Homer Was the Homer of the Zulus
IdeasHomer Was the Homer of the ZulusThe right-wing backlash to The Odyssey is about portraying civilization as a whites-only project.By Adam SerwerIllustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.July 24, 2026, 2:18 PM ET ShareSave This article contains spoilers for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.In a different time, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey would have been celebrated by the American right as a conservative film. Odysseus’s original act of perfidy, Nolan implies, has broken the world: The laws of the gods no longer command respect, because he has illustrated that they can be broken with impunity.In Donald Trump’s America, however, many on the right loathe this film.
- ▪IdeasHomer Was the Homer of the ZulusThe right-wing backlash to The Odyssey is about portraying civilization as a whites-only project.By Adam SerwerIllustration by The Atlantic.
- ▪Source: Getty.July 24, 2026, 2:18 PM ET ShareSave This article contains spoilers for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.In a different time, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey would have been celebrated by the American right as a conservative fil
- ▪Odysseus’s original act of perfidy, Nolan implies, has broken the world: The laws of the gods no longer command respect, because he has illustrated that they can be broken with impunity.In Donald Trump’s America, however, many on the right
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IdeasHomer Was the Homer of the ZulusThe right-wing backlash to The Odyssey is about portraying civilization as a whites-only project.By Adam SerwerIllustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.July 24, 2026, 2:18 PM ET ShareSave This article contains spoilers for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.In a different time, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey would have been celebrated by the American right as a conservative film. Nolan’s interpretation of Homer’s epic poem is about the unintended consequences of breaking with tradition in pursuit of short-term gain.Matt Damon’s wily Odysseus breaks the laws of war with the ruse of the Trojan horse that allows the Greeks to pillage Troy; Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition, makes a grisly sacrifice in the name of his own power and greed; the…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Atlantic.
