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View all search results‘The Odyssey’: Tricksters, Trojan horses and homecomings
From Hollywood mythmaking to modern populist politics, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey holds up a sobering mirror to figures like Donald Trump and Prabowo Subianto, exposing how disruptive "tricksters" use Trojan horse tactics to hollow out democracy from within.
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United States President Donald Trump (right) speaks to President Prabowo Subianto (left) on Feb. 19, 2026, during the signing ceremony for the US-Indonesia Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) in Washington, DC. (Courtesy of Presidential Secretariat/White House)
S
ince I was a teenager, I have loved reading mythological stories. They are exciting, imaginative and full of high drama, featuring grand plots where gods and heroes behave like mere mortals. They fight, fall in love, grow jealous, seek revenge and play tricks on one another. Myths are also packed with fantastic beasts like multiheaded hydras, cyclopes and winged horses, alongside gripping intrigue and epic action.
Mythology has been an integral part of human civilization for millennia. It serves as a blueprint for making sense of the world by providing archetypes and values, explaining our deepest fears and offering a comforting framework for suffering, chaos and death.
So when Christopher Nolan, one of modern cinema’s most influential filmmakers known for directing movies emblematic of our times, decided to adapt Homer’s The Odyssey, I took note, as did many others.
The New York Times (NYT) columnist Ezra Klein argued that Nolan's The Odyssey was the political movie of the decade, citing four key reasons.
First, instead of celebrating brutal conquest and cunning deception, Nolan’s Odysseus is haunted by the decade-long devastation of the Trojan War and his own deceitful stratagems, most notably the Trojan horse.
Second, the movie offers a profound critique of modern "trickster" figures such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk. Klein views Odysseus' brand of cleverness as a mirror for modern political and tech disruptors who shatter cultural and moral norms for personal or strategic dominance, ultimately leaving a world in ruins rather than renewed.
Third, it captures a contemporary anxiety and questions whether current political and societal disruptions, such as escalating wars, aid shortages, trade shocks, climate stress and youth activism, will lead to regeneration or collapse.
