Clearly, there are a lot of
similarities between Odysseus and Everett McGill in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (they are both leaders, they are both
trying to get home to their wife and children, they both face many obstacles
along the way, etc.). In the same way, there are a lot of similarities between
Penelope and Penny (they are both strong women in a culture where men traditionally
have much more power, they are both very crafty in keeping men they don’t love or
want to marry at bay, etc.). All of these similarities are somewhat
superficial, however, because they only exist if you look at the characters from
an objective point of view.
To clarify what I mean, let
us consider Odysseus from Penelope’s point of view and Everett from Penny’s
point of view. To Penelope, Odysseus is a hero, struggling to find his way home
to her. Even after twenty years, she retains hope that he is still alive, and
pushes all of the suitors away. To her, he is the rightful king of the land,
and no one else deserves to take his throne as long as his death is not
confirmed. Penny’s opinion of Everett is almost the exact opposite. She sees
him as somewhat of a fraud, practicing law without a license, and takes
advantage of his arrest to marry someone who is “bona fide.” Even when he comes
back, she wants to go through with the wedding, and she to tries to get Everett
to go away by explaining to him that he was hit by a train.
If we reverse this, and
look at Penelope from Odysseus’s point of view and Penny from Everett’s point
of view, we again see that they are vastly different. Penelope is loyal to him,
and although she has an inkling of what is going on when Odysseus appears
disguised as a beggar, she doesn’t say anything and lets his scheme to get rid
of the suitors come to fruition. Penny, on the other hand, irritates Everett to
no end, and interferes as much as possible with his plan to win her back. He
sees her as being extremely irrational, trying to claim that he was hit by a
train and asking him to retrieve their old wedding ring from the bottom of the
flooded valley.
It seems, then, that although
the story the Cohn brothers tell in O
Brother, Where Art Thou? is based on the Odyssey, and we as the audience notice many similarities between
the two, the characters themselves would have the opposite view, and would feel
very out of place if they were to switch roles.
You bring up a really good point. It's easy to say that a certain character in O Brother Where Art Thou is similar to a character in the Odyssey, but there actually any differences. I think we find lots more significant similarities than there actually are since we were actively looking for them while watching the movie. Yes the two are similar, but they are also rather different. Odysseus's journey home seems to be for a much more noble reason than Everitt's who has just escaped the law. Part of these differences spur from the fact that the two stories are told in different mediums and at different time periods. For example the rather important theme of hospitality in the Odyssey and in Greek culture isn't as apparent in O Brother because viewers wouldn't have understood/related to it.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with your point. I don't think Penelope and Penny are representatives of strong women. Throughout the Odyssey, Penelope is crying, locking herself in her room, and even begs for death if Odysseus doesn't return soon. While it may seem like she is a strong women for keeping the suitors at bay for so many years, she puts herself on hold and lets her life depend on the return of a man who could just as easily be dead. She doesn't make her own decisions but rather waits for a man to come and take care of her problems. With Penny, she has a little more merit. She is doesn't hang on to the idea of Everett returning but immediately tries to find a new man. It's clear within the film that she is looking for a man with cash and although it may be for the benefit of her kids, it still comes off as materialistic. In addition, going back to the emotion thing, Penny has two emotions: anger and pride. She cannot think logically and instead depends on getting her way through stubbornness. Instead of thinking like an individual, she confines herself to these emotions and puts her in the role of a controlling wife, a common stereotype in film. So, while these women may be "strong", they aren't representative of actual women and thus lose their credibility as characters.
ReplyDeleteOne implication of your point about Everett having to win back Penny--his simple *return* is not enough, as in Homer--is that this essentially puts him in the role of "suitor," who has to prove his "bona fides" and compete with her *new* fiance (who had already "suited" and *won*). He even has to prove that he's *alive*, as his daughters don't quite believe it's him, as he was "hit by a train."
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