For the last month discussion of Christopher Nolan’s cinematic rendition of the Odyssey has been ubiquitous. Some rave about it and some lament the production; a few were disappointed by the neutering of any of Odysseus’s sexual exploits.
On that note, after Circe turns O’s crew into pigs (Perhaps that is the origin the term “male pigs”?) Odysseus becomes her lover and remains on the island for a year. The seductress Calypso detains Odysseus on her island of Ogygia for seven years. Homer depicts Odysseus sleeping with her in her cave at night out of necessity or despair, while spending his days crying on the shore and longing for his home. My opinion is that omitting this deprives the audience of an important element of his struggle to get home.
Moving on, I really liked the Cyclops, and as harrowing as he was, I thought he was kind of cute and felt sad when he died. After all, the poor guy was perfectly happy just tending to his sheep until Odysseus and his gang showed up and screwed up his tranquil life. I could understand why he started grabbing people and eating them, though I think he had a preference for lamb.
And then there was the mighty Trojan Horse, the ingenious invention of Odysseus to trick the people of Troy into believing it was a gift to Helen of Troy from the Athenians as a gesture of peace. wwhen it was filled with soldiers who then descended on the palace and slaughtered its guards..
Just a few hours after viewing the film, (Circe’s transformation of Odysseus’s men into pigs still swirling around in my mind), I learned that America had its own Trojan horse. Well, this one wasn’t actually a horse, but a catering container. What can I say: modern times?
News broke that when The Don was in Turkey last month attending the NATO summit that credible intel of an Iranian attempt to assassinate him led to The Don being whisked off in a catering container to another plane nearby. Trickery that Odysseus would be proud of.
Originally, The Don was switching planes from his new toy (the plane given to him by the Emirates) to Air Force One, because the Emirate’s plane lacked the security necessary given the threat. Everyone who flew on Air Force One thought The Don was on that plane.
My feelings for The Don aside, I get the trickery: The number one priority is to protect the president. Where the narrative gets crazy is knowing the threat, the decision was made to not inform reporters or high ranking members of the government on the plane. So much for the value of the lives of reporters or for that matter, Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller who were on the plane.
Here’s what Andrew Marlowe, who wrote the screenplay for the movie Air Force One, had to say about it all: “Now real life isn’t a movie, but given the circumstances, I’m not sure I could ever script a moment like that for a heroic main character,” Mr. Marlowe said. “If the threat were that great, it’s hard to imagine the audience rooting for any character who would trade his own safety by treating the remaining civilians onboard as potential sacrificial lambs, especially without their informed consent.”
Yep, hard to imagine rooting for a guy like that. Oh well, you know what they say: Fuck’em.
But back to the man inside the container. A pretty surreal scene, don’t you think? The most powerful man in the world all scrunched up like a pretzel with the smell of the last food delivery lingering. Maybe even a little oil that seeped out from salads staining his pants? A real challenge for a known Germaphobe. So what was The Don thinking and doing during those few moments in the container?
Rumor has it that at first he refused to go into the container. He railed against the crazy Iranian government threatening to blow them off the face of the earth. It was so humiliating, and we know how The Don feels about being humiliated. But one of the secret servicemen pointed to all the McDonald’s Happy Meal boxes inside the container and The Don’s protest was quelled.
In his short time in the container perhaps The Don thought about how he could monetize the event. A joint venture with McDonald’s showing him with his Happy Meals as a new advertisement campaign that could bring in millions of dollars which he would split with Mickey D’s? Campaign slogan: No matter where you are, McDonald’s makes your day better? On a more morose note: “If it’s your last meal, make it a happy one.”
So how to compare the men inside the Trojan Horse and the man inside the catering cart? The Trojan War was fought because the Trojan prince Paris took Helen, the queen of Sparta, wife of King Menelaus. The men were there to avenge this. (Stealing a queen of another king. Now that takes chutzpah!). It was a quest to conquer an enemy to restore the dignity of a nation, to right a wrong.
In our American version, the man inside the container has determined that his enemy is the very people he was charged to defend. Rather than restoring dignity, he has vilified, dehumanized and sought vengeance on his own people in an attempt to destroy the very institutions that make us who we are. All we can hope for is that the stench in the cart continues to emanate off him continually reminding us of what an odious man he is and compel us to rise up against him. Since we are not living in Ancient Greece we are unlikely to use the Spartan’s ways of violence to avenge. We need to get ours in a more civilized way at the ballot box.
The Grand Offal Party 