I recently read a very interesting article in The Guardian about Christopher Nolan's new movie, The Odyssey.
One expression used in the article particularly caught my attention.
“A towering piece of monoculture.”
In other words, "it's a huge piece of common culture," he says.
We don't use the word "monoculture" much anymore.
On the contrary, we have been told for years that the word of our age is "personalization".
Everyone has different lists on digital platforms.
The world that Instagram shows you and the world it shows me are different.
Then we live according to what the algorithms say.
And one day, Christopher Nolan came along and made a movie of a story that was told 2,600 years ago.
The film is an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey.
That great journey where Odysseus tried to return home to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War...
What Nolan did is very interesting.
He transformed an ancient text of approximately 12 thousand lines into a three-hour modern cinema show. In doing this, he does not follow Homer exactly; He reduces the gods, removes some characters, changes the weight of some episodes, and even adds his own touches to the story.
But the real success lies elsewhere.
After the movie came out, people started reading Homer again.
The Guardian also asks "How to read Odyssey?" He even published the guide; He explains which translation to start with, whether to listen to a podcast or an audiobook.
A text from the 7th or 8th century BC is entering the popular culture agenda of summer 2026.
I think this is a more important success than the film's box office.
CULTURE WAS A BIT OF THIS, CULTURE WAS A BIT OF THIS, IT WAS BEING TO TALK TOGETHER
I think back to the 80's when I started JOURNALISM.
When a movie came out, everyone was talking about it.
The morning after a television series, the same episode would be discussed in the newspaper, on the ferry, or at work.
We have experienced countless examples of this in Turkey.
He released a song, it would be the summer song of the whole country.
Culture was a bit like that.
Then came the digital age.
He gave us extraordinary freedom.
But that freedom also had a small price.
We lost our common conversation.
Today, four people living in the same house can look at four separate screens in the evening.
The father watches a Scandinavian crime series on a digital platform.
Child is a content producer we have never heard of on YouTube.
Mother is a series on another platform.
The other is 30-second videos on TikTok.
Everyone has content.
But sometimes no one has a common story.
This was the point that really caught my attention while reading the articles about The Odyssey.
The Guardian's determination is also close to this.
Classicists debate how faithful he remains to Homer.
Cinema writers' comment about Nolan.
Jokes and videos are circulating on social media.
Young people are talking about Odysseus.
Academics Penelope.
Cinema buffs, IMAX.
In other words, a 2,600-year-old story brought people who would not normally be in the same cultural room to sit at the same table.
Maybe this is where the real power of great cinema will be in the coming years.
WHY WAS THIS MOVIE NOT SHOOT IN ÇANAKKALE?
I couldn't stop thinking about this while watching the MOVIE and reading the shooting stories.
Because the starting point of the story is Troy.
So where did Nolan shoot Troy?
In Morocco, Aït Benhaddou and the surroundings of Essaouira were used for the city of Troy and the Trojan Horse scenes.
In order to reflect the feeling of the ancient world in Greece, locations such as Peloponnese, Voidokilia Beach and Nestor Cave were preferred.
In Italy, Sicily and Favignana Island were chosen for the island and sea scenes on Odysseus' route.
In Scotland and Iceland, glaciers and black sand beaches were used to describe mythological nature.
But where is the real Troy?
In Çanakkale.
Moreover, this is not just a story that we embrace.
Troy is one of the most powerful brands in world cultural history.
When Homer is mentioned, an important part of the geography that comes to mind is today's Anatolia.
And here's the irony.
Troy is being rebuilt for one of the world's most talked about movies of the year.
But it is not where Troy stood for several thousand years.
in Morocco.
I'm not blaming anyone here.
Cinema production is another world.
There are tax incentives.
There is logistics.
Film crews have experience.
There are areas where you can build giant sets, permit processes, and local team capacity.
But that's exactly why we need to ask this question.
Did Türkiye pursue such a production?
Did we knock on Universal's and Nolan's doors?
Did we say, "Troy is here. Let's shoot where the story begins"?
I don't know.
THE LAST WORD MESSI GAVE TO HIS FATHER AND COULD NOT KEEP
We have been watching LIONEL Messi for years.
He is a man who seems to change the pace of time when the ball comes to his feet.
Eight Ballon d'Ors, World Cups, Champions Leagues, broken records...
I read the letter he wrote to his father a few days ago.
Before us was not one of the greatest football players in the world, but a son who had lost his father.
In my opinion, the most touching part of the letter is the part about the last World Cup.
Because his father wanted him to play in the World Cup once again.
Messi writes:
“You wanted me so badly to play in the last World Cup...”
Jorge Messi's condition worsened just before the tournament. His mother said that his father would get better and could come to the tournament.
Messi also made a promise to his father.
“I told you we would make it to the final.”
They came out.
In the final played in New Jersey on July 19, Argentina lost 1-0 to Spain in overtime. Messi could not win his second World Cup.
But when you read the letter, one interprets that finale differently.
Messi won the cup not only for Argentina; He also wanted to take it to his father.
“I wanted to win it and bring it to you.”
It didn't happen.
Then comes a sentence in the letter that resonates with everyone.
“My legs weren't the same anymore.”
I wonder if those legs were a little heavier because his father wasn't in the stands?
Jorge Messi was always behind him in that extraordinary story from Rosario to Barcelona. He was his father, his manager, his confidant.
Messi says this much in his letter that he may quit football for the first time.
“I don't know how to go on without you.”
No matter how old a person gets, he remains a little child when he loses his father.
