Image from Elon Musk's AI-generated version of "The Odyssey"
Reeling from his failed crusade to turn audiences against Christopher Nolan’s new film, “The Odyssey,” Elon Musk is apparently planning to make an AI adaptation of the Homer epic.
Over the weekend, The Odyssey earned more than $124 million at the domestic box office and more than $264 million worldwide. But because the film features Black and transgender actors, Musk is throwing a fit.
“Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer,” he wrote on X alongside an AI-generated video of The Odyssey.
Musk’s reference to historical accuracy is most likely a nod to using an all-white and cisgender cast, as he previously complained that Nolan’s film featured actors like Lupita Nyong’o, who is Black and Elliot Page, who is transgender.
Conservatives have groused for years about the casting of diverse actors in film and television, which they have derided as “woke.”
But films with “woke” casts and messaging—like the pro-immigrant Superman that was released last summer—have frequently resonated with an increasingly diverse public.
The immense success of Nolan’s The Odyssey proves this trend, rebutting conservatives’ pathetic complaints.There’s also the issue of quality that an AI-generated film would have to contend with.
The clip that Musk shared had all the hallmarks of AI-generated content, which draws from a slew of video, still images, and audio harvested by his problematic chatbot Grok. The clip included stilted acting, unnatural-looking actors, inaccurate costuming, and even a character wearing earplugs—not exactly “historically accurate.”
Grok, an AI system influenced by Musk’s ideology, has declared itself “MechaHitler” and produced nonconsensual sexualized images—including of children.
Musk also floated the idea of bankrolling a $100 million The Odyssey remake featuring notoriously anti-Semitic actor Mel Gibson.Musk’s promise of a film “before this year ends” should also be taken with a grain of salt, considering that he has a considerable history of making grandiose public promises with a poor track record of actually delivering on them.
For instance, Musk has been promising since 2016 that Tesla cars will have a fully self-driving feature. Ten years later, and that seems unlikely to happen any time soon, as numerous videos show the dangers to both drivers and pedestrians associated with the feature in the current fleet of cars.And in 2011, Musk said that SpaceX would reach Mars in 10 years or “worst case 15 to 20 years.” The company has yet to send any vehicles to Mars, though some have blown up after getting a few feet off the ground.
Musk is a bigot. He has promoted hate against Black people, Latino people, transgender people and others. He has a high level of influence within the GOP, to which he continues to donate millions.But despite controlling X, he has limited influence among the public at large.
Maybe Musk will somehow—against all odds—deliver his AI slop version of The Odyssey before year’s end. But even if he does, very few people outside of his pathetic, little sphere of bigots will actually bother to watch it.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos
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