O’ Brother Where Art Thou Blog

Throughout the film “O Brother Where Art Thou”, the famous Coen brothers used engaging tone and music, as well as a vivid presentation to display their use of the barebones in the classical epic to address issues of the Great Depression. The film emphasizes the real problems occurring during this time, which included poverty, hunger, and racism. One main aspect of the film that grabs the audience’s attention is the music that is played all throughout the movie, and correlates to the specific scene that is being played. For instance, when the scene of Everest and his companions, Delmar and Pete, are walking along a long road that has them doubting whether they’ll reach the treasure in time; the music in the background begins playing “someday we’ll reach our heaven, along this path is home” presenting the situation the men are in. Music seems to be very influential during this time, even addressing Everest’s daughters and them coping with the loss of their father. The Coen brothers use of cinematic devices was amazingly though out and used to display the American issues at hand in a way that wasn’t too forced onto the viewer. For example, the shot of two African American boys in tattered clothing, walking along the harsh road without any shoes, and carrying a jug of water on top of their heads. Not to mention, the color discrimination between race at this time, and a big population of whites taking part in such crimes of hatred toward exterminating the African Americans. Additionally, the realities of the American despair are shown in the beginning of the film when Pete’s own cousin turns him back over to the authority, and all for a small reward. The filmmaker’s overall vision, directorial concept was not to tell the story of a man on the hunt for treasure to solve all his problems, but the issues that were overlooked during the Great Depression. Ultimately, they made their audience aware of the authority being above the law, and having the ability to mistreat the convicts even when they were pardoned for their crimes. As well as, the amount a dollar was worth during this time, earning 10 dollars was a substantial amount of money for a job. The juxtaposition that Everest’s was wife was facing was determining whether to be with the man she loved and was the father of her children, or being with a man that could support her. This idea emphasized the fact that, women were reliant on men and their source of surviving was to live off of their spouse, and they income would determine the life the rest of the family would have. An example of mise en scene that could have easily been overlooked was the bodyweight of the people in the film. According to the movie, those that tended to be slimmer were poor and came from low-income families, and the overweight men only proved they had more than enough money to provide themselves with food. The strengths and weaknesses between Everest, Delmar and Pete ended up complementing each other, and even by creating great opportunities due to having one another. Though Delmar had many more weaknesses than strengths, one being his obtuseness, his strength of having such a forgiving heart became the common ground between the two hardheaded companions, Everest and Pete.