Wait, he cares about Penelope? I thought he just wanted to get back to his kingdom.

I liked Angela Collier's video essay about the Odyssey[0] (ostensibly about casting a Muppet version but more generally about the issues involved with adaptations in general), where she points out that modern audiences want the Odyssey to be a romance but that just isn't how ancient Greek culture worked. Odysseus and Penelope are nobles, their relationship isn't based on romance or love, it's transactional, it's about the business of entitlement and Penelope is the currency.

Of course this is an issue with adapting all ancient myths - dealing with the cultural dissonance. Odysseus, our hero, on returning home, has his female slaves killed because they were defiled by his suitors, when their bodies were his by right. This is treated as as a virtue, part of Odysseus reestablishing his rightful authority. A modern retelling could explore that dissonance a bit, with the cruel caprice of both gods and kings, and be interesting, but not popular.

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdh-sn1Ino8

	▲	watwut a day ago \| parent [-]
		> This is treated as as a virtue, part of Odysseus reestablishing his rightful authority. Treating it is a virtue is very much translation dependent aspect. Some translations treats them as guilty sluts, but not all. It is a thing he does, but not necessary "virtuous" thing. Also, Penelope is actively defending her faith to him. She did not had to, she could marry a suitor and save herself a trouble. Historical arranged marriage are not romances, but people grow to have relationships to each other. People do care, just like we care about cousins, siblings or other unchoosen groups. It can grow to hate and abuse too, but those are not present in Odyssey.