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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 20, 2026

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Cultural war and cultural revolution continues, as it should.

Revolution has a beginning, but it has no end.

And the newest battle is the most ancient, Homer's - and Christopher Nolan’s - Odyssey.

Many are happy, many are unhappy, and among the latter is world's richest man, as expected.

Elon was unhappy so much that he promised to rifle through his pockets for some spare change and give Mel Gibson $100 million to remake Odyssey in fully authentic and historically accurate way, with Greek actors and spoken in proper Homeric Greek.

Then, the next day, he changed his mind. Directors - and actors - are as obsolete as draft horses, Grok can do it all alone and cheaper.

If it happens, would it make a difference? Elite Mottizen human capital had been talking and daydreaming for a long time about potential of money to change the world. If only we were rich men!

The real life billionaire and centi millionaire activism is not encouraging but we can always dream how we will do it right!

edit: links

I'd love for an Iliad or Odyssey film made by Robert Eggers in the same style as the Northman. With an attention to detail on historical and mythological realism, and a healthy mix of supernatural occurrence/doubt of the supernatural mixed in.

I would not care if the ghost of Roger Corman rose out of his unquiet grave to make a schlocky version of the Iliad or Odyssey, just somebody please give me a movie full of the burning Mediterranean sun and bright colours, and armour that looks like armour not "the costume department bought in a job-lot of black leather-type material from a closing down sale of fabrics manufacturer" or "soldered together a load of tin cans".

You can make the script as modern-day relevant as you like with Menelaus going to therapy over his PTSD and Clytemnestra being a Strong Independent Woman, I don't care, just no more "everybody schlubs around in unbleached fabrics and earth tones in the cloudy grey rocky nowhere". Give me colour, embroidery, jewellery, armour, brightness, dazzle, the golden world of the past in mythology!

I don't care if they cast Lupita Nyong'o as Helen, but let her appear as this Helen:

Now when they saw Helen coming upon the wall, softly they spake winged words one to another: “Small blame that Trojans and well-greaved Achaeans should for such a woman long time suffer woes; wondrously like is she to the immortal goddesses to look upon. But even so, for all that she is such an one, let her depart upon the ships, neither be left here to be a bane to us and to our children after us.”

So the Brad Pitt Troy, basically.

Haven't seen that one because I can't take Brad Pitt as Achilles seriously, but that at least does seem to have tried to stick to the story. I'm more interested in Hector as a lead character in the Iliad anyway, because he's not a psycho like Achilles (could be read as) and he's a decent guy caught in a trap because of his no-good younger brother.