O Brother Where Art Thou Connection to the Odyssey
O' Brother, Where Art Thou? A Coen Brothers Odyssey
I am a human being of constant sorrow,
I've seen trouble all my mean solar day
I bid farewell to old Kentucky,
The place where I was born and raised-O' Brother Where Art Thou
"Be stiff, saith my heart; I am a soldier;
I have seen worse sights than this."
― Homer, The Odyssey
In this piece, I set out to discuss the similarities and differences between the Coens' O' Blood brother, Where Art Thou and Homer's The Odyssey. "Sing to me O Muse . . . ", the line at the offset of the motion-picture show, is the kickoff line of the Odyssey and the credits state that it is adapted from Homer's The Odyssey. But just how closely does the picture show's narrative tie into the Greek poet's tale? And, if you're woendering where the title for the Coen Brothers film comes from, well the championship of the picture is related to the Preston Sturges film "Sullivan's Travels," released in 1941 and not the Odyssey. Before I swoop into the similarities of the two texts, I believe that it is best to give a summary virtually the tale of the Odyssey:
Start off, The Odyssey is in fact a sequel; to Homer'due south Iliad (aye, an I know that sequels aren't as good as the original piece of text but in this case, this is an example of the sequel beingness better than the original). The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home afterwards the autumn of Troy. It takes Odysseus 10 years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absenteeism, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must bargain with a group of unruly suitors, who are seeking her hand in marriage. Upon his journey abode, Odysseus encounters beautiful sirens who lure his coiffure to expiry, a cyclops who wants to kill him and a lotus plant which when digested causes amnesia.
Now upon researching, I discovered an abundance of references to The Odyssey throughout O' Blood brother Where Art Thou, which was a pleasant surprise. However, this realisation did not brand my job any easier! There were in fact more than I actually outset realised, and sadly I can't list them all in groovy detail or else this would make for a very long article! Instead I desire to focus on the main plot points in the flick and compare them to the verse form; and so we can analyse the similarities between the texts.
First off I want to discuss the main graphic symbol of both O' Brother Where Fine art M and the Odyssey. The Coens' picture show follows the grapheme of Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), who is returning home after escaping from incarceration in Mississippi during the Great Low. He is chained to ii other prisoners, slow-witted Delmar (Tim Blake Neslon) and hot-tempered Pete (John Turturro), so the three must escape together.
As previously mentioned the Roman'southward name for Odysseus was Ulysses, and the grapheme of Odysseus has the same personality and characteristics as Clooney'southward character in O' Brother Where Art Thou. Both men are cunning, quick-witted, fast-talking and reckless in their decision-making, simply they are loyal to their companions and they are likeable rogues fifty-fifty if sometimes their own selfish needs for attention place others at risks. Perhaps the most obvious deviation in the two versions of the story is the fact that Odysseus is a famous king and warrior, while Everett aka Ulysses is a convicted con man who has escaped prison. Odysseus is often forthright about his identity and purpose, unless he is absolutely required to lie, while Everett tends to operate in the opposite way. Commonly, he is lying, unless information technology is absolutely necessary to tell the truth. Both characters are arrogant and self-centered, but Odysseus assumes his status as king and soldier provides him this right, while Everett simply assumes a loftier status, with fiddling reason or justification. The pride of both characters is made manifest through the presentation their fastidious nature. It is also worth mentioning that the name, Odysseus' means "trouble" in Greek, referring to bother you again the giving and receiving of trouble—as is often the case in his wanderings problem by name, problem by nature!
A proficient instance of how similar these two heroes are is in the following scenes. In the Odyssey, Odysseus requests that his men tie him to the ship's mast only so he tin hear the siren'southward song, despite knowing that the sirens' vocal is so powerful that it can bulldoze men crazy, this is merely considering our hero wants to be the simply man alive to boast that he's heard the siren'southward vocal and has managed to survive the encounter. In O' Brother Where Fine art Thou it is Everett who addresses the three siren like women washing clothes abreast the river, he talks on the behalf of the group and accepts their alcohol. The women's song distracts the men and causes them to temporarily abandon their "quest" and being by the water, they are essentially lure them to a metaphorical watery grave. Although the characters in the Coen'due south film accept a better fate than Odysseus men, and luckily wake upwards from their hypnotism to rapidly become back on their journey.
Certain minor and supporting characters which appear throughout the film are similar to the characters featured in the Odyssey. Homer (the bullheaded poet himself) makes an "appearance" every bit the bullheaded radio man who records the Soggy Bottom Boys song, "Human of Constant Sorrow". Another character to mention would be George "Infant Face" Nelson can be seen every bit an interpretation of Hermes the Greek God of thieves. Baby Face Nelson was a famous bank robber of the depression era, therefore a thief. Mayhap one of the most recognisable characters from the poem and the about memorable in the film is the Cyclops who is represented by the graphic symbol of Big Dan Teague (John Goodman) who has one heart, just like the Cyclops. In the poem, Odysseus and his men are captured by the cyclops who wishes to swallow them. The hero escapes by blinding the cyclops which is a similar fate that occurs to Large Dan, and by disguising themselves every bit sheep. Ulysses, Pete and Delmar cease up dressing like members of the KKK in order to escape from Big Dan. Thankfully, our merry ring of heroes manages to escape the evil clutches of the Klan and continue on their journey.
Both the Odyssey and O'Blood brother end in a like fashion. Throughout the poem, Odysseus is driven by the demand to get dwelling house subsequently discovering his married woman is being forced to remarry. A group of 100 potential suitors have arrived at Odysseus dwelling house, and are refusing to leave until Penelope picks a husband. In the instance of O'Brother, the character of Vernon T. Waldrip (Ray McKinnon) is courtship Penny (Holly Hunter) while Everett has been away. In order to face his wife, Everett dresses as a hobo, which is the same event that occurs in Odyssey. In the film, the men launch into "Man of Constant Sorrow", which gains Penny's attention and she watches equally the entire audience rises to its feet and thanks, recognizing them every bit the elusive Soggy Bottom Boys.
In the Odyssey, our hero decides to take on the challenge that Penelope has set out for the suitors in club to win her hand: the man who tin can string the bow and shoot information technology through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes office in the competition himself: he lonely is strong enough to cord the bow and shoot it through the dozen axe heads, making him the winner. The departure between the texts is the amount of violence, in the poem Odysseus slaughters the suitors, but O'Blood brother doesn't show Everett slaughtering Vernon, which is probably a good thing as the tone of the film would be seriously effected past this deed. Both the poem and the moving picture ends happily, with the family beingness reconnected, and the main heroes have developed as an individual, and ultimately become a better man.
What makes O'Brother and so good, is the fact that the Coen's accept inspiration from the Odyssey simply put their own spin on the tale, and create something which is unique but also is quite faithful to the original text. Information technology is a dandy motion-picture show which hopefully promotes the poem which it is based loosely upon, and brings it to a new generation. The Coen'due south appreciation for the Greek myths and the films/stories that have come before is what sets them apart from other filmmakers, and that'south why I love them! So, I accept reached the end of my essay, so I will cease on i of my favourite quotes from the Odyseey "In that location is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep."
Author: Bianca Garner
Source: https://filmotomy.com/o-brother-where-art-thou-a-coen-brothers-odyssey/
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