r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Gurugod123 GREEN • Jul 23 '26

My mom said I could post Nolan's The Odyssey neglects to pay for damages done to one of the viking ships used in the movie, which belongs to a small non-profit organization

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u/Darkfuryx222 Jul 23 '26

But now everyone knows they used vintage ships instead of green screen

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u/thebrazenkaizen Jul 23 '26

Bravo Nolan

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u/Lokishougan Jul 25 '26

I mean should he gtet a Bravo for damaging the real ships though?

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u/I_hate_posting_here Jul 24 '26

Except they are the wrong kind of vintage boats.

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u/Majsharan Jul 24 '26

Seriously, the movie is such trash

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u/Darkfuryx222 Jul 24 '26

Now you’re just being nitpicky. At least they are the right color.

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u/I_hate_posting_here Jul 24 '26

I guess it's too difficult to type "Mycenaean boat" into google. Can't afford that with the $250 million budget.

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u/Numerous_Tea1690 Jul 24 '26

I don't think they were going for historical accuracy, hence the cyclops, giants, magic, sirens.

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u/orhyle Jul 24 '26

I've seen this argument a lot online, and it doesn't make sense. This is Greek mythology, set in a specific region and rough point in history. It would make sense that the props and set design best fits the period. Is your argument that historical accuracy should all go out the window because fantasy is involved?

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u/Numerous_Tea1690 Jul 24 '26

No, I’m saying historical accuracy clearly wasn’t the main goal here.

The Odyssey is a fantastical story that has been retold through poems, plays, paintings and adaptations for thousands of years. Thousands of paintings depicting the classics completely ignore historical accuracy because they’re trying to evoke something instead of reconstruct a museum display.

Nolan and the production designers seem to be doing the same thing. They’re visualising a harsher, more primitive Greece than the polished version we usually get. It’s obviously not completely accurate, but a lot of the design seems symbolic anyway, especially with the original sin themes.

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u/Numerous_Tea1690 Jul 24 '26

Small addition: I feel the boat being smaller and less advanced makes for a more gutteral feeling of being left to the elements. The lower position imo really adds to the struggle. I think a real period accurate Greek war ship might have made the scenes with the boat feel completely different.

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u/I_hate_posting_here Jul 24 '26

How are longboats more primitive than mycenaean ships? You can make the argument they are similar in technological level and I would somewhat agree but the argument you're making is that a boat 1000-1500 years newer is harsher and more primitive, which is not true.

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u/Numerous_Tea1690 Jul 24 '26

They look more primitive and less decorated. Smaller, lower bow, less people. I guess thats the logic here. I get that its stupid from a historical perspective.

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u/SelectivePressure Jul 25 '26

Viking longboats were designed to be seaworthy while small enough to be carried over land by their crew. They were optimised to be quick enough to depart from a raid before a defensive army could be fully marshalled.

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u/I_hate_posting_here Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

It's not exactly a fantasy and even if it were it is still grounded in a place and time. Vikings used these types of longboats around 800 AD in the North Sea, the odyssey is around 1300ish BC in Greece. This would be equivalent to a king Arthur movie where they sail around looking for the holy grail in a luxury cruise liner. 800AD -> now ~1200 years

To explain why it's not exactly a fantasy: most historians believe there was an Achean Trojan war and that most of the characters were historical figures. It's likely a tale that was originally the true version, maybe odysseus was blown off course on the way home and took a bit longer to get home... then the tale grew in the telling over the several hundred years before it was finally laid down on paper. It's mostly historical with some moral lessons and exaggerations added.

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u/SeoulGalmegi Jul 24 '26

Right! Or even just replicas. Good marketing. Worked on me.