The woke Odyssey: Nolan is questioned for choosing Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, and Ellen Page in key roles of classical Greece.

The global cinematic landscape is gearing up for the premiere of what should have been the ultimate expression of technical art: "The Odyssey". Following the success of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan has received a blank check from Universal Pictures to lead the most expensive project of his career, with a budget exceeding $250 million dollars. Controversy has erupted with the revelation of a cast that traditional sectors deem an ignorance of Greek history and an example of "cultural replacement".

The focus of the outrage lies in a casting policy that deliberately ignores the ethnic and cultural roots of the ancient Mediterranean. The confirmation of Zendaya, a black-skinned actress, in the role of the goddess Athena has been pointed out as a sacrifice to the image of the protective deity of Ithaca in favor of a "Gen Z" aesthetic alien to the myth.

Even more divisive is the persistent rumor about Lupita Nyong'o portraying Helen of Troy. The possibility of an African actress representing a face historically described with European beauty of white skin and blonde hair has provoked a fierce reaction. Figures like Elon Musk have already declared that Nolan is losing his "integrity" by succumbing to what he calls the "woke virus".

The deconstruction of the hero reaches its most critical point with the participation of Elliot Page, who will portray the legendary Achilles. In a maneuver that abandons the image of the greatest warrior of antiquity and that many consider a frontal attack on the archetypes of virility and warrior power, Nolan presents a 1.55-meter tall Achilles. By choosing a trans man of small build to embody the greatest warrior of antiquity, the production justifies that it seeks to represent a "fragile shadow" instead of a "monument to masculinity", transforming mythical strength into a symbol of vulnerability and introspection aligned with the woke agenda to dismantle traditional masculinity.

This reinterpretation relies on the translation by Emily Wilson, a version of the text from 2017 vilified by defenders of tradition for "simplifying" and "feminizing" the Homeric language. The degradation of the epic tone is evident in the modern dialogues already circulating in the trailers; the antagonist Antinous (Robert Pattinson) mocks Telemachus (Tom Holland) with the phrase: "You're longing for a daddy you never even met". Even Odysseus himself, played by Matt Damon, uses colloquialisms like "Let's go!", more fitting for a baseball field than for the Bronze Age.

Finally, the visual aesthetic does not escape scrutiny. Despite the use of real locations in Morocco, Sicily, and Scotland, experts denounce a "aesthetic catastrophe" that mixes armors that look like they came from "Robocop and Iron Man" with medieval elements, straying from the historical rigor of the fall of Troy.

What is promoted as a "brainy spectacle" is, for its detractors, the confirmation that even the most sacred myths of civilization are not safe from ideological rewriting. Filmed entirely in IMAX 70mm —a technical milestone that promises a resolution equivalent to 18K digital—, the film aims to capture the magnitude of the Mediterranean with a "purity" that, however, is overshadowed by a script that seems more concerned with social agendas than with the work of Homer.