Neredesin Be Birader? (Film)

Similarities between the film and the Odyssey

References

• Ulysses, the Latin form of the Greek name Odysseus, is the first name of the film`s protagonist, Ulysses Everett McGill.
• Menelaus `Pappy` O`Daniel, who pardons the Soggy Bottom Boys at the end of the film, shares his first name with the King of Sparta who fought alongside Odysseus at Troy.
• Pappy O`Daniel`s challenger in the election is Homer Stokes, who shares his first name with the author of the classical text.
• Odysseus` wife was named Penelope. Penny, a shortened version of Penelope, is the name of Everett`s wife.
• The soundtrack song of the Soggy Bottom Boys is named `Man of Constant Sorrow.` Homer described Odysseus through epithets as the man of many sorrows.

References to Homer

• When we see Pappy O`Daniel discussing the upcoming campaign in the restaurant, over his shoulder we can see a bust of Homer.

Character parallels

Parallels between Odysseus and Everett

Parallels between Penelope and Penny

• Odysseus tested Penelope`s faith by first appearing before her in disguise, and Penelope does not recognize him, until he later reveals himself. Everett appears in disguise on stage when they sing "Man of Constant Sorrow." Penny likewise does not recognize him until he reveals himself to her. Also, suitors come to try to marry Penelope and a "suitor" comes to try and marry Penny.

Parallels with monsters and others met by Odysseus

• Big Dan Teague (with an eye patch) corresponds to Polyphemus the Cyclops. In the Odyssey, the cyclops falls asleep and has his eye put out by Odysseus and his crew with a sharpened smoldering log. In the film, Big Dan is almost blinded by the sharpened stake of the Confederate flag but catches it, only to be crushed underneath the flaming cross that Everett cuts loose. It appears that falling burning cross then drives the pointed stake into Teague`s only good eye, thus completing the parallel to the Cyclops.
• Sirens lure Odysseus and his men with their singing. In the film, they do the same, and hypnotize Everett, Delmar and Pete, and compel them to drink corn liquor until they pass out. These women also correspond to Nausicaa, a young princess to whom Odysseus makes love after encountering her as she does her laundry at the shore; the women in O Brother are doing laundry in the stream. They also correspond to the witch Circe, who turned some of Odysseus`s men into animals; Delmar thinks the women are witches who have turned Pete into a toad after he sees a toad emerge from Pete`s abandoned clothes.
• The blind radio station owner who records "Man of Constant Sorrow" corresponds to Aeolus.
• George Nelson, the manic-depressive bank robber, corresponds to the shape-changing Proteus.

Plot parallels

Parallels with the journey of Odysseus

• The black man on the railroad handcar may be a parallel to Nestor, oldest of the Trojan War heroes, who is consulted by Odysseus` son Telemachus. He is repeatedly and formally described by Homer as the `Gerenian charioteer`: the railroad handcar may represent Nestor`s chariot. As another parallel Homer himself was according to tradition blind and bearded. However, it is more likely an allusion to Tiresias, who prophesied the trials and tribulations of Odysseus` route home when Odysseus visited him in the underworld.
• The merciless sheriff is perhaps analogous to Hades and his hound echoes Cerberus. A link between Satan and Poseidon may be being made when Everett mentions that Satan carries "a giant hay fork" (a trident); both figures are often depicted with just such an instrument.
• The travelers` siege in the Hogwallop barn parallels Odysseus`s dangerous course between Scylla and Charybdis when Everett helplessly cries "Damn! We`re in a tight spot!" several times.
• There is a trance-like progression of worshippers seeking to be baptised. Their glassy eyed placidity draws a parallel with the Lotus-Eaters of the Odyssey.
• At one point George Nelson shoots at a herd of cattle. Odysseus and his fellow travelers slaughter the cows of the sun god Helios. Odysseus warns his men against killing the sacred oxen. Delmar warns Nelson, "Oh, George, not the livestock!" In addition to this, in the Odyssey, Odysseus` ship is struck by a thunderbolt - killing all but him. In the film, George is sent to be executed in the electric chair. During the parade to the execution, someone leading a cow behind the mob yells, "Cow killer!!!"
• When the guys sneak into the city hall towards the end of the movie, they disguise themselves by wearing beards. This could reference how Odysseus sneaks into his hometown dressed as a beggar with long hair and a beard.

Parallels with the underworld

• The scene in the theater, when Pete tries to warn Everett and Delmar, parallels Odysseus` descent into the underworld, Hades. Delmar, believing that Pete had died, mistakes him (and thus also the other people in the theater) for a ghost. In this scene Pete parallels Tiresias in the underworld.
• Following Everett`s beating by Waldrip, Everett warns Delmar of the treachery of women. This is much like how Agamemnon, who had been betrayed by his wife and killed by her new husband, warns Odysseus not to trust women.

Miscellaneous parallels

• The dialogue in a scene between Everett and his daughters also gives a nod to its ancient influence. Using Latin terms, one of the girls says that Waldrip is ``bona fide``, and Everett responds that he is the ``pater familias``. The girls also use the word "suitor" at least twice.
• In the scene where the trio and George Nelson are sitting around the fire after the robbery at Itta Bena, there are Greek columns in the background.
• Everett also comes back to stop the marriage and fight Vernon, much as Odysseus comes back to kill the suitors. Everett, however, is badly beaten by Vernon.

Other allusions