The Coen Brothers’ film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, is loosely based on Homer’s famous Greek epic, The Odyssey, in that certain features in the film resemble those found in Homer’s epic, but the film still reveals its own sense of originality by making it more relatable to the modern world. While The Odyssey is set in Ancient Greece and O Brother, Where Art Thou? is set in the southern part of the United States during the 1930’s, the works are similar in following a protagonist who encounters setbacks on his journey home. Through the heroes’ struggles, both pieces of work reveal similar themes of humility, loyalty, and perseverance. The Coen Brothers’ film’s lack of important epic elements sets it apart from The Odyssey. Class …show more content…
The physical length of Odysseus’s journey also furthers the poem’s grand scale. A few of Odysseus destinations include Circe’s Island, Land of the Lotus Eaters, Land of the Dead, Calypso’s Island. Within the ten years, Odysseus sails from island to island, visits multiple countries, and even visits the underworld. Finally, the amount of characters involved in The Odyssey contribute to the grand complexity of the story. Odysseus has a whole crew of shipmates accompanying him throughout his journey and his journey is influenced by a number of gods and goddesses.
In contrast, the Coen Brothers do not adapt the grand scale in which The Odyssey is told in O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The filmmakers depict Ulysses’s travels home at a much lesser scale than Odysseus’s journey. Even though O Brother, Where art thou? does not give the exact time it takes Ulysses to get home, the movie shows the runaway prisoners’ travels from day to day, possessing a shorter timescale. The distance the prisoners travel is also reduced. They spend most of their time traveling on foot within the state of Mississippi, visiting a bank, jail, radio station, restaurant. Compared to The Odyssey, O Brother, Where Art Thou? has less characters that impact
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.
The Odyssey by Homer is a Greek epic poem based on its main character Odysseus and it took place in the classical Greece. The book was composed in the eight century B.C.E, after the events it describes, and narrates several adventures with the objective of its main character to return home with his family. Moreover, the movie O, Brother Where Art Thou was published in the year 2000 and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. The movie also narrates the adventures of its main character Ulysses, interpreted by George Clooney, a prisoner that escaped from jail with two partners. Consequently, the film and the movie have its similarities and differences, but at the end the movie was absolutely based on the book.
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
One example of Joel and Ethan Coen’s collective comedic sensibility is the way in which they duped Fargo audiences by asserting the film was based on true events when it was not. Their joke on the audience in O Brother is that they claim never to have read The Odyssey. Regardless of whether they have actually read the epic poem or simply the Cliff’s Notes version, by combining their working knowledge of the tale with a strong musical accompaniment, they have managed to stay truer to the original’s form than they might have had they attempted to slavishly mimic Homer’s epic style and story.
Of all literature works read thus far, the Odyssey full fills the hero’s journey in all aspects of the story. Throughout this story there are vivid examples of how the hero’s journey is outlined. From the beginning of “the hero’s journey”, which is the call to adventure Odysseus will begin his journey when he makes the choice of going into battle in the Trojan War. There will also be specific events in this epic story to display “the hero’s journey” even further. Eventually the end of the journey will be revealed when Odysseus regains his family, friends, and home. This part of
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
“Recession is when a neighbor loses his job, depression is when you lose your job” Ronald Reagan. Recession is only a temporary decline and depression is a long and extended period of economic failure. There was a crisis in America during the time period the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? was based on. The Great Depression was occurring at that time and the characters in this movie reflected and showed was it was like to live in a time like that. Each character in the movie symbolized what an individual person would have went through during the Great Depression.
The amazing epic poem by Homer entitled “The Odyssey” shares many similarities and many differences as well with the Hallmark movie of the same name. The epic poem is about the hero Odysseus who has spent twenty long years filled with toil and loss, through war and sea desperate to return to his home of Ithaca. Odysseus has angered some of the gods and goddesses of a Greek Mythology with his destruction of the mighty city of Troy. Odysseus is represented in the poem and the movie, but there are several differences between the two in the events he encountered. There are also numerous similarities
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
The Odyssey is an eight century epic by Homer which depicts the journey of Odysseus as he attempts to return to his home at Ithaka after the fall of Troy. During his travels, Odysseus faced many obstacles whom he had to overcome. In order to do so, Odysseus had to prove his intellectual capacity, strength and determination. “O Brother Where Art Thou” is a 2000 adventure film which follows the journey of a man named Ulysses Everett McGill as he attempts to make his way back home with two fellow convicts after escaping prison. Although it lacks the structure and does not follow sequence of events of the odyssey, the film portrays many of the fundamental concepts and ideas explored in The Odyssey. In this paper, I will explore the themes of the power of cunning over strength, temptation and vengeance in the Odyssey, in order to depict how they are portrayed in the film “O Brother Where Art Thou” and demonstrate the similarities in both tales.
The Odyssey relates to a modern life journey when he tries so hard to get home to his wife and son in Ithaca. This relates to matters of the heart we may experience. Epic poems such as The Odyssey use themes that carry on throughout different ages and cultures known as archetypes.The archetype of a lost love or a family you miss are timeless themes used throughout many different pieces of literature. It also translates to us today. Being away from family or not being with someone you love is a difficult challenge. Odysseus faces this challenge and so will all of us at one point or another.
The movie O Brother, Where Art Thou is a wonderful movie that was directed by the Coen brothers. The movie features a cast of talented actors, the movie has also won several awards. The book The Odyssey is a timeless classic and it was written by the mysterious bard Homer. The book tells the tale of our hero Odysseus as he attempts to make it home to his wife. There are many ways to relate the movie plot and characters, to Odysseus's journey in The Odyssey.
Odysseus must journey from Troy to his homeland of Ithaca. Throughout this journey Odysseus experiences a lot of inconsistent emotions. A lot of this is attributed to the physical and mental hell he goes through on this remarkable
The Coen Brothers’ “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”, loosely based on Homer’s classic adventure The Odyssey, is a film amusingly filled with themes of symbolism similar to those found in Homer’s epic, while still maintaining a sense of originality and style that they have become so renowned for. An exciting and entertaining blend of high adventure, humour, and heartfelt emotion, at first glance, the film barely resembles Homer’s poem: only certain elements are obvious, such as the main character’s name and the three sirens by the river. However, a deeper and more intense analysis of the film and text exposes numerous, if not more subtle references.