In the Odyssey, the pantheon played an important role in the actual plot both a physical and a thematic sense. That is to say that their actions (ie Athena's meddling and Poseidon's anger) shaped the story, but so did their values. Time and again, we saw that the gods value hospitality, so the characters would act hospitably in order to please the gods.
I noticed, however, that the gods seemed to value vengeance even more than hospitality. The whole wanderings are set in motion by Poseidon, who is trying to get back at Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus. There's also the incident with the Phaeacians, and Athena (and, to a lesser extent, most of the other gods) want Odysseus to get back to Ithaca so he can teach the suitors a lesson.
Revenge seemed to be a motif in the Greek religion (further research backs this observation up). And revenge is certainly a huge part of the mortals' actions in the Odyssey. In fact, it's pretty much the whole point.
From my understanding - and I am by no means an expert, so please correct me if I'm wrong - revenge wasn't as important in early 20th century southern Christianity. The emphasis seems to have been more on redemption, and this motif is reflected in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Our characters start out as convicts, so right from the get-go, they are in the moral/spiritual hole, and over the course of the movie, the viewer has to decide whether Everett in particular is more of a hero than he is a scam-artist. Furthermore, the film is less concerned with revenge than that of the Odyssey, even in the instances where the parallels are the strongest. For example, in the Odyssey, the reclamation of Penelope is saturated in vengeance, with the fact that the suitors kept hassling her cited as one of the main couple of justifications for the slaughter. The corresponding subplot in O Brother, the reclamation of Penny, is much more concerned with Everett redeeming himself in his wife's eyes, not killing her suitor.
Redemption is also brought up constantly by Delmar and Pete.
One more subtle parallel between the Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the way in which the motifs of the contemporary mythology and religion played into the themes of the story.
Hmm, I haven't thought about the parallels between revenge and redemption. I think the emphasis on religion within both of these (the Odyssey and O'Brother) show the similarities. With revenge, it is encouraged by Athena. With redemption, it is obviously tied to a higher power of some sort (in O'Brother it's God). Kind of an interesting parallel.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the difference between Odysseus's and Everett's motivations as well, and I thought it was most clearly shown in the climax scenes of the two stories. Odysseus seems completely focused on killing the suitors in the hall, while Everett's concert scene at the end barely even mentions Penny's "suitor," though he does pretty much the exact same thing as the suitors in the Odyssey. Everett is clearly more concerned with winning his wife back than getting revenge, and I don't think the same could be said for Odysseus. However, I think this is more of a difference in the two's characters, not the religions of the times. Odysseus's character is definitely influenced by religion, but I don't think Everett's really is. Redemption is a big part of the religious culture at the time, as we see with Delmar and Pete getting redeemed in the river, but Everett continuously mocks this religious culture, and I don't think it influences him a ton. He seems to be working for a more personal, self-redemption, and even sort of mocks Delmar and Pete's idea of Christian redemption.
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