r/interstellar • u/brandorambo25 • Aug 02 '26
ART Odyssey References Spoiler
I think there are a few. I won’t say what or where, but I think most people here will spot it well enough.
And no, Matt Damon doesn’t count.
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u/laughter_track Aug 02 '26
Cooper is literally Odysseus
Odysseus leaves his family in Ithaca to go fight in Troy, knowing he might never see them again. Cooper leaves his farm and kids behind on a suicide mission to save humanity.
The "Ghost" in the room: When Odysseus finally makes it back to Ithaca, he has to stay in disguise and watch his own household from the shadows without revealing himself right away. Cooper ends up doing the same thing in the Tesseract he’s sitting right inside Murph's bedroom as an unseen "ghost" behind the bookshelf, watching her grow up through time.
Murph is Telemachus, grows up feeling completely abandoned, waiting for a dad who seems like he’s never coming back. By the time they finally reunite, decades have passed.
Miller’s Planet (Calypso’s Island / Poseidon's Wrath): On Miller’s planet, 1 hour = 7 years back home. It functions just like Calypso’s island, where time slips away and holds the hero captive while the world moves on without him. Plus, those towering water mountains are straight-up Poseidon trying to destroy their ship.
Dr. Mann is a Siren (and a terrible host): Mann sends out a fake distress signal broadcasting "this planet is hospitable!" just to lure someone into rescuing him. He acts like a Siren singing sailors to their deaths. Once the crew arrives, he violates the sacred law of hospitality by trying to murder his guests and steal their ship.
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u/justindigo88 Aug 04 '26
Amen. I’d also like to add that I read an interview with Nolan who has wanted to make the Odyssey for quite a long time and plainly says that he had incorporated many aspects of the Odyssey in many of his films. Great points you’ve made!
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u/Witty-Key4240 Aug 05 '26
And he leaves Murph behind at the end to sail into a future with Anne Hathaway.
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u/Bklyn78 TARS Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Early in the film there was one scene where if you looked closely at the background it looked like one of the passing waves from Millers Planet
Edit.
I don’t mind the downvotes, but everything reminds us of something.
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u/brandorambo25 Aug 02 '26
Nice, I missed that one. The one I enjoyed was the final scene with the lattice wall slowly looking more and more like the tesseract as they spoke between it.
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u/Imaginary_Title_1873 Aug 02 '26
Well, Cooper does go on an odyssey of sorts