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Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey released its first trailer a few days ago, and audiences are divided.
Some are hailing the footage as a great triumph. The trailer has elevated their excitement to new heights. Others are furious because the trailer features American accents and modern dialogue. Keep in mind that The Odyssey is based on a story of the same name from Ancient Greece (8th Century BC).
The trailer’s detractors have argued that Nolan’s adaptation is not historically accurate. I don’t fall in either camp. First, the trailer was fairly bland. It looked like any other fantasy film.
Nothing I saw felt even remotely interesting or extraordinary. Secondly, who cares about the accents or dialogue? The Odyssey is an adaptation of an ancient poem, not a documentary.
Nolan’s objective is to entertain, not educate. Neither the excitement nor the backlash is warranted. I chose to highlight these reactions, because Nolan is surprisingly divisive, but not in the way you think.
A growing number of viewers tends to downplay his achievements in the industry. Some refuse to even watch his films, because his fans are so vocal. No conversation online about the best film directors can end without Nolan’s fans submitting long essays explaining why his filmmaking genius is unmatched.
Nolan has fallen into that category of artists who attract such fervent loyalty that it repels the rest of us. I have observed similar reactions around Wes Anderson, Stanley Kubrick, and every other director that audiences have occasionally described as ‘pretentious.’
No one should care that you watched and hated The Northman. And yet, Robert Eggers fanatics won’t take that sort of feedback lying down. They tend to unknowingly insinuate that Eggers’ movies are so sophisticated and mentally provocative that only the intelligent can truly appreciate them.
As such, your inability to enjoy the director’s work speaks volumes about your mental ineptitude, a suggestion that inevitably triggers arguments. This is how they lose the fight.
Think back to all those moments where you begged your friend/ lover/sibling to watch Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Clone Wars, Attack on Titan, or whatever else you hold in high regard.
Think about how ferociously they resisted you. The harder you pushed your recommendation on them, the more resistant they became. Experts call this phenomenon ‘psychological reactance’.
The term was invented by Jack Brehm in 1966. He concluded that attempting to push an idea on someone made them feel like you had taken their freedom of choice away. Refusing your recommendation/suggestion was their way of regaining that freedom.
This is the response some of you trigger whenever you start acting as though we should all worship the very ground Nolan walks on. It puts some people off. They may even reject Nolan as a form of protest. I get it; you can’t help but love what you love.
And if you love something, you can’t help but spread its gospel to the ignorant masses. You want everyone to bask in the glory of the thing you adore, if only to create a new fan you can talk to about your fandom.
However, if you want the rest of us to take your recommendations seriously, ease up. Stop acting as though our lives will change if we consume your favourite thing. Be casual.
Mention your thing, highlight the aspects you expect us to enjoy, and move on. Given enough time, we shall meander back to your recommendation. Otherwise, the harder you push, the harder you gush, the less interest we have in trying your favourite thing.
katmic200@gmail.com
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