Episode
A Cantankerous Review of the Odyssey Movie
- Published
- Jul 27, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2808
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Summary
Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick delivers an unapologetically curmudgeonly critique of Christopher Nolan’s new film The Odyssey . Check out our LIBRARY on the great books. https://www.patreon.com/cw/greatbooks/collections 23 Raw Thoughts on the New Odyssey Movie https://www.patreon.com/greatbooks/posts/23-quick-on-164190324 SEE OUR SCHEDULE BELOW! Fresh off a twelve-week deep dive into Homer’s epic with thousands of listeners, Deacon argues that the movie is no mere adaptation but a modern ideological rewriting that flattens Homer’s rich characters, mutes the divine, and replaces sacred myth with progressive lessons about shame, war, race, and power. From Odysseus reduced to a guilt-racked figure who “defies the gods,” to the deliberate recasting and reframing of Helen, Menelaus, Circe, Athena, and even guest-friendship itself, Deacon contends that Nolan’s version marries cultural illiteracy with calculated compromise—and that both the film and the culture’s eager defense of it reveal far more about us than about Homer. Yet this is more than a film review. Deacon uses the movie as a lens to examine how stories shape a civilization’s soul, why myths matter more than mere fiction, and why Christians and lovers of the Western tradition must resist the slow leftward drift of endless compromise. SCHEDULE July 28, 2026 - Holy Eros: An exploration of eros in Plato, the Bible, and Christian thought August 4, 2026 - Plato's Hipparchus August 11, 2026 - Plato's Lovers August 18, 2026 - Plato's Hippias Minor August 25, 2026 - Plato's Ion September 1, 2026 - Enduring Chill by Flannery O’Connor September 8, 2026 - Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard September 15, 2026 - Chivalry by Neil Gaiman CHAPTERS (Updated) 00:00 — Intro: why this review matters 01…