Movies from a Text

Adaptations and movies drawn from a book or a myth — where the screen and the page can be read against each other.

Watercolor of an ancient Greek ship sailing toward a full moon over a moonlit sea — teaching Nolan's The Odyssey in the classroom.

Teaching Nolan’s The Odyssey: Not Whether to Show It, but Why

Chiara • 2026-07-21

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey — one of the most talked-about releases of the year — takes enormous liberties with Homer, so does it belong in a serious unit on the poem? The real question, I think, isn’t whether to show it, but why. Here’s the case for what this beautiful, unfaithful film can do in the classroom.

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Watercolor of a teenage boy seen from behind at the sea's edge, raising a glowing bronze sword as the water rises around him, evoking Percy Jackson and Greek mythology.

The Myths Behind the Movie: Teaching with Percy Jackson

Chiara • 2025-08-02

For a lot of my students, the Greek gods arrive on a screen before they ever reach a book. Rather than fight that, I use it. Here’s how The Lightning Thief becomes a way into real mythology — every throwaway line about a god a door into the myth underneath.

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