Homer’s Odyssey in Popular Culture

How the famous epic poem has navigated its way through the ages to find itself a home in the modern era

In order to further promote the continued reading of the works of Homer, this week I wanted to briefly analyze a number of works that are directly inspired by the Odyssey. Whereas the last essay was Iliad-heavy, this week will be almost entirely dedicated to the Iliad. In the Linati schema of James Joyce’s Ulysses, 18 “episodes” are labeled according to major themes, characters and locations that appear in both works. To mirror this I will be selecting different pieces of popular media that were in some way influenced by some of these major themes. This will serve to demonstrate that the works of Homer are necessary to the modern student for gaining a deeper understanding of the other works they engage with. Plus, it’s slightly easier than selecting one theme per book. 

Telemachus- Finding Nemo

1. In a way, the roles of Odysseus and Telemachus are flipped in the movie Finding Nemo, because where the former tells of a trapped father being sought by his son, the latter is about a trapped son being sought by his father. Nevertheless, Marlin and Telemachus share many core stops on their journey: in the same way that one is blessed by the unseen machinations of the goddess Athena, the other is constantly vexed by the way his companion Dory is able to navigate through difficult situations with relative ease. 

   Nestor- The Lord of the Rings

2. Nestor serves a peculiar purpose in the Odyssey: though he is shown to be a gracious host to the young Telemachus, he is not directly able to help him on his quest. The most he can offer is an inkling that Menelaus would know for certain if Odysseus survived against all odds. That is to say: even with all his wisdom, he can only lead the protagonist on to another leg of his quest. In my mind, this seems to have at least partially inspired the characterization of Gandalf in JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. It’s almost a joke among fantasy readers how little he seems to do in the story despite inciting the quest and furnishing Bilbo’s party of dwarves (much in the same way that Pisistratus is sent along with Telemachus). Despite being among the most powerful and wise beings in all of Arda, he is able to offer little help outside of pointing in the general direction of their goal and dropping in only when absolutely necessary. The in-universe explanation for this is that he has to deal with a troublesome necromancer. Tolkien’s influences are typically associated further north: his translation of Sir Gawain and Sir Orfeo are considered authoritative, and many comparisons in his mythology can be drawn with the Nibelungenlied and Beowulf. His Greek inspirations, on the other hand, are often understated: the idea for a far-off disappearing island clearly comes from Plato, who also is famous for retelling the story of the ring of Gyges. It would be folly to say that Gandalf is not in any way inspired by the characterization of Nestor. 

   Proteus- Monsters, Inc.

3. It would be very easy to pick a piece of media where a shapeshifter stands between the protagonist and their ultimate goal and pass it off as a legitimate reference. Instead, dear reader, I’d like to look at a very specific example of a shapeshifter being overwhelmed by brute strength. After doing a little research I have realized that this specific scenario is not often explored for polymorphs (a fact which I intend to keep in mind for my own fictional writings). There is one very specific example though: in the movie Monsters, Inc. the child Boo manifests the overcoming of her fears of the chameleon-like Randall by taking hold of his antennae and using it like a lead on a horse. In a panic, Randall flips between many forms, seemingly losing control of his abilities while being overpowered by a child a third of his size.