The Odyssey Vs O Brother Where Art Thou the Odyssey
O' Brother, Where Art Thou? A Coen Brothers Odyssey
I am a man of abiding sorrow,
I've seen trouble all my day
I bid goodbye to sometime Kentucky,
The place where I was built-in and raised-O' Brother Where Fine art G
"Be potent, saith my eye; I am a soldier;
I accept seen worse sights than this."
― Homer, The Odyssey
In this piece, I set out to discuss the similarities and differences between the Coens' O' Brother, Where Art M and Homer'southward The Odyssey. "Sing to me O Muse . . . ", the line at the start of the motion picture, is the commencement line of the Odyssey and the credits state that information technology is adapted from Homer's The Odyssey. But but how closely does the film'south narrative necktie into the Greek poet'due south tale? And, if you're woendering where the title for the Coen Brothers movie comes from, well the championship of the moving-picture show is related to the Preston Sturges film "Sullivan's Travels," released in 1941 and not the Odyssey. Before I dive into the similarities of the two texts, I believe that information technology is best to requite a summary about 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 as the original piece of text simply in this case, this is an instance 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 home after the fall of Troy. Information technology takes Odysseus x years to achieve Ithaca after the x-twelvemonth Trojan War. In his absence, it is causeless Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a grouping of unruly suitors, who are seeking her hand in wedlock. Upon his journey home, Odysseus encounters beautiful sirens who lure his crew to expiry, a cyclops who wants to kill him and a lotus found which when digested causes amnesia.
Now upon researching, I discovered an abundance of references to The Odyssey throughout O' Blood brother Where Art Yard, which was a pleasant surprise. However, this realisation did not brand my job whatsoever easier! There were in fact more than than I really first realised, and sadly I tin can't listing them all in bang-up item or else this would make for a very long article! Instead I want to focus on the master plot points in the moving-picture show and compare them to the poem; so nosotros can analyse the similarities between the texts.
First off I want to discuss the main grapheme of both O' Brother Where Art Thou and the Odyssey. The Coens' moving-picture show follows the character of Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), who is returning home later escaping from incarceration in Mississippi during the Nifty Depression. He is chained to two other prisoners, tiresome-witted Delmar (Tim Blake Neslon) and hot-tempered Pete (John Turturro), so the three must escape together.
Every bit previously mentioned the Roman's name for Odysseus was Ulysses, and the character of Odysseus has the aforementioned personality and characteristics every bit Clooney's character in O' Brother Where Art M. Both men are cunning, quick-witted, fast-talking and reckless in their conclusion-making, merely they are loyal to their companions and they are likeable rogues even if sometimes their own selfish needs for attention place others at risks. Perhaps the most obvious divergence 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 nearly his identity and purpose, unless he is absolutely required to lie, while Everett tends to operate in the reverse manner. Usually, he is lying, unless it is absolutely necessary to tell the truth. Both characters are arrogant and self-centered, simply Odysseus assumes his condition as king and soldier provides him this right, while Everett just 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' means "problem" in Greek, referring to carp you again the giving and receiving of trouble—as is oft the instance in his wanderings trouble past name, trouble by nature!
A good instance of how similar these 2 heroes are is in the post-obit scenes. In the Odyssey, Odysseus requests that his men tie him to the send'due south mast only then he can hear the siren'south song, despite knowing that the sirens' vocal is so powerful that it can bulldoze men crazy, this is simply considering our hero wants to exist the only man alive to avowal that he's heard the siren'due south vocal and has managed to survive the encounter. In O' Brother Where Art Thou it is Everett who addresses the three siren like women washing clothes beside the river, he talks on the behalf of the grouping and accepts their alcohol. The women'southward 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 up from their hypnotism to quickly become back on their journeying.
Certain minor and supporting characters which appear throughout the flick are similar to the characters featured in the Odyssey. Homer (the blind poet himself) makes an "advent" as the blind radio homo who records the Soggy Bottom Boys song, "Man of Constant Sorrow". Some other character to mention would be George "Baby Face" Nelson can be seen every bit an estimation of Hermes the Greek God of thieves. Baby Face Nelson was a famous bank robber of the depression era, therefore a thief. Perhaps ane of the almost recognisable characters from the poem and the most memorable in the picture show is the Cyclops who is represented by the character of Big Dan Teague (John Goodman) who has i centre, merely similar the Cyclops. In the verse form, Odysseus and his men are captured by the cyclops who wishes to eat them. The hero escapes by blinding the cyclops which is a similar fate that occurs to Big Dan, and by disguising themselves as sheep. Ulysses, Pete and Delmar end upwardly 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 continue on their journey.
Both the Odyssey and O'Brother end in a similar style. Throughout the poem, Odysseus is driven by the need to become dwelling house after discovering his married woman is being forced to remarry. A group of 100 potential suitors have arrived at Odysseus home, and are refusing to leave until Penelope picks a husband. In the case of O'Brother, the character of Vernon T. Waldrip (Ray McKinnon) is courting Penny (Holly Hunter) while Everett has been away. In social club 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 "Human of Constant Sorrow", which gains Penny'southward attention and she watches as the entire audience rises to its feet and thanks, recognizing them equally 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 guild to win her hand: the man who can cord the bow and shoot it through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes part in the contest himself: he alone is potent enough to string the bow and shoot it through the dozen axe heads, making him the winner. The deviation between the texts is the corporeality of violence, in the verse form Odysseus slaughters the suitors, but O'Brother doesn't show Everett slaughtering Vernon, which is probably a good thing as the tone of the picture show would be seriously effected by this deed. Both the poem and the pic ends happily, with the family unit being reconnected, and the chief heroes have developed as an individual, and ultimately become a meliorate homo.
What makes O'Brother so practiced, is the fact that the Coen's have inspiration from the Odyssey merely put their own spin on the tale, and create something which is unique merely besides is quite true-blue to the original text. It is a great motion picture which hopefully promotes the verse form which it is based loosely upon, and brings information technology to a new generation. The Coen's appreciation for the Greek myths and the films/stories that have come up earlier is what sets them apart from other filmmakers, and that'southward why I love them! So, I have reached the end of my essay, so I volition end on one of my favourite quotes from the Odyseey "There is a time for many words, and there is likewise 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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