O Brother Where Art Thou
In the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou," the Cohen Brothers present to the audience a comedic adventure of three on-the-run jail mate hillbillies led by the hero, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), looking to reclaim a buried treasure. The story takes place back in the days of the Depression-era, Deep South around the 1920s in Mississippi. It is a comedy. The picture is filled with intellectual and witty satire, as well as twists and turns, humorously paralleling scenes and characters from Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey." In the movie, the Cohen Brothers use various elements to capture the attention of the audience. Just as any other directors attempt to do, they aim to draw the audience into the movie and catch the spirit of the southern, Mississippian, Depression-era hillbillies. In order to generate this affect, one of the key elements the Cohen Brothers use is language. More specifically, they use old-fashioned, southern idiomatic dialogue, which is not really used in today's contemporary dialogue. Yet, most are definitely familiar with it, which serves as the common base to carry out the affect. Just by listening to this southern-type language with its southern accents and all its
"Some of your foldin' money's done come unstole. Also, this idiom will not make sense unless the situation is known. slang, idioms, and euphemisms, the picture of vast countryside farms and cornfields, old-fashion cars, live-stock, dirt roads, and rednecks and hillbillies in overalls with severe farmer's tan instantly comes to mind. However, what would happen if the perspective were changed? What would happen if the dialogue, as a whole, were presented in a different manner? Let's take this quote as an example: "Me an' the old lady are gonna pick up the pieces and retie the knot, mixaphorically speaking. Thus, everything becomes more of a reality. The humor that comes out of this line is Ulysses frustration in not being able to have any say in the situation. In the movie, George has just robbed bags of money from somewhere unknown and the "stolen" money is flying out the window as George and the three jail-mates drive away. Of course there are the older ones, older meaning more familiar, such as "I reckon," "Howdy," and "Good riddance. " These were used in the film, but these phrases are used and can be heard today. To a further extent, if the statement was put in simple contemporary terms like, "Me and my wife are going to straighten up our relationship," there would be no southern-ness to it and it would not be funny. Also, using contemporary dialogue would probably clash with this specific setting. " The funny thing about this quote is the use of "mixaphorically" speaking. Ulysses uses two metaphors and mixes them into one statement. However, more importantly, with a whole lot of fresh witty intellectual satire, there are plenty of laughs through this southern dialogue, which serve as the whole point of making the movie.
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Acceptance Essays
