Reviews

The Coen Brothers successfully transformed the epic poem, "The Odyssey" into a movie through their full screen spectacle, O Brother Where Art Thou? For example, both pieces begin with blind prophets who describe future occurrences through predictions. In O Brother Where Art Thou? the prophet is revealed to be the blind man on the train tracks, predicting the future of the three fugitives. In "The Odyssey", there are many prophets, such as Muse, Theoclymenes, Helen and Tiresias who often describe the impending doom of the suitors and Odysseus' return. In addition, in both pieces there are sirens who attempt to stir the main characters' supporting crew. In O Brother Where Art Thou? the sirens are located at a lake, persuading Pete to follow them leading to his eventual arrest. In "The Odyssey", the sirens are directly in the path of Odysseus on his way home. They attempt to persuade him to follow them, but his crew strictly restrains him and they eventually pass through unharmed. Thirdly, both pieces contain a strong antagonist (Cyclops) who approaches the main characters kindly and quickly turn hostile. In O Brother Where Art Thou? this antagonist is represented by the one-eyed Big Dan. He kindly tells them that he is willing to sell them atonement for their sins through the bible, and turns hostile by physically assaulting them and killing their frog. In "The Odyssey", the antagonist is represented by the Cyclops who begins his part in the story as a hospitable creature, but later turns hostile when eating two of Odysseus' crew mates.

In addition to the meeting of the two Cyclops's, both pieces of work show the physical pain caused by the protagonist on the antagonist. In O Brother Where Art Thou? during the Ku Klux Klan meeting, big Dan is killed by Evrett when the flaming cross falls on him. In "The Odyssey", Odysseus blinds the Cyclops with a flaming spear during his imprisonment in the Cyclops' cave. Another similarity between the two pieces is the protagonist's wife's plan to remarry. In O Brother Where Art Thou? Evrett's wife, Penny plans on remarrying a suitor. In "The Odyssey", Odysseus' wife, Penelope plans on remarrying one of the many suitors occupying her home. Lastly, in both pieces, the main character enlists the help of his friends before the final, eventful scene. In O Brother Where Art Thou? Evrett promises loyalty and fair treatment to Pete and Delmar before entering the church and trying to stop the wedding. In "The Odyssey", Odysseus promises to treat the cowherd and swineherd as children if they aid him in his final battle with the suitors. In conclusion, the similarities between the two pieces of work prove the successful translation from "The Odyssey" to O Brother Where Art Thou? I am a total buttface