Honestly, I’m not going to read the Odyssey, so please tell me what parts of “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” are derived from The Odyssey. That way I can pretend I’m well read with people that won’t know any better.
Wiki. Scroll down halfway.
You’re welcome. 
Honestly, I thought I was in Cafe Society. I don’t know how to report things when I did something wrong.
Thanks Duck Duck Greyduck I’ll read that over.
Sending this off on the long voyage to CS…
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Go for the book, man!
If you get yourself a really good modern translation, like Lattimore or Knox and Fagles, it’s a whole lot easier to get through. And there’s some really stunning moments of poetry and emotion in it (the bit about Fry’s dog in Futurama was lifted from Odysseus and his dog Argus, for instance).
I was disappointed. I could see the rough parallels, but they didn’t seem very significant to me.
Read theOdyssey – it’s worth it. If not, get the Penguin audiobook. It’s Ian McKellen reading an unabridged John Fagles translation, and it’s great. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been through it.
(The Penguin audio version of The Iliad is, for some reason, a severely abridged version. Derek Jacobi’s reading is excellent, but I don’t understand why they didn’t record the whole thing.)
You really should read the Oddysey. Not so you’ll be “well read” or anything like that, but because it’s a really great story. One of the best ever.
FWIW, ISTR that when the film was released, the Cohen Brothers admitted they’d never read The Odyssey. Which is no surprise, considering that the connections are quite loose and superficial, IIRC.
Not that it’s not a great movie, it just doesn’t owe much to Homer.
As I recall that’s just what they never did. I remember hearing them say that they never read the Odyssey and that all their knowledge of the story came from cultural references.
Curse you dishwasher! I would have beaten you commasense had not my kitchen began to be flooded
Bwaa-haaa-haaa-ha-ha!
I think the only things taken directly from Homer were the cow standing on the cotton-house and the multiple references to Dapper Dan hair treatment.
The main references as I recall.
A cyclops as an enemy.
Sirens who tempt them, and cause them problems.
One of his men getting turned into an animal(sort of).
His Wife having a new suitor while he was gone.
A blind “seer”
People being transformed into animals. (In the book it was several sailors turned into pigs, IIRC, not one person turned into a frog.)
And of course, the hero being a clever, smooth talking guy who has many adventures and is adept at getting out of tricky situations.
A toad.
We thought you wuz a toad.
Weren’t the lotus eaters represented by the river baptizers?
Best movie ever.
And the Coen Brothers were clearly joking about never having read The Odyssey. That’s what they do.
Which, of course, didn’t stop it from being nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. 
Leading to one of the funniest sight-gags ever in film: the one-eyed KKK hood.
I darned near died. 
“She turned me into a newt”
oops - wrong movie 