When
we watched O Brother, Where Art Thou? in class, I was struck by the music
present throughout the movie. Everyone seems to sing constantly, whether it's
the rhythmic chant used by the KKK or the Soggy Bottom Boys' hit single
"Man of Constant Sorrow." It's almost like watching a Broadway
musical, but with authentic music. In O
Brother, Where Art Thou?, folk music fills the role that epic storytelling
does in The Odyssey; namely, a
fundamental cultural meme that simultaneously drives the plot forward and grounds
the story in a unique historical context.
The
Odyssey was originally written and performed by Greek bards, and the
tradition of oral storytelling was firmly ingrained in their culture. The
phrase "tell me the truth" is uttered by almost every character in
the book and is the response is always a lengthy story. These stories are
sometimes long enough to include nested sub-stories, which at one point are
three levels deep. One of Odysseus' greatest assets is his fantastic storytelling
ability, and bards themselves appear frequently to deliver epic poetry. All of
this evidence points to the fact that storytelling was a fundamental component
of Greek culture, as well as a plot device that supplied Telemachus and
Odysseus with the information they needed to succeed in their quest.
Modern
America doesn't have this sort of oral tradition. People still tell stories to
each other, of course, but the sweeping, poetic epics of Homeric Greece are no
longer commonplace. However, folk music can be considered to take its place. America
is a nation of immigrants, and the influx of styles from around the world has
given our country an unusually rich tradition of folk music. O Brother, Where Art Thou? draws on this
to great effect, firmly rooting the setting in early 20th century
America with the opening song, “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” This song, popularized
in the 1930s, references the hobos in the first scene as well as the idealistic
dreams of “the treasure” sought by Ulysses’ companions. As the plot moves
forward, different songs evoke different moods within the same setting. The
equivalents of the Sirens and Lotus-Eaters sing tempting folk songs like “Down
to the River to Pray,” and the gravediggers at the end sing “Lonesome Valley”
to provide an eerily inevitable quality to the climax of the movie. Most
notably, Ulysses sings “Man of Constant Sorrow,” which becomes a hit and
eventually redeems him and his company. In addition to playing a pivotal role
in the plot, “Man of Constant Sorrow” appears to directly reference the plot of
The Odyssey. It tells of a man forced
to wander away from his home, and the name even means something similar to
Odysseus, the “Man of Pain.” By taking authentic folk music that closely
mirrors and reinforces the plot of the movie, I think that the Coen brothers
manage to insert elements of American culture as comfortable and familiar to us
as the epic storytelling of The Odyssey
was to the Greeks of Homer’s time into O
Brother, Where Art Thou?.
I also realized after watching the movie how essential folk music was to the narrative. I was really confused as to why an adaptation of The Odyssey was set in 1930s Mississippi until it occurred to me how similar folk music is culturally to the Greek oral tradition. It also makes a lot of sense that Odysseus' storytelling ability is analogous to Ulysses' singing ability, though I didn't realize that until reading this post. The movie soundtrack was clearly essential -- I actually looked it up, and according to Wikipedia, the soundtrack was all put together before the movie was even filmed, so it was probably one of the most significant factors in making the film.
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