.

What compelling journalism can you craft from this remarkable cultural moment?

20- and 30-somethings are buzzing!

EDITOR’s NOTE: Sponsored by the Communications Committee of the International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ), these columns are designed as brainstorming opportunities. To send us suggestions or responses, see the contact information below.

While chatting with a 20-something colleague, I asked if she and her husband were going to see this year’s biggest blockbuster: The Odyssey.

“I don’t know. We heard the Odyssey translator said she was ashamed of the script,” my friend said.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Social media, you know. People are talking about it.”

“Do you remember the name of the translator who criticized Nolan’s blockbuster?”

No, she couldn’t recall the name—but the next 20-something I asked about the movie did know the name: Emily Wilson.

“And what did Emily Wilson say was the problem?” I asked this person.

“She says Nolan has taken away the agency of the women in The Odyssey, leaving them two dimensional,” she said. “Have you seen what she wrote? It’s sooo long, but I read it all. Pretty fascinating.”

I was so intrigued that I continued to ring up 20-somethings and 30-somethings I know and simply ask them, “What are you hearing about The Odyssey?”

Soon, I encountered a 30-something attorney who also had heard of the controversy, but he took issue with Wilson’s criticism. “OK, so I understand what she’s saying and I’m hearing about this from friends—but I take issue with what she wrote. My point is that any movie will adapt the original material, right? And, in any movie, we’ll lose some of Homer. I mean, this isn’t a 10-part HBO miniseries.”

Do you understand how astonishing these conversations are?

In total, I made a point of talking to six 20-or-30-somethings, all of whom had heard about Emily Wilson’s international broadside against Nolan’s script—originally published in the London Review of Books. Across international media, Wilson’s most-quoted line is: “I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.”

Why is this astonishing? Think about it! When was the last time young adults were widely buzzing across social media about one of the world’s most venerated spiritual classics?

Answer: Never in my lifetime.

Despite earlier film and TV adaptations of the epic, none of those productions touched off what Emily Wilson seems to have ignited with her analysis of the failings of the script Nolan used for his film. And whether you agree with Wilson, or you think she’s missed the mark, this is a terrific opportunity for religion journalists around the world.

It’s not too late! We’ve still got time in August and September. While the movie opened worldwide—from Ecuador to Egypt and Honduras to Hungary—in mid-July, the international “openings” will continue to roll out in coming weeks. The movie opens August 5 in South Korea, August 14 in China and September 11 in Japan. And home streaming options for the movie—when people can watch it with their families or friends—won’t come until later in the autumn.

Why should religion journalists care?

The biggest reason is that, as an international network of journalists who specialize in covering religion, we somehow let reporters from other “beats” claim the coverage of a major cultural event involving one of the world’s most famous epics about the conflicts between gods and humans. In preparing this column, day after day, I made global searches for religion-writing bylines covering this story—and here’s the summary I got back this morning from my final search:

No dedicated religion columnists, religion editors, or religion-beat reporters (such as those from outlets like Religion News Service, Christianity Today, National Catholic Reporter, or major newspaper religion desks) have published major dedicated reports analyzing the rift between Emily Wilson and Christopher Nolan. Instead, the coverage of Wilson’s essay in the London Review of Books has been driven almost entirely by film critics, culture writers, classical studies scholars, and entertainment journalists across mainstream outlets (such as Esquire, The Wrap, CBC, and AP News).

I admit immediately: My search could have missed your story! And, if so, I apologize. Email me with a link to it right now and I’ll update my coverage. But assuming this is true, we collectively as religion journalists have given up to others a story that’s absolutely buzzing among readers we all crave: 20- and 30-somethings.

Is this really a religion story?

Obviously! Well, again, I apologize if that sounds strident to you. But it’s pretty clear if you think about it for a moment: This is one of the world’s all-time classics about gods and humans.

But don’t take my word for it. The world-renowned scholar, filmmaker, author and sometime journalist Philip Cousineau saw this coming a couple of years ago and wrote a book that was published to coincide with the film’s release, titled: The Wisdom of the Odyssey.

Cousineau makes the case in the opening pages of his book:

The Odyssey “isn’t just there and then but is here and now. First and foremost, The Odyssey is a story, one that must be felt as much as analyzed, an epic poem that helps us arrive at personal answers to fundamental questions: How should we live? What does it mean to be human? How do we transcend suffering? What is wisdom and how do we achieve it?”

Do you recognize what he’s saying there? He’s arguing that The Odyssey raises what theologians sometimes call The Ultimate Questions. Most of us might want to edit Cousineau’s list of those core religious questions, but even his formulation as it stands on the page reaches into the founding depths of religion, including the Abrahamic faiths, Buddhism and Hinduism. As he continues in that chapter, Cousineau quotes from early Sufi writings.

Where is this buzz heading?

I hope we will eventually see religion journalists talk to 20- and 30-somethings about their spiritual reflections on The Odyssey. What a fascinating opportunity to report among younger adults about a cultural milestone that matters to millions of them!

Then, clergy are infamous for lagging well behind the cultural arc, but I am hearing from clergy who are planning to talk about this in upcoming sermons. The scholar and author Rabbi Lenore Bohm, who wrote the popular Torah Tutor: A Contemporary Torah Study Guide, emailed me this week to say she’s planning to use metaphors from The Odyssey at the Jewish High Holidays in September.

How will she make that connection? She wrote:

The Odyssey is the story of an agonizingly prolonged homecoming, a delayed return to a remembered place. But we have our own far more nuanced story of the odyssey that the Jewish calendar invites us to participate in each year as we approach the fall holy days.

Think about it! What thought-provoking, compelling journalism can you craft from this remarkable cultural moment?

Share with us

Let’s make this as easy as possible: David Crumm, a veteran religion writer, magazine editor and publisher based in Michigan in the U.S., writes this column on behalf of the IARJ Communications Committee. If you’ve got further ideas to share about any item in this column, email David directly at david.crumm @ gmail.com

Or, if you’ve reported these kinds of stories, send David a link that we can include in a future column.

The IARJ is dedicated to assisting religion journalists around the world to help each other find ever more meaningful ways to report on the significant impact of religion in communities around the world.