration when developing Matt Damon's role as Odysseus.
Oates, who has won the National Book Award, been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize four times and is best known for her books "Blonde" and "We Were Mulvaneys" (both of which were made into films), added in separate posts on X that she highly recommended Nolan’s adaption and that she wasn’t a fan of Wilson’s translation.
“What I’d read of Emily Wilson’s translation was not for me,” she wrote, adding that she assumes it was “deliberately written to appeal to an audience comfortable with YA (young adult) directness & spareness of vocabulary - that is, with the intention of being marketable, adopted by high school classes."
"With a more poetic, elevated speech, you are naturally limiting your audience," continued the author, who added that there was nothing wrong with a direct, commercial approach. "Why not profit from a classic work not protected by copyright? A graphic novel of "The Odyssey" could be terrific, too.)"
Oates also responded to critics of the film’s modern dialogue.
“The most elegant translation of The Odyssey is by Daniel Mendelsohn; it is ‘poetic,’ each word chosen with care, precision; it is beautiful, melodic but if that translation had been used in Nolan’s film the charges would not be that the language is banal or boring but rather that the language is too elevated, ‘poetic.’ I do not think that Nolan’s film will be considered a great classic but really, it seems that whatever Nolan did, it would disappoint hordes of people. Most moviemakers/creators just try the best they can – it seems odd that this director has drawn such angry criticism.”
The author also noted that such criticism “is chilling, dampening for any creative artist. To attack a creative artist as if he were a criminal, had done something to harm, hurt, kill–this is alarming. If you hate a movie, fine – no need to recommend it. No one expects every work of art to be a classic, perfect… Rage seems just weirdly inappropriate.”
She also said she would “highly recommend both Nolan’s film & the 1997 miniseries co-produced by Francis Coppola."
While debate rages on, The Odyssey should continue its trajectory towards the $1 billion mark at the global box office – even if its numbers are expected to dip now that Spider-Man: Brand New Day (also starring The Odyssey cast members Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jon Bernthal) has hit cinemas.
Read Euronews Culture's full review of The Odyssey here, check out where it falls in our ranking of Nolan's filmography and in our ranking of the Best Movies of 2026 So Far. And when you're done with all that reading, find out what we think of Spider-Man: Brand New Day here.
