O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000)

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy


Click here for a summary of the Odyssey.

1. Which characters/scarios in O BROTHER appear to be updates of the following characters/scenarios from THE ODYSSEY?
Odysseus
Telemachus (Odysseus' son)
Penelope (Odysseus' wife)
Polyphemus (the Cyclops)
Circe (a witch who turns Odysseus's men into pigs)
The Sirens (the temptresses who lure men to their death with song)
Tireseus (the old blind prophet)
The Lotus Eaters (a race of people whose primary food is lotus, a narcotic making them apathetic and zombielike, and which temporarily lures in O's men)
The slaughter of the cows of Helius (the men slaughter cows belonging to the god, who demands vengeance from Zeus)

2. How or why have the Coen brothers updated these characters? Why are theose changes significant?

3. If you were not familiar with the text of THE ODYSSEY, would you understand the film differently? How does knowing the original story enhance and/or detract from your viewing experience?

4. What ist he effect of setting this story during the Great Depression and in the Deep South? How does this particular setting help to set up the story of THE ODYSSEY?