O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

[lxr205]

Hi, Mike.

This is Xuanrui Li (Sherry). I feel this movie is little hard to understand due to its language use and accent, especially for the first half of the film. Though I am not quite familiar with American history, I still feel that there are some metaphors hidden in this film. I have tried my best to understand them:)

How does this story represent the South?
First, the overall tone of the film is a little dull. I can even feel the dirt. It tries to show the audience that the South is less developed with emphasizing on farm. Moreover, the accent also accurately captures the characteristic of the South. The most important part is racism. We all know that nowadays the South is still having racist problem, and this point is also shown in the film, such as the KKK and political views.

How does this story compare with the Odyssey and The Wizard of Oz?
I have not watched Odyssey before, so I can only touch on The Wizard of Oz. I feel that they are somehow similar. Both of them are about hero's journey. They both have their ultimate goal of this journey, and during the journey, characters in the films all changed. For details, there are several scenes in O Brother parallel to scenes in The Wizard of Oz. For example, the KKK scene and the march outside of the castle scene. Moreover, they both use colors to represent meaningful ideas. For example, the wizard of Oz wears all white in the movie, showing that it knows everything being helpful to Dorothy. In O Brother, the politician and and his followers are all wearing white as well, showing that maybe he can lead the South to a better future--he is not the one with racism ideas.

How do Everett, Pete, and Delmar change during the course of the story?
Generally, they all know the importance of friendship during the journey. After encountering with the "devil" for several times, they realize the importance of their life and friendship. In the end, they all regret committing crimes and are willing to become common people.

[ClaireL]

Hi, Mike!
Thank you for showing us this movie. I enjoy it very much and I would like to talk about the characters.

Everett, Pete and Delmar are lead characters in this movie. They escape from the prison and go on a trip for the treasure. Although they are criminals, I don’t think they are bad people. Pete is straightforward and loyalty and Delmar is kind and simple. Everett, the leader of this group, is actually a man who cares about his family very much. During the trip they have changed a lot and I would like to focus on Everett.

At the beginning, Everett seems to be a glib talker who puts too much attention on his hair. One funny thing is that he only uses a certain brand of hair treatment and that hair treatment appears throughout the movie. However, as the movie goes, we slowly find a different Everett inside. He is only a poor man who wants to stop his wife from marring another guy and see his daughters again. When he confronts with Vernon, he leans close to him and asserts that Vernon is using his hair treatment. Does he really care about the hair treatment at that time? I don’t think so. I believe he just can’t express his feeling directly, so he uses the hair treatment, which represents his family stolen by Vernon, to express his anger.

When he is caught by the man with the sunglasses, he drops to his kneels and prays to God for the first time. And we finally see a true Everett under that smart-looking cover, who cares about his family and friends, who wants nothing but to see his daughters again, who is not really taking nothing serious. Then the flood comes, flowing away all the hair treatments representing all the covers he wears. When he comes out from the water, he sees a cow on the roof, just like the blind old man has predicted. He is stupefied for a moment and then he gets all his covers back starting talking about the electricity, superstition and the new world. But that’s ok, because we have already understood this man.

I’m so happy that he has a good ending in this movie. When he dresses up and walks along the street with his wife and daughters, and struggles to satisfy his wife, it feels like every trouble he has been through is worthwhile.

Claire

Teacher's note: Thank you, author, for this amazing response to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" IMHO, you have nailed Everett "to a tee". I would suggest that, given Everett's dire circumstances when we first meet him, the Pomade hair treatment is just about his last link with sanity. Why else would he cling to such a mundane vanity? Underneath it all, our hero is actually a true-blue Paterfamilias who wants nothing more than to be with his progeny and the mother of those seven beautiful daughters. It does bring a tear to my heart.

Thanks to this author and all who have shared their unique insights into this amazing movie about a glimpse into the complexities of the American character.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[haoqiulyu]

Hi it is Jessica, really happy to be here and talk something about the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?To be honest, the first part of the movie made me struggle and confuse, largely because the southern pronunciations and slangs. Possibilities are that these three people have never been well educated, thus their language has strong accent and is kind of too vulgar for people to understand. In the movie I found that most colored people are doing physical labor work while white people do descent jobs such as government officers. This kind of racial discrimination peaked when the three brothers saw Ku Klux Klan did the mysterious ritual to burn the black young man. Racial discrimination and support for black slavery are very typical South features.

Obviously this movie favors the existence of God. At the beginning of the movie, the blind old man, as a prophet, predicted the three men’s future and it turned out to be true. The little boy said he sold his soul to the devil—a white man with a dog—who looks exactly like the man intending to kill the three brothers. Actually, the tough and adventurous journey of the three brothers made them resemble Odysseus, who overcomes mountains of obstacles to go back to home. Sirens, the half-woman-half-bird sea s who supposed to lure sailors to destruction on the rocks where the nymphs lived, appeared in the movie as three beautiful women washing clothes beside the river and abducted Pete.

During the course of the story, Everett, Pete, and Delmar all changed a lot, they gradually knew what is friendship and what is family. For Everett, he didn’t believe in God until he saw the earthquake and the cow on the rooftop. I kind of like the ending, It's surprising, and ties up all the loose ends neatly, without wearing the story out. Anyway, the Coen Brothers didn’t fail us!!

[yuzhang]

To be honest, the southern accent and obscure meaning of this movie really confused me while watching this movie at the first time. It is an old style odyssey adventure story about redemption and destiny. Except this story happens in 1930s America instead of ancient Greek. It requires carefulness to reveal its core.

I think the movie is all about destiny. At the beginning of the movie, the blind old man (could be god himself) has foreseen their journey. He has foreseen that they will find the treasure, but not the one they thought it would be and ridiculous things like a cow on the rooftop
But all of these comes true at last. The treasure they thought it would be is actually a lie by Everett, but they all become stars and find their value at the end, which is the real treasure for them; When they are saved by the flood at the end of the movie, Everett is shocked to find a cow standing on the roof. It all comes true!

At the very end, the blind old man shows up again, with his old cart on the same railroad. I feel like everything is connected into a circle. Life is like a circle. Odysseus in the ancient Greek story has to conquer all kinds of hardships to get home, and everything seems to be a result from his own mistake. But in fact gods have decided his destiny after he escapes the giant island. Same thing happens in the story as well. However, it doesn’t mean that god has decided our ends, so what we do doesn’t affect the fact. On the contrary, we still have to fight for our destiny, and for the best of our life.

[JackieDu]

How does this story represent the South?
This is an interesting movie that represents the South in multiple ways. The story describes the living status of Southern people in 1930's depression era. They were somehow trapped in complex situation, feeling desperate and helpless to moving forward. They tried different ways (religious, economic, political etc.) to rescue their bodies and souls, but their efforts did not work so well. To some extent, all were in prison. So the Hero's Journey of three brothers was kind of self-rescue journey, full of wonders, lost, confusions, fears, and also hopes. Many details are given to create the vivid and fabulous scenes. The accent of the characters, the beautiful landscape, and the folk music etc. all play important roles in story-telling.

How does this story compare with the Odyssey and The Wizard of Oz?
The three stories are all about coming home through difficult journey. The main characters have grown stronger and more matures after experiencing the challenges and misfortunes on the way. They got ambushed, but also got helped. Eventually, they realized some essential meanings of life, won back their beloved ones, and moved on. Life is cruel, but life is sweet as well. In story-telling structure aspect, “O Brother, Where Art Thou” got more inspirations from the Odyssey because they both tells how a man tried his best to come home, and get back his wife and children. Everett and Odyssey both met one-eye blind big guy and sirens who tried to confuse and hurt them on the half way. “O Brother, Where Art Thou” and “The Wizard of Oz” are similar in other way. The characters started their journey with goals in mind. Finally, they got something different from what they seek, and got their lives enlightened.

How do Everett, Pete, and Delmar change during the course of the story?
At the beginning of the story, they were physically bonded together by chains and common interests. They didn’t really agree with each other, but they were thirst for the treasures except that Everett had his own plan. But after the hard journey, they were more like real brothers, being honest to each other and being helped by each other. They even worked together to rescue other people’s life. Their relationship has been tightened and their hearts were opened after many life-and-death moments.

Write a setup/opinion of O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
I cannot say I like or dislike it, but this is a movie worth watching many times, to better understand the special situation in South and understand some important parts of American culture. At the 1st sight, the movie was a quite absurd, illogic and obscure. Why did the devil people behave like that? Why there were quite a few religious rituals appeared in the movie? What has changed the mind of Everett’s wife in the end, she was sincere or deceptive? What was the screenwriter trying to say through an “Odyssey like hero story” performed by three small potatoes? ... I tried to search some film reviews online, but what I found is just as obscure as the movie itself. So I believe the experience to dive deeply and unravel its metaphors intertwined with history, mythology, politics and religions must be a very interesting brain journey.

[Amber]

Hello, everyone. I am Amber.

This movie is a typical Southern American movie.I know that this story represents the South because I noticed the special ceremony held by the Ku Klux Klan. They promote the White to be superior and triy to kill the black guy. Because of the tradition of plantation, the Southern United States tends to have more racists than the Northern United States. Also, the country music represents the South. To be honest, the music in the movie is my favorite part. All songs are cathy, lively and very relaxing. I like country music a lot, and the root of country music can be traced back to the 1920s right in Southern United States.

About the movie itself, what impresses me most is that at the very beginning of the movie, the blind old guy tells Everett, Pete, and Delmar that they will find the treasure after a very long dangerous journey. At the end of the movie, when they finally find their happiness, the blind old guy showed up at the railway line again. It seems that everything is meant to be, and after all the struggles, the three brothers fails to change their destiny even though they have known it at the beginning.

[reneeliu]

This whole story was just like contemporary Odyssey happened in America. "O Brother" follows its three heroes on an odyssey during which they intersect with a political campaign, become radio stars by accident, stumble upon a Klan meeting and deal with McGill's wife, Penny, who is about to pack up with their seven daughters and marry a man who won't always be getting himself thrown into jail.

The film is largely about paradigm shifts in time. In the film, we cover the bases of writing through The Odyssey and its adaptation into The Depression allows us to see how radio was a medium to relay stories. But there's more in between those two forms of communication. Compared with the Wizard of Oz, which is totally a fairy tale, this story was based on a real life and went through much crueler. But both of these two stories are expressing the same theme: coming back home. No matter how hard it is, people will conquer every difficulty to be reunited with their family.

Structurally, it is a 'road movie', though it borrows the episodic encounters with larger-than-life characters from Homer's Odyssey (including sirens and a cyclops). But the artful combination of its photography and music with delightful story and characters makes this one of most bewitching and beautiful road movies ever made.

[jacqueline]

Hi Mike,

Sorry for the late reply!

O Brother, Where Art Thou used the story from Odyssey written by Homer so to surprise the audience with a story that all of us already know the end was what Coen Brothers tried and they succeeded without doubt.

The plots are extremely well-organized and sarcasm behind the screen of that time amused me as well. However, what impressed me most was the music. I've heard of this movie for a long time, I know it is classic but I never thought about it would be a music movie. The very first song in the beginning kinda attracted me so I looked up the sound track on my smart phone immediately. The movie discussed a lot about religion, like baptism and some kind of creepy gathering of heresy and the Coen Brothers made the audience at ease through music once and once again. It didn't sound abruptly like those typical Bollywood movies, all the songs in O Brother, Where Art Thou blended in so naturally. Combined with all those exquisite countryside landscape, you just can't stop thinking you are reading a poem.

Jacqueline Zou

[zuhui]

How does this story represent the South?
I have stayed in the US not for a long time and mainly time I stayed in the Illinois not at the south part, but I can notice this story is happened in the south part, from the environment, the people clothes, the farm and houses style. But it is hard to describe how the differentiate the south is.

How does this story compare with the Odyssey and The Wizard of Oz?
These three movies all talk about journey, but I didn’t have a chance to take a look at Odyssey, but we watched Wizard of Oz in class together. Oz and three brothers are similar, they both talk about story about going back home. Also, during the journey, both movies build main character changing themselves through their experience and never give up their goals. Another similarity is that, friendship is really important.

How do Everett, Pete, and Delmar change during the course of the story?
At the first time we know that they only want to escape from the prison, find treasure and Everett’s wife, but through this journey, they change into brave people, they even try to satisfy their freedom to save their friends. They are becoming better men.

Write a opinion of O Brother.
I am not a big fun of this movie, but I really enjoy all the songs in it. Those songs are reminding me about old times, slowly, quiet and beautiful. This is not a “busy” movie, and sometimes funny. Lots of movie makes people nervous, but this one not. And it is interesting because all the audiences know these three men are prisoner but no one want to blame them.

[ttangra]

Hi! I'm Tang. I really love this movie and thanks for introducing this fantastic movie to us!

Although once were prisoners, Everett and his friends are by no means “bad guys”. Actually, there is a big contrast of them to the hypocritical politicians and atrocious prison guards in the movie. For me, this irony is just one of the best parts of the movie, just as the irony in other Coen Brothers’ movies. The governor campaigner Homer Stokes, who attracts voters’ attention by promising to change, turns out to be the leader of 3K; the other runner, who is a sly blockhead and has a even more stupid campaign team, just seize the moment and win the reelection in the end.

The prison guard, who says that “Law is a human institution”, get flooded away, whereas the Soggy Bottom Boys survive by lying on a coffin. Meanwhile, the entire plot is just so delicately set and blended with a sense of black humor. Not even mention the whole script’s brilliantly adaption of the Odyssey: the 3 beautiful girls by the river remind us of Siren, the Big Dan Teague is a symbol of the Cyclops, the guard is a representation of Poseidon, etc. all of which brings innovation as well as profound meaning to the movie.

Unlike the heroic Odysseus, Everett may not be a typical hero and in the beginning, all he wants just seems to be a Dapper Dan; but just as Odysseus, Everett goes through a tough journey to get back home. In the end, he realizes what he truly desires-his family. It reminds me of Dorothy’s words in the Wizard of Oz, “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard”. So is Delmar and Pete, they get redemption from their precious sins by realizing their true desires and joy.

On the other hand, the music of this movie is just fantastic! Among them, I love Down to the River for Pray and I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow for the most. The music, as well as the beautiful southern landscape and unique slang and accent are perfect representations of southern America in that time.