In Brother Where Art Thou Were Are the Boys From

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Afterward a one-half-century of waiting, we finally get to see that Groovy Depression epic!

Written and directed past The Coen Brothers, 3 Low-era Mississippi prison fugitives become on a rollicking adventure in an endeavour to reach the money buried by one of them in his back m. They take but a short time to do this, though, as the backyard in question is in an area slated to be flooded by the damming activities of the Tennessee Valley Authorization.

The story is (very) loosely based on Homer's The Odyssey, following Ulysses Everett McGill, Delmar O'Donnell and Pete as they meet, amongst others, a blind prophet, sirens, the Cyclops and a gifted guitar player who "sold his soul to the devil". Also during their journey, they record a hit song, rob a banking company with George "Baby Confront" Nelson, see the KKK, and inadvertently get mixed up in the state gubernatorial election. It was noted for the tremendous success of its soundtrack, well-nigh of which was recorded past Alison Krauss & Union Station (Dan Tyminski provided Everett'southward singing voice) and other land-bluegrass acts.

Bonus points if you lot recognize the title from the 1941 Preston Sturges' moving picture Sullivans Travels .

Tropes used in O Blood brother, Where Art Thou? include:

• Amanuensis Scully: Despite being pursued by Satan, coming together a prophet, beingness seduced by sirens, and being apparently saved from execution past divine intervention, Everett however insists that at that identify is a reasonable explanation for everything. At least it'due south Lampshaded.
  • And by the terminate, he doesn't really seem certain of himself any more.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "These boys is not white! Hell, they own't even onetime-timey."
• At the Crossroads: The iii run across Tommy hither afterwards on he sold his soul to the devil to get a famous musician, in reference to the Robert Johnson Urban Legend. At this point, they also come across Big Dan Teague. Think well-nigh information technology.
  • It's actually based on Tommy Johnson, who originated the story. Robert Johnson stole this story (and is more than famous), only thats non a bad matter to say near bluesmen at all.
• Calamitous Polymorph: Not really, just it'south what Delmar believes the sirens practise to Pete.
• Berserk Push: George "Babyface" Nelson. Truth in Television prepare with the real George Nelson.
  • Likewise, Pete doesn't accept kindly to people stealing from his kin.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Sort of. Delmar is the only fellow member of the group to plough and attack Large Dan head-on when Dan shows his True Colors. Unfortunately, he yet gets his ass kicked.
• Blatant Lies: "That own't your daddy. Your daddy was striking past a railroad train."
• Bullheaded Seer: Lampshaded by Everett, who insists the homo has a Inability Superpower.
• Book Ends: The picture show opens with a concatenation gang together working nigh a railroad track and singing. The moving picture closes with Everett and Penny's daughters tied together past twine walking over a railroad runway and singing.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: The soundtrack had its own sequels.
  • In-pic also, since the Soggy Lesser Boys' singing is and then good it helps resolve the plot.
• Brick Joke: The bullheaded prophet at the start of the flick mentions the trio will meet a moo-cow on the roof of a cotton fiber wool concern firm. Guess what they run into after the land is flooded virtually the cease of the pic.
  • There's as well a very subtle example that probably went over the head of most viewers. John Goodman'southward character is conspicuously modeled on the cyclops of Homer's The Odyssey, with his center patch and his violent confrontation with the heroes. Goodman'southward graphic symbol is afterwards revealed to be a member of the Klan. Though unmentioned in the pic show, ane of the Klan'southward rankings is "M Cyclops."
• Burn, Baby, Fire
• The Cast Showoff: Real-life blues singer Chris Thomas Male person monarch plays Tommy, and at i signal gets to sing (in his own vocalisation) a rendition of Skip James' "Difficult Time Killing Floor Blues."
• Censorship past Spelling: "Mrs. Hogwallop up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T." Becomes somewhat of a Running Gag.
• Chained Heat
• Chekhov'south Gun: Everett's pomade, specially its distinctive odour, which lets the Sheriff runway them down.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Delmar "We Thought You lot Was a Toad" O'Donnell.
• Colour Launder: They messed with the hue and saturation until everything was an intensely colorful brown, imitating the look of sepia-toned photos.
• Corrupt Hick: The insanely corrupt Big Dan Teague. Who is channeling the cyclops Polyphemus.
• Cult Soundtrack: The soundtrack album is regarded equally 1 of the most important Country and Bluegrass albums of the decade and sold over seven 1000000 copies. It also won the Grammy Honor for Album of the Twelvemonth in 2002, making information technology one of only iii soundtracks to ever win that laurels.
• Deal with the Devil: Tommy Johnson traded his soul to the devil at the crossroads for his guitar skills. This is the same claim made past the real blues musician Robert Johnson.
• Deep Due south
• Defictionalization: The Soggy Bottom Boys.
• Deliberately Monochrome: Of the sepia diverseness, see Existent Is Brownish below.
• Deus Ex Machina: The flooding happens at exactly the correct fourth dimension to salvage them all from being hanged. Perchance a literal example.
• Disney Death: Pete was believed to accept transformed into a Toad past the launderer sirens, and so they take him in a box. The toad was then killed by Large Dan Teague by being crushed, and his friends were physically incapable of stopping his decease because they were beaten to bloody pulps. Information technology was afterward revealed that the toad was actually not Pete, nor was he even transformed by a toad: Turns out those "launderer sirens" really delivered him to Sheriff Cooley'due south men for the reward, and is now a prisoner back at the farm.
• The Ditz: Delmar.
• Empty Piles of Wearable: This (and a toad) cause the other two to assume Pete's been turned into a toad.
• Enthralling Siren: The 3 washerwomen are the siren stand up-ins.
• Everything's Meliorate with Cows: I is gunned downward during an estampede ("Cows! I hate cows worse than coppers!"), another is involved in the Brick Joke.
• Eyepatch of Power: Big Dan Teague.
• Fairy Tale Motifs: Well, more similar Mythology Motifs, but whatever.
• Imitation Ring: The Soggy Lesser Boys.
• Fat Sweaty Southerner in a White Arrange: Several. Nigh notably, Governor Pappy O'Daniel (for the mildly corrupt version) and Large Dan Teague (for the insanely corrupt version).
• Outset Father Wins
• Friend to All Living Things: Delmar, or butterflies at the to the lowest degree.
• Funny Groundwork Result: Everett, Delmar, and Pete are all chained together, and endeavor to escape by boarding a moving train. In the foreground we run across Everett (on the train) introducing himself to some hobos. In the groundwork, Pete trips before he tin can climb in...
  • Besides, Pete'south gloriously goofy dancing during Delmar's rendition of "In the Jailhouse Now."
  • Background singing - in Man of Constant Sorrow, Everett finishes singing a depressing stanza that ends in the line "perhaps I'll die upon this railroad train..." and Delmar and Pete chinkle in with a cheery "Perhaps he'll dice upon this railroad train!"
• Genre Busting: Information technology'southward a musical/comedy/social commentary/retelling of The Odyssey... that'southward set in The Great Low.
• Go Out with a Grin: George Nelson. We don't meet him killed but his terminal scene is him having been defenseless by a mob and being lead to his execution. He'southward more then happy with it however, the mob was fifty-fifty nice plenty to give him some violinists as a funeral march.
• Historical In-Joke
• Hey, It'south That Guy!: Stephen Root equally Mr. Lund, the bullheaded radio DJ RJ(?). This is probably an Histrion Allusion, also.
  • Commadant Spangler (or Mr. Kruger) plays Sheriff Cooley.
• Hobos
• Hypocritical Sense of humor: Simply earlier he's executed, Everett prays to God to allow him run into his daughters at to the everyman caste ane more than fourth dimension. When the dam breaks and saves him, he starts going on near reason. The other two immediately telephone call him out on it.
• Implacable Human being: the Sheriff.
• Detestable Genius: Everett.
  • Well, he'due southward smarter than Delmar or Pete...
• Inspector Javert: The Sheriff tries to characterize himself this fashion at the very end, claiming that the boys accept only been pardoned past the law of man.
  • Non exactly tries, because he's... well...
• Ironic Nursery Tune: The siren-seduction scene, to "Didn't Go out Nobody Merely The Baby" Also a rare instance of erotic Nightmare Fuel.
• The Lancer: Pete.
• Large and In Charge: Governor Pappy O'Daniel.
• Louis Cypher: The Sheriff who is chasing after them. His Scary Shiny Spectacles reverberate burn down a lot.
• Magic Realism: At that place are more than a few downright mystical occurrences in the moving-picture show, such as the prophet, the sirens, and the strong implication that the Warden is Satan.
  • The way the movie is framed - it starts with a scene of a generic concatenation gang with no main characters in information technology, singing every bit they break rocks, and then cuts to black before the actual moving-picture show begins - gives rising to the theory that the unabridged story is being presented as a myth, a bailiwick of chain gang songs, equally opposed to "real" events. The pointedly non-realistic bent of many of the flick'due south events (the KKK marching in a chorus line?) would seem to signal this.
• Meaningful Proper name: In a story based off The Odyssey, the principal grapheme'southward name is Ulysses.
• Musical Globe Hypotheses: Diegetic all the style through, making its classification as a musical to begin with dubious to some.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: In that location really was a Depression-era Governor named Pappy O'Daniel, but his given proper noun was Wilbert Lee O'Daniel; in the film the governor'due south existent outset proper name is Menelaus (another Homer reference). Also the existent O'Daniel was governor of Texas, not Mississippi.
• Not His Sled: The expected fate of John Goodman'south "cyclops" is deliberately referenced and so avoided. And so happens slightly differently anyway.
• Oh Crap: John Goodman's reaction when he realizes that the fiery cross was coming downwards directly at him.
  • Besides, Homer Stokes' reaction when he realizes that the town, after his endeavour at getting the Soggy Bottom Boys arrested failed, is at present going to run him out of town on a rail equally revenge for interrupting the operation.
• Cardboard Disguise: Toward the finish of the movie, the fugitive "Soggy Lesser Boys" perform while bearded with simulated beards. Lampshaded later, when their performance wins over the crowd and Everett deliberately yanks his beard off for a moment.
• Politically-Right History: Zig-zagged. The white heroes refer to Tommy as a "male child," only otherwise treat him every bit an equal. The radio station manager insists that he won't play "colored songs," merely one time the "Soggy Lesser Boys" become popular, Pappy O'Daniel doesn't seem to intendance that "they's integrated." The KKK is shown in all its silly racist celebrity, merely besides portrayed as a fringe organization that is non looked upon favorably past the mutual townsfolk.
  • Mayhap it was thanks to the Ability of Bluegrass that was able to sway their minds?
    • More likely that the townsfolk were more upset by Stokes interrupting the Soggy Lesser Boys' performance past trying to accept them arrested and didn't intendance what else he said.
• Politically-Incorrect Villain Homer Stokes, candidate for governor past day, Klansman by nighttime.
  • Notation that in 1932 Mississippi, existence a Klansman would take been politically correct. It would accept been almost impossible for Stokes to exist a serious candidate for governor without beingness 1.
• Pop Culture Osmosis: The Coens accept claimed that they've never actually read The Odyssey, merely know the story through its various adaptations.
• Produce Pelting: What the audition does when Homer Stokes ends up interrupting the Soggy Bottom Boys performance to get them arrested, that also equally ride him out of boondocks on a track.
• Existent Is Dark-brown: Pursued with a vengeance, given that a substantial portion of the film's postal service-product upkeep went into extensive colour-correction. The Coens wanted every frame of the moving-picture show to reverberate the muddy, withered dustbowl wait, and in some cases took unabridged fields of light-green flora and turned them yellowish.
• Rock Me, Asmodeus: "And I accept it from the highest 'thority, that that negra...sold his soul to the Devil!!!" (the townsfolk don't purchase into information technology, though)
• Running Gag: Briefly.

"Damn, we're in a tight spot!"

• • Everett'due south obsession with his Dapper Dan pilus gel pomade as well counts.
• Satan: Sheriff Cooley is heavily implied explicitly theorized to be this.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: The Sheriff/Warden/ Devil wears these.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: This mannerly example:

"He'southward gonna paddle our footling behind." "Ain't gonna paddle it - gonna kicking it. Real hard." "No, I believe he'due south gonna paddle it." "I don't believe that'due south a proper description." "Well, that'due south how I'd characterize it." "I believe it'due southward more of a kickin' sitchiation."

• • The discussion of a "grease spot on the L&Northward" and a "bona-fide" suitor ranks right up there too.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Everett. Too Large Dan Teague. For instance, from the Funny Groundwork Outcome described in a higher place:

"Say, whatever of you fellas happen to be smithies? If not smithies per se, mayhap you lot trained in the metallurgical arts earlier straitened circumstances led y'all to a life of aimless wandering?"

• Shout-Out: Tommy'south Deal with the Devil is a reference to a similar deal supposedly fabricated by real-life bluesman Robert Johnson.
  • And Tommy Johnson, too a existent blues musician, who spread the same rumor virtually himself, to enhance his fame.
  • The title of the picture is itself a Shout-Out, to Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels.
  • The KKK scene is based off of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the Scarecrow, Lion and Can man try to sneak into the witches castle. The guards are chanting the style the KKK does and even doing a like dance, and the three heroes steal disguises from the guards/kkk.
  • The Soggy Bottom Boys are a reference to the Light Crust Doughboys, who were featured on the real-life Pappy O'Daniel'south radio prove.
  • There's a coffin floating on a flooded river at the end, which is about certainly a shout out to William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.
  • A man named Ulysses meets a blues vocaliser at a crossroads. Coincidence?
• Sophisticated Equally Hell: Many of the characters in a patchily-educated way, only generally Everett. "I'chiliad the goddamn paterfamilias!"
• Stout Strength: Big Dan Teague.
• Stern Hunt: The Warden'southward search for the iii convicts.
• Surrounded by Idiots - Pappy O'Daniel'southward cronies and son are sycophantic yep-men who are a flake tedious on the uptake, and Pappy is painfully enlightened of this. This is well-nigh likely the reason he tries to convince Vernon T. Waldrip to leave Stokes' campaign and bring together his.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: "Who is that human being?" "Not my married man." Also doubles as a Shout-Out to the source material.
• The Vamp: The three sirens
• Those Two Guys: Pappy'south 2 advisors, see the Seinfeldian Conversation above.
• Villainous Glutton: Big Dan Teague, equally befits his correspondence with the cyclops Polyphemus.
• T-Discussion Euphemism: Sort of. One graphic symbol wants to foreclose his son from knowing that his female parent left the family, then he merely says she "Up and R-U-Due north-Northward-O-F-T."
  • Subverted later on on, in that the kid knew exactly what he was talking almost, anyway.
• Villainous Breakdown: "Babyface" Nelson and Homer Stokes.
  • Nelson gets improve...sort of.
  • "MY NAME IS GEORGE NELSON, AND I'Grand FEELIN' TEN FEET Tall!"
• Villain with Practiced Publicity: Homer Stokes, oh so much
• Working on the Concatenation Gang: The story begins with Ulysses, Pete, and Delmar escaping from this while chained to each other. Pete, at one indicate, is recaptured and put back to work on the concatenation gang and has to be broken out of prison again.
• Ten Meets Y: The Iii Stooges meets The Odyssey.

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