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Movie Adaptations In The Odyssey

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Book to movie adaptations have been an increasingly popular style of film. Many believe that the integrity of book to movie adaptations are lost when films are not exact replicas of the book. However, adaptations are a form of interpretation that involve some means of redesigning and reconstruction to convert them into a different art form. In this paper I will argue the reasons why I agree with the claim that O, Brother Where Art Thou is based on the epic The Odyssey. The basic premise of The Odyssey is Odysseus’ journey back home. After the Trojan War and battling many obstacles, Odysseus is trapped in the island of Ogygia for seven years with the nymph Calypso. Back home, Odysseus’ wife Penelope is swarmed by suitors trying to wed her. …show more content…

These include Everett’s first name Ulysses being the Latin name for Odysseus, both stories starting with the calling of the muse, and both main characters encountering a blind person. In The Odyssey, the blind person is the prophet, Tiresias, who guides him on the future of his journey. In O, Brother Where Art Thou, Everett and his friends meet a blind person who predicts their future. The sirens and laundry ladies symbolized temptation using their singing to lure captives. In The Odyssey, Odysseus evades the sirens by following Circe’s advice of having his crew’s ears be plugged with beeswax and have them bind him to the ship (Homer, Book 12, lines 161-190) However, in O, Brother Where Art Thou, Everett and his friends fall prey to the laundry ladies and they end up using one them as bounty (0:43-0:46) The lotus eaters and baptizing scene show how the main character’s crew got distracted along the way. In The Odyssey, when Odysseus’ crew ate the lotus given by the lotus eaters they forgot about their journey back home and Odysseus had to physically drag them out of the island (Homer, Book 9, lines 85-100) In O, Brother Where Art Thou, when Everett and his friends encounter a baptism, his friends start following the people getting baptized, whereas Everett abstains. Once baptized, Pete and Delmar are temporarily distracted from their journey for the treasure until Everett keeps reminding them

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