In 'Odyssey,' Music Maps Odysseus' Shattered Inner Life

I'm captivated by film music. Music can sometimes reveal a character's intimate emotions that images and dialogue alone cannot convey. It can also open a window onto a creator's hidden intent. For me, understanding a film through its music is one way of reaching the movie itself. "Choo A-young's Music Box" listens closely to a film's voice through its score. (P.S. Please listen to the music while you read.)

〈Odyssey〉
〈Odyssey〉

Christopher Nolan's film 〈Odyssey〉 reinterprets Homer's classical epic about Odysseus's mythic wanderings as a contemporary tragedy about the horrors of war. In Nolan's retelling, Odysseus (Matt Damon) is transformed from an honored victor into a reflective man tormented by remorse over choices that produced catastrophe. In the film, Odysseus uses his cunning to end the decade-long Trojan War, but he is left to witness the appalling consequences of that victory and to endure a difficult journey home. Ludwig Göransson's score delicately expresses Odysseus's ethical anguish. At Nolan's request, Göransson completely excluded the orchestra, which did not exist in the Bronze Age, to create an aural texture of ancient Greece. Known for bold experimentation and unexpected genre blends, Göransson again combines ancient instruments with synthesizers to evoke that alien world. Two tracks in particular, "Odysseus" and "Sirens," follow the hero's psychological arc and paint his shattered inner life in musical landscapes.


The sirens' beguiling song, "Sirens"

〈Odyssey〉
〈Odyssey〉

The track "Sirens" appears during the sequence in which Odysseus encounters the Sirens—with their irresistible voices—while voyaging home. He plugs his men's ears with wax but has himself lashed to the mast so he can hear the song. As he listens to a voice that swings between desire fulfilled and despair, he experiences torment. In this scene, "Sirens" captures that double emotion of fear and fascination. For the piece, Göransson resurrected the ancient Greek woodwind aulos in a modern guise. The aulos's distorted high notes—sharp and almost wailing—effectively convey the Sirens' painful call, one that seems to gnaw at the listener's soul. He also draws on Albania's traditional iso-polyphony to render the Sirens' voices in an eerie, unsettling way; that technique sonically enacts Odysseus's psychological disintegration. The piece then transforms the four-syllable descending motif associated with "Ithaca" (a theme first introduced in the track "Ithaca" and repeated in both "Sirens" and "Odysseus") into high, grating electronic tones that expose the psychological madness and agony Odysseus endures.

〈Odyssey〉
〈Odyssey〉

'Odysseus,' a Portrait of a Fallen Hero

〈Odyssey〉
〈Odyssey〉

The theme track "Odysseus" appears in a montage sequence in which the hero recalls the horrors of the Trojan siege and the tragedy brought on by his own decisions. Odysseus realizes that his great stratagem—the Trojan Horse, which led the war to victory—was a treacherous deception that betrayed "Zeus's hospitality" and precipitated a brutal massacre. The track "Odysseus" intensifies and depicts this psychological breakdown. Early on, contemplative tones from the aulos and a mournful lyre melody provide the bed for the solemn "Odysseus" theme and the Ithaca motif to emerge. The piece then builds a desolate, rough soundscape whose powerful clangs of bronze gongs reveal the fragmentation of the character's inner life. Ultimately, "Odysseus" moves beyond mere background music to render, in sonic terms, the portrait of a victor whose public emblem conceals a hero in ruin.

Scene from the film 'Odyssey' [Courtesy of Universal Pictures. Resale and database use prohibited]
Scene from the film 'Odyssey' [Courtesy of Universal Pictures. Resale and database use prohibited]
〈Odyssey〉

Although Odysseus outwardly longs for home, he is tormented inwardly by a profound shame and guilt over the treachery that destroyed a city and betrayed sacred trust. With his identity shattered, he understands that even if he physically returns to Ithaca he cannot be the same man. The psychological home where his soul might find rest has been extinguished. The two tracks "Sirens" and "Odysseus" reveal this fallen inner life. Both repeat the four-syllable descending motif that symbolizes Odysseus's yearning for Ithaca. In "Sirens" that motif becomes a sharp aulos tone and distorted electronics that drag up his trauma. The Sirens' fatal temptation is therefore not a tool to satisfy pleasure but an attempt to revisit the survivor's past and the starting point of a process of ethical restoration. By contrast, the Ithaca motif in "Odysseus" is paired with forceful percussion and swells into something grander. That combination signals a real return rather than a fantasy and announces the restoration of the identity of a hero who has suffered moral injury. In the end, the two pieces share the same theme while marking the start and finish of a hero psychologically shattered by war who begins to restore his sense of fidelity and ethical identity.

[Chua-young's Music Box] The Meta Representation of Subculture 'Cosmic Princess Kaguya!' with 'World Is Mine' and 'Reply'

[Chua-young's Music Box] The Meta Representation of Subculture 'Cosmic Princess Kaguya!' with 'World Is Mine' and 'Reply'

I get hooked on the music in movies. Music sometimes conveys the intimate emotions of characters that cannot be expressed through visible images and audible dialogues. It can also serve as a window to glimpse the hidden intentions of the creator. For me, understanding movie music was one way to connect with the film. 'Chua-young's Music Box' listens to the voice of the movie more closely through music. (P.S. I hope you read this while listening to the music.)

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[Chua-young's Music Box] Why Did 'What If We' Resonate with Today's Youth? The Romance Fantasy of the Non-Dating Generation

I am captivated by the music in movies. Music sometimes conveys the intimate emotions of characters that cannot be expressed through visible images and audible dialogues alone. It can also serve as a window into the hidden intentions of the creator. For me, understanding movie music was one way to connect with the film. 'Chua-young's Music Box' listens to the voice of the movie more closely through music. (P.S. I hope you read this while listening to the music.)

[Chua-Young’s Music Box] ‘Project Hail Mary’—A Story of Humanity’s Trembling at the Brink of the End, and ‘Sign of the Times’

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[Chu Ah-young's Music Box] Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and 'Heal the World' That Tried to Turn Dreams into Reality

[Chu Ah-young's Music Box] Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and 'Heal the World' That Tried to Turn Dreams into Reality

I am captivated by music in films. Music sometimes reveals a character's intimate emotions that visible images and spoken lines alone cannot convey. It can become a window into the creator's hidden intentions. For me, understanding film music was one way of reaching a movie. 'Chu Ah-young's Music Box' listens to a film's voice up close by way of its music. (P.S. I hope you listen to the music while reading.)

[Chua-young's Music Box] The Screams of 'The Shining', the Auditory Discomfort Created by Krzysztof Penderecki's Music

[Chua-young's Music Box] The Screams of 'The Shining', the Auditory Discomfort Created by Krzysztof Penderecki's Music

I get hooked on the music in movies. Music sometimes conveys the intimate emotions of characters that cannot be fully expressed through visible images and audible dialogues. It can also serve as a window to glimpse the hidden intentions of the creator. For me, understanding film music was one way to connect with the film. 'Chua-young's Music Box' listens to the voice of the film more closely through music. (P.S. I hope you read this while listening to the music.)

[Chua-young's Music Box] The Coexistence of Sorrow and Hope 'Super Happy Forever' and 'Beyond The Sea'

[Chua-young's Music Box] The Coexistence of Sorrow and Hope 'Super Happy Forever' and 'Beyond The Sea'

I am captivated by the music in movies. Music sometimes conveys the intimate emotions of characters that cannot be expressed through visible images and audible dialogues alone. It can also serve as a window to glimpse the hidden intentions of the creator. For me, understanding film music was one way to connect with the film. 'Chua-young's Music Box' listens to the voice of the film more closely through music. (P.S. I hope you read this while listening to the music.)

[Chua-young's Music Box] May Madness Reign on This Land! '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' and 'The Number of the Beast'

[Chua-young's Music Box] May Madness Reign on This Land! '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' and 'The Number of the Beast'

I am captivated by the music in movies. Music sometimes conveys the intimate emotions of characters that cannot be expressed through visible images and audible dialogues alone. It can also serve as a window into the hidden intentions of the creator. For me, understanding film music was one way to connect with the film. 'Chua-young's Music Box' listens to the voice of the film more closely through music. (P.S. I hope you read this while listening to the music.)

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Choo Ah-young's Music Box: How 'Marty Supreme' and 1980s New Wave Lay Bare Capitalism's Script

[Chua-Young’s Music Box] Music for the Purification Ritual of Wounded Youth: “Girls Band Cry”

[Chua-Young’s Music Box] Music for the Purification Ritual of Wounded Youth: “Girls Band Cry”

I get hooked on the music in the film. Music sometimes conveys intimate feelings a character can’t fully express through the visuals alone—or through the lines you hear. It can also serve as a window into the creator’s hidden intentions. For me, understanding film music was one way to connect with the movie. “Chua-Young’s Music Box” lets you listen more closely to the movie’s voice through music. (P.S. While listening to the music, I hope you’ll read the article.)

[Chua-young's Music Box] The Music of 'Pavane' Following the Path of Love

[Chua-young's Music Box] The Music of 'Pavane' Following the Path of Love

I am captivated by the music in movies. Music sometimes conveys the intimate emotions of characters that cannot be expressed through visible images and audible dialogues. It can also serve as a window into the hidden intentions of the creator. For me, understanding film music was one way to connect with the film. 'Chua-young's Music Box' listens to the voice of the film more closely through music. (P.S. I hope you read this while listening to the music.)

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