For a long time, I have enjoyed O Brother as a hilarious movie with a wonderful plot and fantastic music. However, after watching it in context with The Odyssey, I understand the movie better with the backstory of The Odyssey in mind.
There are a few main points in the story at which I thought "Wow! That really is like The Odyssey".
The first is the "cyclops" aka Big Dan Teague. From the moment he grabs the switch and starts to beat Delmar and Everett, it was immediately evident that he was the cyclops, especially with the eyepatch. It is also interesting to note that Big Dan squishes the frog that at the time is believed to be Pete. Could this be a parallel to the men that the cyclops eats in The Odyssey?
Next, we have all the random similarities to Homer in the movie. There is Homer Stokes, the man running against Pappy O'Daniel for governor, as well as the blind radio guy (Homer was supposedly blind).
Also, I get the sense that Athena is represented in the movie as the slew of characters that The Soggy Bottom Boys interact with throughout the movie that sort of shape their journey. They include Tommie Johnson, who helps them record their hit song, and who also is saved by them later in the movie from getting lynched. There is also George Nelson, the bank robber whom they hitchhike with and later rob a bank with. Finally, there is Pete's cousin's child, who helps them escape from the fire in the barn when the cousin rats them out.
Additionally, Pete's cousin initially serves as one of the kings that Odysseus visits on his trip, feeding them horse stew and providing them company and hair gel.
One of the more obvious similarities to The Odyssey in O Brother is the sirens who seduce and drug Everett, Delmar, and Pete. In my mind, these women could also represent Circe, who drugged Odysseus' men and turned them into pigs. In the movie, they supposedly turn a man into a frog. She also shared her bed with Odysseus, and the girls from the movie are certainly being promiscuous with Everett, Pete, and Delmar.
Everett's wife, Penny, shares some similarities with Penelope in The Odyssey. They both are in a situation where their husbands have been gone for a very long time. In Penny's situation, however, she shows no remorse in taking a "suitor", whereas Penelope thinks long and hard about it and finally decides she might as well take one, just as Odysseus shows up to save the day.
Finally, I see the adventure they go on as a whole fairly similar to Odysseus' in that both Odysseus and the Soggy Bottom Boys take part in a series of random events, visiting random places, and talking to random people, yet with a concrete goal in mind (that of getting home). When watching O Brother it is fairly obvious to anyone at all familiar with The Odyssey that there are important parallels that connect the two, but enough difference to make the movie exciting and unpredictable.
I hadn't noticed Athena's presence in multiple characters--I'd thought of them as the kings and other people Odysseus visited on his trip--but that's a really interesting point, and very true.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of Greek myths where the gods disguise themselves as something else and test people's hospitality, and you can draw parallels with that idea, too (especially when it comes to the guitar player). The Soggy Bottom Boys drive Tom where he needs to go, and their song is a hit. They save him from the KKK and end up pardoned for their wrongs. It's quite the coincidence, huh?