In 2000 the Coen brothers released the film O Brother Where Art Thou starring George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson. The men are criminals who escape from jail and hit the free road running. The movie follows the leading actors through their hilarious and reckless adventure to uncover a hidden treasure and to stay covered from the jail house chains they have escaped from. The film has loose references to the Greek tale and in my review I will focus on one of the similarities between the story of the Odyssey and the Coen brother’s film.
Before I discuss the similarities I want to touch upon the role of men and women in this film. Throughout the whole film I found the majority of the men to seem arrogant, dominant, and impulsive while the women seemed manipulative, demanding, and shallow. Take Clooney’s character for example, he was always willing to take the lead regardless if he was fit to do so and maintained his own agenda throughout the film dragging his companions into every corner of trouble. Just to clarify, his companions also possessed these qualities and also had their fair share of trouble making but some less than others. I will use Clooney’s ex-wife/wife in the film as my manipulative and shallow mascot for the women in this film. She lied to her daughters about their father being alive and when Clooney confessed his devotion to her and their children, she responds by pointing out how wealthy her new fiancé is and how he will be able to support them unlike Clooney. She also has lied to her daughters telling them that their father was hit by a train to avoid the shameful conversations about Clooney’s whereabouts otherwise. The value of family and respect meant nothing to her but the value of money was everything.
Back to the Greek similarities, the correlation I will discuss is found in the scene when Turturro hears the voices of three women while driving with his companions. Turturro obnoxiously wants out of the car and follows the voices until he sees three beautiful women sitting on rocks and washing clothes. The women are singing in perfect harmony luring the men closer and closer. The scene was referencing the singing Sirens.
The sirens would sing their seductive songs and the men who heard their song would follow the voices leading them to their death. The men would crash their ships into rocks or drown trying to swim to the women. In the Coen film, the women were singing “Go To Sleep Little Baby”. The men were powerless to the siren’s song. Clooney could barely form sentences and his companions did not even attempt to speak when the women approached. Like the story, the men listened to the song and lost more than they had hoped to gain. What I enjoyed most about this reference was how pure the women looked, even I wanted to follow their voices, their dark hair and soft skin would have lured us all down to the water. Something is to be said about things that look too good to be true.
Beauty is the ultimate kryptonite to men who have become unfamiliar to the sight of a woman. The women in the water looked sweet but sang their song with a power only noticed by men in control. These men had become companions because they were chained to each other, they were not friends but partners on a mission. The end of the road was not seeming near causing the men to become agitated and weak making it even easier for the women to cast their spell. Unlike the Greek story, the men did not meet their death as a result of the women’s song but instead lost a friend. Convinced their friend had turned into a toad the two other men continued on their hunt for the hidden treasure unsure how to bring their friend back to his original form. It was not very clear to me exactly how Turturro’s character lost his clothes or how he got caught by the sheriff but one thing was for sure; nothing good comes from singing women in water.
References
*Sites are in the order of the photos shown above
(1) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/
(2) http://news.moviefone.com/2010/05/01/scenes-we-love-o-brother-where-art-thou/
(3) http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/sirens-mythology.html
(4) http://mistercomfypants.blogspot.com/2012/02/o-brother-where-art-thou.html
*Sites are in the order of the photos shown above
(1) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/
(2) http://news.moviefone.com/2010/05/01/scenes-we-love-o-brother-where-art-thou/
(3) http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/sirens-mythology.html
(4) http://mistercomfypants.blogspot.com/2012/02/o-brother-where-art-thou.html