Vernon dressed in his nice suit and tie is more respectable, responsible, and richer (aka "bona-fide") than Everett who approaches Penny in dirty clothes. Everett's return to his home town is very much like Odysseus' return to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. Although it's not explicitly stated in The Odyssey, it's safe to assume that the suitors look much better and more well off than Odysseus in beggar form just like Vernon's superior appearance to that of Everett's.
I also see some resemblances in the subsequent "fight" scene where Vernon punches out Everett to all those times the suitors threw foot stools at Odysseus. When Everett and Vernon started fighting, my immediate thought was that Everett would obviously win, because he's all tough and strong looking whereas Vernon looks like an uptight string bean. But Everett ends up failing horribly in the fight. He tries to punch Vernon few times but misses and ends up getting punched a bunch of times himself. Although Odysseus is not actively fighting the suitors (yet) in his disguise, he is attacked with foot stools from the suitors and is helpless to defend himself. It was almost painful to watch Vernon repeatedly punch Everett who is looking like a helpless and slow-reacting puppy. Everett's unkept appearance and helpless fight scene parallel Odysseus thus enforcing Vernon's similarities to the suitors.
The manager of Homer Stokes' election campaign is Vernon. Homer Stokes is not a good person, because he is part of the Klu Klux Klan. The suitors are also bad guys, because they are courting Penelope and Telemachus wants them to leave. Both groups are overstepping boundaries and morals in a way - the KKK being the KKK and the suitors violating the importance of Greek hospitality in Odysseus' house. The KKK rally in the film reminded me a lot of the suitors' gatherings, because there is sinister plotting going on in both. In the film, the KKK are planning to hang Tommy Johnson while in the book, the suitors discuss how to take down Telemachus which are both not very nice things to do. Vernon's relation to Homer along with the KKK's racist behavior parallels the rudeness and behaviors of the suitors in The Odyssey.
I was trying to come up with the suitor "parallel" in O Brother, and couldn't come up with anything. It had never crossed my mind to think of the KKK as the collective group of suitors as they appear in The Odyssey (I can't seem to italicize in the comment section?). However, it does seem to have at least a partial connection: Vernon T Waldrip is obviously a suitor, but he works for a man strongly associated with the KKK and vile organized group activity. Seems to be a slight reference the suitors to me.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of Everett so badly losing the most ridiculous fistfight in all of cinema as a parallel to Odysseus's humiliation with the stool and the suitors when he's in disguise. But this makes a lot of sense, as kind of a preliminary to the "real" slaughter, which takes the form of the surprise musical performance. There is a public-humiliation aspect to him losing the fight, aside from Waldrip being such a . . . drip, as they get tossed out on the sidewalk in front of the Woolworth's, and are banned from the store forever.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of Everett so badly losing the most ridiculous fistfight in all of cinema as a parallel to Odysseus's humiliation with the stool and the suitors when he's in disguise. But this makes a lot of sense, as kind of a preliminary to the "real" slaughter, which takes the form of the surprise musical performance. There is a public-humiliation aspect to him losing the fight, aside from Waldrip being such a . . . drip, as they get tossed out on the sidewalk in front of the Woolworth's, and are banned from the store forever.
ReplyDelete