O Brother Where Art Thou and the Odyssey Compare and Contrast
O' Blood brother, Where Fine art Thou? A Coen Brothers Odyssey
I am a human of constant sorrow,
I've seen trouble all my day
I bid farewell to old Kentucky,
The identify where I was built-in and raised-O' Brother Where Art Thou
"Be strong, saith my centre; I am a soldier;
I have seen worse sights than this."
― Homer, The Odyssey
In this piece, I prepare out to discuss the similarities and differences between the Coens' O' Blood brother, Where Fine art Thou and Homer'due south The Odyssey. "Sing to me O Muse . . . ", the line at the get-go of the film, is the first line of the Odyssey and the credits land that it is adjusted from Homer's The Odyssey. But just how closely does the film'south narrative necktie into the Greek poet'southward tale? And, if you're woendering where the title for the Coen Brothers motion picture comes from, well the title of the film is related to the Preston Sturges movie "Sullivan's Travels," released in 1941 and non the Odyssey. Before I dive into the similarities of the 2 texts, I believe that it is all-time to requite a summary nigh the tale of the Odyssey:
First off, The Odyssey is in fact a sequel; to Homer's Iliad (yes, an I know that sequels aren't as good every bit the original piece of text but in this example, this is an example of the sequel being better than the original). The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), male monarch of Ithaca, and his journey dwelling after the autumn of Troy. It takes Odysseus 10 years to reach Ithaca later the 10-yr Trojan State of war. In his absenteeism, information technology is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, who are seeking her hand in matrimony. Upon his journey home, Odysseus encounters beautiful sirens who lure his coiffure to expiry, a cyclops who wants to impale him and a lotus found which when digested causes amnesia.
Now upon researching, I discovered an abundance of references to The Odyssey throughout O' Brother Where Art Grand, which was a pleasant surprise. Yet, this realisation did not brand my job any easier! At that place were in fact more than I actually showtime realised, and sadly I tin't list them all in great detail or else this would make for a very long article! Instead I want to focus on the main plot points in the film and compare them to the poem; and so we can analyse the similarities between the texts.
Showtime off I desire to discuss the chief grapheme of both O' Brother Where Art M and the Odyssey. The Coens' film follows the character of Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), who is returning habitation after escaping from incarceration in Mississippi during the Bang-up Low. He is chained to two other prisoners, slow-witted Delmar (Tim Blake Neslon) and hot-tempered Pete (John Turturro), then the 3 must escape together.
As previously mentioned the Roman'south name for Odysseus was Ulysses, and the graphic symbol of Odysseus has the aforementioned personality and characteristics as Clooney'south character in O' Brother Where Art Thou. Both men are cunning, quick-witted, fast-talking and reckless in their decision-making, merely they are loyal to their companions and they are likeable rogues even if sometimes their own selfish needs for attending identify others at risks. Perhaps the most obvious divergence in the ii 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 manner. Ordinarily, he is lying, unless it is absolutely necessary to tell the truth. Both characters are arrogant and self-centered, just Odysseus assumes his status equally king and soldier provides him this right, while Everett merely assumes a high status, with little 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' ways "trouble" in Greek, referring to bother yous once again the giving and receiving of trouble—every bit is often the case in his wanderings trouble by name, problem by nature!
A good example of how similar these 2 heroes are is in the following scenes. In the Odyssey, Odysseus requests that his men tie him to the ship's mast merely so he can hear the siren'due south vocal, despite knowing that the sirens' song is so powerful that information technology tin drive men crazy, this is just because our hero wants to be the simply human live to boast that he's heard the siren's song and has managed to survive the run into. In O' Brother Where Art Thou it is Everett who addresses the iii siren like women washing dress beside 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 past the water, they are essentially lure them to a metaphorical watery grave. Although the characters in the Coen's moving picture have a ameliorate fate than Odysseus men, and luckily wake upwards from their hypnotism to quickly go back on their journeying.
Sure minor and supporting characters which appear throughout the picture show are similar to the characters featured in the Odyssey. Homer (the blind poet himself) makes an "appearance" equally the blind radio homo who records the Soggy Bottom Boys song, "Human of Constant Sorrow". Some other grapheme to mention would be George "Babe Face" Nelson can exist seen every bit an interpretation of Hermes the Greek God of thieves. Infant Face Nelson was a famous bank robber of the depression era, therefore a thief. Possibly one of the most recognisable characters from the poem and the most memorable in the film is the Cyclops who is represented by the character of Large Dan Teague (John Goodman) who has i eye, simply like the Cyclops. In the poem, Odysseus and his men are captured by the cyclops who wishes to consume them. The hero escapes past blinding the cyclops which is a similar fate that occurs to Large Dan, and by disguising themselves every bit sheep. Ulysses, Pete and Delmar end upwards dressing like members of the KKK in order to escape from Big Dan. Thankfully, our merry band of heroes manages to escape the evil clutches of the Klan and go on on their journey.
Both the Odyssey and O'Brother end in a similar fashion. Throughout the poem, Odysseus is driven by the demand to get home after discovering his wife is existence forced to remarry. A grouping of 100 potential suitors have arrived at Odysseus home, and are refusing to leave until Penelope picks a hubby. In the example of O'Brother, the character of Vernon T. Waldrip (Ray McKinnon) is courting Penny (Holly Hunter) while Everett has been abroad. In order to confront 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 as the elusive Soggy Bottom Boys.
In the Odyssey, our hero decides to take on the challenge that Penelope has gear up out for the suitors in order to win her hand: the man who can string the bow and shoot it through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes part in the contest himself: he solitary is strong plenty to string the bow and shoot it through the dozen axe heads, making him the winner. The difference betwixt the texts is the amount of violence, in the poem Odysseus slaughters the suitors, simply O'Brother doesn't prove Everett slaughtering Vernon, which is probably a good thing as the tone of the film would be seriously effected by this act. Both the poem and the film ends happily, with the family unit of measurement being reconnected, and the main heroes have adult as an individual, and ultimately become a ameliorate man.
What makes O'Brother so proficient, is the fact that the Coen's take inspiration from the Odyssey simply put their own spin on the tale, and create something which is unique but also is quite true-blue to the original text. It is a corking 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's why I dearest them! Then, I have reached the end of my essay, so I will end on ane of my favourite quotes from the Odyseey "At that place is a time for many words, and there is also a fourth dimension for sleep."
Author: Bianca Garner
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Source: https://filmotomy.com/o-brother-where-art-thou-a-coen-brothers-odyssey/
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