The Odyssey and O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? Comparison Can a modern day movie depict an ancient epic? Yes, it can, and it might even be a little surprising. Homer's most famous epic, The Odyssey, shows a substantial amount of parallelism to the modern day movie, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, directed by the Coen brothers. Here are a few reasons why The Odyssey and O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? resemble each other so much. The modern day film, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, depicts the cyclops story in an altered, but a very similar way. When Big Dan was introduced, he had an eye patch on, hinting to the fact that he only had one eye. Furthermore, he was very big and tall, hence the name “Big Dan.” Altogether these clues suggest that Big Dan is characterizing …show more content…
As they lay on the ground, Big Dan takes the frog, which is believed to be Pete and crushes it with his bare hands. This scene also occurs in The Odyssey. “...he clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering on the floor.”(Fitzgerald 378) The cyclops crushes Odysseus’ men just like Big Dan crushed the frog. Later in the movie, the three men come upon a Ku Klux Klan rally. Their friend, Tommy, has been captured and is going to be slain. This is similar to The Odyssey when Odysseus and his men are awaiting their death as they were stuck in the cyclops’ cave. The three men decide to disguise themselves as Ku Klux Klan members in order to get into the rally, grab their friend, and escaped safely. This is very similar in The Odyssey when Odysseus and his men have to disguise themselves as sheep in order to escape the cave. “...the master stroked each ram...but my men riding on the pectoral fleece the giant’s blind hands blundering never found.”(Fitzgerald 382) Later in the scene, Ulysses threw a flag with a sharpened point at the end, just like the spear that was used to stab the cyclops in The Odyssey. It almost hit Big Dan in the eye, but …show more content…
to The Odyssey was the Sirens. They were depicted in O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? just as they were in the Odyssey. They were singing the same irresistible tunes, and had the same irresistible looks that lured the three men into the trap. The Sirens ended up turning in Pete for a bounty, but that is not what Delmar
Religion represents the Lotus Eaters. Pete and Delmar were drawn in from the baptism at the river and became extremely religious afterward. This is much like the Lotus Eaters drawing in Odysseus’ men. Baby Face George Nelson and his obsession with killing cows represents Odysseus’ men killing Helios’ cattle. The women singing on the river and drawing the men toward them are just like the Sirens in the Odyssey. Big Dan, the man who tells Ulysses and Delmar that he is a pastor is representing the cyclops. Big Dan is a giant man who wears an eye patch so he really only has one usable eye. Big Dan is angered just like the cyclops and he goes on a rampage. He kills the toad that is believed to be Pete. This killing represents the cyclops killing some of Odysseus’ men. Ulysses, Pete, and Delmar all dress up as the KKK to escape Big Dan just like Odysseus’ and his men hide under the sheep to escape the cyclops. Ulysses and Odysseus also have personal similarities. Ulysses’ wife tells the children that Ulysses was hit by a train just like Odysseus was supposedly killed in war. When it comes time
Most people have fixed concept that modern day films and Medieval Greek Epic poems differ a lot as if they are black and white, but the film O Brother, Where Art Thou and the story of The Odyssey are both parallel and perpendicular. O Brother, Where Art Thou and The Odyssey portray their story on the same path, yet on the branched path.
Time has not become the conqueror for the classical epic poem The Odyssey. For the past 2,500 years it has been turning its pages for many people all around the world, classifying it as the Western literary tradition. Even in the 21st century The Odyssey is still depicting its prominence when the film O Brother, Where Art Thou was directed in 2000 by loosely portraying the epic. The Coen Brothers’ film O Brother, Where Art Thou mirrors themes, motifs, and symbols from Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. Both creative works recount the twists and turns of a man’s journey home. But was it a relevant successful relation between the two? I tend to think so. The movie O Brother, Where
There are 26,407 high schools in the US and of that about 1.8 million freshman read the Odyssey each year. O Brother Where Art Thou is a movie based on the Odyssey that has generated 71 million dollars and has been nominated for 2 oscars. There are many similarities and differences between Homer’s “Odyssey” and the Coen brothers movie “O Brother Where Art Thou”. These similarities and differences can be found in the Cyclopes, Sirens and Teiresias.
Some movies have strong connections to famous books, epics, or myths. Often times, there will be many strong allusions to different epics, but there will be few weak allusions. In Joel and Ethan Coen's O’Brother Where Art Thou, The movie has strong allusion with the plot, hero qualities, and the minor characters of The Odyssey,
In both Homer’s The Odyssey and the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? the audience is given an opportunity to experience a spectacular adventure, filled with not only the sense of journey, but also the senses of peril and excitement. A tale about a Greek hero being compared to a film set in Middle America starring three jail-escapees seems rather far-fetched. However, upon closer inspection, both actually share a lot in common. The Odyssey stars Odysseus, a man famous for his heroics in the Trojan War. O Brother, Where Art Thou? shows a bit of a contrast by starring Ulysses, a former convict who escaped and began looking for “A Treasure”. So by default, one would assume that that these two stories would be completely different. However, it
Odysseus’s escape from the Cyclops is one of great intelligence. A Cyclops is a giant one eyed monster. Homer said, “The booming voice and the very sight of the monster filled us with panic” (IX, 256). From the first moment Odysseus and his men set eyes on the Cyclops they know they are in trouble and will not be able to get out easily. The Cyclops, Polyphemus, eats two of Odysseus’ men from the start. As soon as this happens, Odysseus
The movie, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou, is an old-timey film based on Homer’s The Odyssey. The plot and characters are all loosely drawn from the ancient Greek myth, but is set in Mississippi during the Great Depression. The result is an original film filled with adventure, interesting characters, and side-splitting comedy. The George Clooney stars as the main character, Ulysses Everett McGill, with his two man crew, Pete and Delmar, as they trek across Mississippi in search of “treasure” and encounter many of the same trials and troubles that are told about in the myth of Odysseus.
The film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a reinterpretation of the epic poem The Odyssey. The Coen brothers, writers and directors of the film, did not over analyze their representation. “It just sort of occurred to us after we’d gotten into it somewhat that it was a story about someone going home, and sort of episodic in nature, and it kind of evolved into that,” says Joel Coen in Blood Siblings, “It’s very loosely and very sort of unseriously based on The Odyssey” (Woods 32). O Brother, Where Art Thou? contains ideas from The Odyssey for the sake of modernization and entertainment of an audience that comprehends the allusions to the epic. The Coen brothers utilize elements of Homer’s The Odyssey to improve and to give direction to O
Nelson shoots cattle with his gun, and eventually the police find the car and all of the stolen money gets re-stolen. Odysseus is warned of the island of the Sirens, they have an ability to sing a man to his doom. Ulysses is driving down the road when Delmer sees three beautiful women singing and bathing in the river, they stop the car and soon find themselves being seduced. Ulysses awakes to find Delmer missing. Pete thinks that Delmer has been turned into a frog. The idea of humans being turned into animals appears in the Odyssey as well, Odysseus has several of his men turned into pigs on Circe's island. In the book, Odysseus battles a great cyclops, he eventually beats it when he creates a large spear by burning a log in the fire, he takes the spear and stabs the beast in it's eye. Ulysses meets a large man that also only has one eye. The man is vulgar and has an appetite similar to the cyclops. This cyclops is also almost speared in the eye by a flag but he catches it, however he is crushed by a burning cross. Ulysses gets a tip in the movies from the re-jailed Delmer. Delmer warns him not to go after the treasure. This represents the part in the book where Odysseus is on the island of the dead, one of his former crew warns him of the dangers to come. When Odysseus reaches his home, he takes a disguise as an old man, soon after he performs the talent of stringing his bow and wins his wife back. Ulysses also takes a disguise
Odysseus is the genius tactician whom Everett is modeled after. In the movie O’ Brother Where Art Thou, Everett is extremely similar to Odysseus. Everett is comparably much smarter than those around him, like Odysseus, and believes in his own power. He is also surrounded by people who want to betray him or hurt him, and uses similar methods of not being caught. Also, they both fully believe they are better than and don't need others. Everett and Odysseus also both only want to get back to their wives while they still hold slight concern for their companions. Everett in the movie O’ Brother Where Art Thou is made to be like Odysseus because they are both intelligent, narcissistic and have the same goal.
Odysseus’ confrontation with the great Cyclops, Polyphemus, looks cowardly and dishonorable by comparison. Where Beowulf bravely stood and fought Grendel with only his bare hands, Odysseus waits for Polyphemus to slip into an alcoholic coma before blinding him. Later he uses this handicap to escape.
The Chronicles of Narnia was inspired by The Odyssey, as it follows the Hero’s Journey and additionally has similar events to The Odyssey.
Odysseus is no god. He is man, and with that comes the mistakes and errors in all of us. In many situations Odysseus' mortal side is seen. An example of the power of Odysseus coinciding with his human flaws is his battle with Polyphemous the Cyclops (son of Poseidon). After escaping the lure of the lotus-eaters and their island, Odysseus and his men find themselves on another island, rich with food and shelter. After feasting, the men grab a large container of potent wine and go off exploring the new island. Later in their search they stumble across a large cave filled with food. Curious where the owner's whereabouts are the men encourage Odysseus to steal the food. Odysseus (showing his hospitable and genuine character) decides to instead wait for the
Whilst voyaging, Odysseus meets a Cyclops who is incredibly angered by these foreign crewmen’s pillaging of his resources. Odysseus portrays this hubristic behavior throughout which leads to the cannibalization of several crewmen, as well as copious conflicts with the gods. The Cyclops and Laistrygonians as mentioned in line 4, are clear symbols of the evil things that the reader will face in their life. Despite their ill nature, the reader is urged to not be afraid of such adversity but instead to face life with optimism so that such evil will not seek them out. “You’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high [.]”Odysseus hubris is portrayed once again; he tricks the Cyclops to think Odysseus’ name is “no man” so that when he pleads to his common creatures, they think he’s gone insane. When they escape Odysseus turns back and shouts that it was in fact, Odysseus of Ithaca, who conquered the beast. By consequence, angry Poseidon wreaks