Film Conversations

Hello everyone, this is Dwayne Monroe, co-host, alongside Samantha Youssef and Dennis Claxton, of the Film Conversations podcast. In today's episode, we continue our exploration and, dissection of the 2026 released, film version of 'The Odyssey' story. In the previous episode, Samantha applied her knowledge of, and experience with the film industry as it operates at large scale (with budgets in the tens or hundreds of millions) to a political economy centered analysis of this film, placing it in the broader context of the film industry overall.
 
Today, we will carry on with this analysis and add artistic and aesthetic considerations. A key question: how to think about the art of film, to the extent it exists, within the full context of the industry?
 
Links
 
Warburg Institute
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warburg_Institute
 
Ernst Cassirer
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Cassirer



The Greek Way
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/129494.The_Greek_Way
Mithra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithra
On Joseph Campbell
 https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2020/12/31/the-heros-journey-is-nonsense/
Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Strategic_Services

In today's show, we discuss the most recently released film version of Homer's Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan.
I said, 'discuss' instead of review because our aim is not to offer yet another opinion on the film from a standard, film criticism perspective, fixated on effects, budget, actors and the director as a singular genius.
Our aim is to talk about the political economy of the film and how it fits in, and is an example of the full reality of film making under capitalism and yes, imperialism.
What is capitalism? It's the system we live under that places profit above all else, including our survival on this planet. What is imperialism? It's the means through which capitalist states extract resources, people and much else besides from peoples who are unable to defend themselves against aggression.
What does this have to do with film generally and 'The Odyssey' specifically? That is what we'll discuss from various angles and perspectives.
Contrary to marketing, it's not Christopher Nolan's Odyssey but a product produced by a system. 
We'll part the curtain to see this system's gears in motion.  Let's call this, a materialist approach to film.
 

References

All but War Is Simulation: The Military-Entertainment Complex
Tim Lenoir
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236793826_All_but_War_Is_Simulation_The_Military-Entertainment_Complex
Military–entertainment complex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93entertainment_complex

Odyssey to Africa's last colony
https://africasacountry.com/2026/07/odyssey-to-africas-last-colony
 
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Robert McKee
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/48654.Story
VFX Artist Debunks The Odyssey
https://youtu.be/8yRFeout9dk?si=rIjTLmeFGgvM3lrs
Website of the production company, DNEG
https://www.dneg.com/our-work/the-odyssey
'Behind the Scenes' film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRq0cKo6ciI

The Hidden Debt That Apple Owes to the CIA
https://www.wsj.com/tech/steve-jobs-apple-next-cia-161b65f9
Language and Myth by Ernst Cassier
https://archive.org/details/languagemyth00cass
Phaedrus (dialogue)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue)
Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?
https://monthlyreview.org/9781685901349/
Ulysses (1954 film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(1954_film)

In today's show, co-host Samantha Youssef, who has nearly twenty years of experience working as an animator and creative director for Disney Animation, continues her analysis of the motivations behind the current round of job cuts placing it within a broader historical and structural context.
She also provides us with a marvelous deep dive into how the studio functions, the work of animators and the role of precarity in the life of animators.
This is the second of two conversations on this topic.
As before, we had a lot of territory to cover and didn't get to everything so, please see the references for more information.
 
References
 
Samantha's website: https://www.samantha-youssef.com/
The Walt Disney Co. begins laying off 1,000 employees:
https://apnews.com/article/disney-layoffs-8434044668b03755c8a8c7a4b51f57bd



Disney Layoffs Hit Marvel Studios Hard
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2026/04/14/disney-layoffs-hit-marvel-studios-hard/



Samantha's Compiled List of Industry Layoffs
https://acmpstor.blob.core.windows.net/acmpblob1/some_layoffs.zip






How to Read Donald Duck
https://orbooks.com/catalog/how-to-read-donald-duck/



Disney's Nine Old Men
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_Nine_Old_Men



Mary Blair
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Blair



Glen Keene
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Keane

Hello everyone and welcome to Film Conversations. We took a bit of a hiatus but are back, refreshed and with an updated roster: co-host RC Charles Roberts has moved on to other pastures but we are very pleased to announce the addition of animator and film maker Samantha Youssef to the Film Conversations team.
 
In today's show, Samantha, who has nearly twenty years of experience working as an animator and creative director for Disney
Animation, offers an analysis of the motivations behind the current round of job cuts placing it within a broader historical and structural context. She also provides us with a marvelous deep dive into how the studio functions and the work of animators.
 
This is the first of two conversations on this topic. We had a lot of territory to cover and didn't get to everything so, Samantha will continue in a part two episode and also, join us for analysis of films beyond the not so wonderful world of Disney.
 
Links and References
 
Samantha's website:
https://www.samantha-youssef.com/
 
The Walt Disney Co. begins laying off 1,000 employees
https://apnews.com/article/disney-layoffs-8434044668b03755c8a8c7a4b51f57bd
 
Disney: Our Friend the Atom (1957)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBbmqUaT0W0
 
Disney Layoffs Hit Marvel Studios Hard
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2026/04/14/disney-layoffs-hit-marvel-studios-hard/
 
How to Read Donald Duck
https://orbooks.com/catalog/how-to-read-donald-duck/
 
Mtume Gant on 'How to Read Donald Duck'
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YitUIbKa3Ds

Hello everyone, this is the Film Conversations episode for March, 2026.
In this show, we discuss the 1947 Film Noir classic, Out of the Past.
Here's a synopsis from Wikipedia:
Out of the Past (billed in the United Kingdom as Build My Gallows High) is a 1947 American film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Geoffrey Homes (Daniel Mainwaring) from his 1946 novel Build My Gallows High (also written as Homes), with uncredited revisions by Frank Fenton and James M. Cain.
Its complex, fatalistic storyline, dark cinematography and classic femme fatale garnered the film critical acclaim and cult status. In 1991, the National Film Preservation Board at the Library of Congress added Out of the Past to the United States National Film Registry of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" films.
Here's the plot synopsis:
Joe Stefanos arrives in the rural mountain town of Bridgeport, California seeking Jeff Bailey, who owns a local gas station. Joe asks Jeff's deaf-mute employee The Kid about Jeff's location, and the boy finds Jeff fishing with girlfriend Ann Miller. Jeff returns to the gas station, where Stefanos informs him that he must travel to Lake Tahoe to meet Whit Sterling. Jeff invites Ann to ride with him to Whit's place. He tells her about his past in a flashback that took place three years ago.
Jeff Bailey's real name is Jeff Markham. He and Jack Fisher were partners and private investigators in New York City. Whit, a gambling kingpin, hires Markham alone to find Whit's girlfriend Kathie Moffat, who had shot Whit and stolen $40,000 from him. Whit promises Jeff that she will not be harmed if he locates and returns her. Jeff finds Kathie in Acapulco and is immediately taken by her beauty.
Kathie admits to shooting Whit, whom she hates, but denies taking his money. Jeff falls in love with her and proposes that they run away together. Whit and Stefanos suddenly appear at Jeff's place in Acapulco. They ask Jeff whether he has found Kathie, but Jeff lies, saying that she is aboard a southbound steamer. Whit instructs Jeff to continue his search.
Jeff and Kathie secretly escape to San Francisco. They gradually become more comfortable appearing in public, but Fisher, now working for Whit, spots Jeff at the racetrack. With their location revealed, Jeff and Kathie separate and later meet at a mountain cabin to evade Fisher, but Fisher follows Kathie and catches them at the cabin. Fisher tries to blackmail them and the men brawl. Kathie shoots Fisher and flees, leaving behind a bankbook showing a balance of $40,000, proving that she had indeed taken Whit's money.
Back in the present, Jeff arrives at Whit's estate, where Whit informs him that he has a job for him. Jeff is surprised to find Kathie, who has returned to Whit. Kathie later speak privately with Jeff, telling him that she had no choice but to return. She told Whit about her relationship with Jeff but not about her murder of Fisher. Jeff scornfully rejects her.
Crooked San Francisco lawyer Leonard Eels, who helped Whit dodge $1 million in taxes, is now blackmailing him. Whit wants Jeff to recover the incriminating records and tells him to meet with Eels' secretary, Meta Carson, who explains the plan to Jeff, but Jeff suspects that he is being framed. At Eels' apartment, Jeff alerts him about Whit's pursuit. Jeff trails Meta and then returns to find Eels dead. He hides the body in the closet of a neighboring apartment.
[...]
Full synopsis at the Wikipedia entry (link below).

References:
 
Psychoanalysing Horror Cinema by Mary Wild
https://www.routledge.com/Psychoanalysing-Horror-Cinema/Wild/p/book/9781032545097

'Out of the Past' at 78: The Quintessential Film Noir that Launched Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas' Careers

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/past-quintessential-film-noir-launched-robert-mitchum-kirk-douglas-careers/

Out of the Past (wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Past

Chester Himes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Himes

https://english.arizona.edu/person/charles-w-scruggs
Film noir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir
The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1944/12/the-simple-art-of-murder/656179/
Review of Eddie Muller's book, 'Dark City Dames'
https://www.iseeadarktheater.com/dark-city-dames-review
Out of the Black Past: The Image of the Fugitive Slave in Jacques Tourneur's "Out of the Past"
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41328708

John Gray
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gray_(philosopher)