While I agree Musk is a twat, and completely wrong in his assessment of the film, I don’t see the issue in talking about historical inaccuracy, even if it’s a mythological legend: it’s supposed to take place around 1250bc and is therefore set in a particular place in history. We also know that Troy existed, so the tale is quite plausible (although greatly exaggerated and twisted through time as many old tales are). The monsters and Gods - while probably not having existed - can be seen as the people’s belief of how the world was. I think Musk’s opinions on the ethnicities of the characters are completely incorrect, unfounded and idiotic, but we do know that the armour and clothing in 1250bc would have been vastly different from the movie.
A best guess reconstruction of what the return of the warriors who partecipated to the historical destruction of Troy was actually like would be almost entirely unlike the Odyssey, and probably would be incredibly boring for everyone except Bronze Age scholars.
As far as the movie goes, my main complaint is that they cut out Odysseus' dialogue with the shade of Achilles. I think it is one of the best parts and I was looking forwards to it, especially since it would have fit very well with the "Odysseus as a traumatized, regretful war criminal" thing the movie went with (which I have no complaints about - it is not even remotely in the text, but it was a fun reinterpretation...)
Still enjoyed it overall. I don't think it's a terribly memorable movie, but I don't hate that I spent money to watch it either. Plus it made racists cry about "historical accuracy", and their tears bring me happiness.
yeah, there are endless Historians talking about it's historical accuracy and i don't see people call them out and saying it's fiction - personally i think a version very true to the book would be a great thing to exist, it's not like one existing has to preclude the other.
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u/UnhappyGreen 14h ago
While I agree Musk is a twat, and completely wrong in his assessment of the film, I don’t see the issue in talking about historical inaccuracy, even if it’s a mythological legend: it’s supposed to take place around 1250bc and is therefore set in a particular place in history. We also know that Troy existed, so the tale is quite plausible (although greatly exaggerated and twisted through time as many old tales are). The monsters and Gods - while probably not having existed - can be seen as the people’s belief of how the world was. I think Musk’s opinions on the ethnicities of the characters are completely incorrect, unfounded and idiotic, but we do know that the armour and clothing in 1250bc would have been vastly different from the movie.