The Odyssey Movie And Book Comparison Essay

Many do not think a modern movie could resemble an epic poem written around the time of 700 B.C. However, the movie, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, written and directed by the Coen brothers, and the poem, The Odyssey, written by Homer, are similar in multiple ways. The themes, plots, and characters are some of the ways these two pieces of literature are alike.
In both stories, there are a group of men trying to make it back home. In the poem, the main character, Odysseus, along with his men, are trying to get back home to Ithaca after being in a war for ten years. In the movie, the main character, Ulysses, is running from the law with his other inmates, and he is trying to get home to see his family. As they were told by a blind prophet, both group of men run into many difficulties along their journey. They do, however, both show bravery and perseverance as
In The Odyssey, Odysseus’ men are so hungry they kill a cow while Odysseus is asleep. In the motion picture, a man named Baby Face Nelson, shoots a cow while riding in a car. The car then goes on the run over the cow. In both scenarios, the people who kill the cow get punished for their actions. In the poem, all men besides Odysseus are killed by a lighting bolt Zeus sent down, and in the movie a similar punishment happens to Baby Face Nelson when he is struck by lightning volts in an electric chair. They both suffer in different ways because they killed a cow.
As the examples above indicate, the movie, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, and the poem, The Odyssey, show parallelism in numerous ways. The themes of perseverance, pride, loyalty, and suffering are throughout the epic poem and movie. The plot and characters correlate in the two literature works, as well. Having a modern movie made today based on a story about ancient Greeks shows how an old piece of literature can live on for many years through many