Film v.s Mythology

In the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? There are many striking mythological references. As I watched the film I caught a strong sense of Homers The Odyssey. So my review is going to compare the film to many of the characters from the novel.

Some references come in the simple form of similar names such as Penny and Penelope, Ulysses and Odysseus and Ithaca, Mississippi and Ithaca, Greece. However there are deeper parallels between the movie and myths.

For example the characters of the three women at the river are very similar to the sirens from mythology. They both have power over the men in a mysterious way. The women are beautiful and use their seductive power on the men as they sing. The women are an obvious allusion to the sirens from mythology.

Another pair of characters that are very similar is the blind man and Cassandra/Tiresias. They both predict the future which includes the adventures that the men will have. However, they warn of misfortune as well. Both have prophet esque characteristics that make them seem so alike.

Lastly the character that stood out physically the most to a character from Odysseus was Dan Teague. This is because he wore the eye patch, which gave him one eye like the Cyclops. Moreover, Ulysses caused his death just as Odysseus caused the Cyclops death.

As seen by the characters of both the film and the novel there is a strong likeness between the two. If you watched the film without thinking about mythology you could probably watch it in it’s entirety without ever noticing it. However, once you stop to think about how it relates to mythology you can’t stop