A New Take on "The Odyssey"
however is different. This is where the adaption is slightly different. In the original, Odysseus returns to a loving wife, who has raised their son, and he saves her from the many suitors who have taken over his kingdom and tried to woo her. To one of which she is even engaged, and has put off the wedding as long as she was able. Upon his return she tests him, to make sure it is actually him. In “O Brother,” we see a similar situation when Everett returns to his hometown, but instead of finding a loving wife who is happy to see him again, Penny, played by Holly Hunter, has told their children their father is dead and she wants nothing to do with him. She is also engaged to someone else, however she says she wants to do this, and makes it known that her wedding is forthcoming and for Everett to stay out of their lives. Everett must not only fight the suitor, but must now convince his wife he is a changed man, and it will be good for her to come back to him.
In the end of “O Brother,” he accomplishes this, not by fighting off the suitor, but by proving to his wife that he is “bonafide,” and not some jobless, fugitive. She in turn rejects the suitor and returns to him. Through his travels, and his experiences, the authors of the movie illustrate some sort of fate, and how everything seems to be orchestrated. Homer did this with his poem. He tried to show how fate plays a hand in everything, and brings you certain situations at certain times, and tests you. The movie follows this formula, and modernizes it a little bit.
Now, if you look at the film, and you don’t come away thinking you have just watched an adaption of the Odyssey, that might be a good thing. It is subtle, and if you are not familiar with the original, you won’t necessarily pick up on it. But, if you do know your Greek epics, and you look for the similarities, you will find them. While the Coen brothers shortened their version of The Odyssey, changed the setting to the chain-gang era American South, and added in some more humor than the original, the story is still essentially the same, and that makes this a good adpation of an old classic.
What can we learn from adaptions that we can’t learn from the originals? Interpretation. The Odyssey has been adapted many times, and because it
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