Some More Comparisons between The Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

After watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? in class, we discussed the ways in which the movie related to The Odyssey. Although there were many parts of the poem that were altered in the modern cinematic adaptation, there are elements that clearly correlate to elements from the epic poem. In this blog post, I will be expanding on some of the comparisons that we already discussed in class, and writing about some comparisons that were not brought up in class.

                At the beginning of the movie, Ulysses Everett McGill, the protagonist who represents Odysseys from The Odyssey, escapes the chain gang along with Pete Hogwallop and Delmar O’Donnel. The three escaped convicts have many obscure adventures together, but the first is when they get a ride from a blind man driving a handcar on the railway. In class, we compared this man to both a bard and a prophet. His blindness and appearance in the beginning of the movie to partially set the tone for Ulysses’ journey are similar to that of a bard invoking a muse and, in doing so, giving a brief overview of the hero’s journey at the beginning of an epic poem. Specifically, the man says, “you must travel a long and perilous road, a road fraught with peril” and which is similar to Homer’s description of Odysseus in the invocation of the muse where he says “many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea” and “driven time and again off course”. The man is also reminiscent of a prophet in the sense that he gives a cryptic omen of what is to come in the three men’s journey and seems to know things about the future that he could not have possibly known without some form of divine influence.

                To take the comparison to the prophet a step further, I think there are elements that connect the man with the handcar specifically to the figure of Tiresias rather than solely to prophets in general. The most obvious is the man’s reference to “a cow on the roof of a cotton house”. In The Odyssey, Tiresias offers Odysseus a warning to not eat the cattle of Helios. The man in O Brother, Where Art Thou? also says “you will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek” which relates to Tiresias in a broader sense. Tiresias’ prophecies were always fulfilled, but in an obscure way. When Tiresias warned Odysseus about the cattle of Helios, Odysseus initially thought that it was a simple stipulation. Ultimately due to a storm that lasted 30 days, Odysseus entire crew ended up breaking the agreement to stay away from the cattle. In another story, Tiresias warns Oedipus that he will kill his father and become intimate with his own mother. Oedipus is taken aback and does not believe that this could possibly come about. He even travels as far away from home to ensure it does not happen. Nevertheless, by the end of his story, all that had been prophesied about Oedipus came true.  Although the prophecies in these stories do not concern “a fortune”, they carry the same idea that their end result will come about in an unexpected way.

                We also explored Homer Stokes as a representation of Poseidon. While I do think that this comparison is valid, I personally found Antinous to be a more compelling correlation for Homer Stokes. In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Homer Stokes is running for mayor. He gives many speeches and riles up crowds. This reminds me of Antinous role as leader of the suitors. The more striking correlation is in the downfalls of both the characters. In The Odyssey, Antinous is overindulging in Odysseus’ food. When Antinous is lifting a cup of wine to his lips, Odysseus shoots Antinous in the throat and Antinous dies. In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Stokes’ defeat is less gory but there are elements that symbolize the events in The Odyssey. When Homer Stokes interrupts Ulysses’ singing, the stealing of his audience and his performance represents Antinous’ theft of Odysseus’ food and wealth. The movie depicts a close up of a hand unplugging Stokes’ microphone and cutting him off abruptly. The picture of Stokes’ voice abruptly taken away reminds me of Antinous’ meeting his end suddenly when he is shot through the throat with the arrow.

                The last comparison I will delve into involves the scene where Ulysses reveals to Pete and Delmar that there was never any treasure. Upon hearing this, Pete is enraged. He reveals that he only had two weeks left on his sentence, but now if he is caught, he will have to serve fifty more years. Delmar also voices the same frustration as Pete. They complain that they were so close to being free, but due to Ulysses, they have much more suffering ahead of them. This reminded me of Odysseus and his crew’s escape from Polyphemus. Odysseus manages to trick Polyphemus by going by the name of “Nobody” so that Polyphemus does not know his real name. Odysseus and his crew manage to escape and continue on their journey back to Ithaca. By this time, they had almost returned home after the war. Instead of leaving peacefully, Odysseus’ pride gets the better of him and he yells back at Polyphemus, “’Cyclops—if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you so—say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes son who makes his home in Ithaca!’”. Odysseus does this against the objections of his crew, who beg him to leave quietly to avoid a painful demise. Instead, Odysseus condemns himself and his crew to a dangerous journey of ten years back home. The movie and poem share the aspect of being so close to freedom, but due to the protagonist, his crew and he are met with the prospect of a future full of struggle. Both share the aspect of the crew or the escape accomplices expressing their frustration with the protagonist’s decision.

                These are a few connections that came to my mind while watching O Brother, Where Art Thou?. I thought that the directors did a wonderful job bringing an ancient story to the present while keeping some similarities between the two. I may be digging into things that are not actually there and there are definitely a multitude of comparisons I did not cover, but these are some of the correlations that I found most interesting.