...Jade Zayas Intro to World Mythology Final Paper 05/07/2012 O Brother, Where Art Thou? vs. The Odyssey When it comes to entertainment and box office hit movie making, it is not uncommon to come across films adapted from popular literature. Taking a story that is popular and well-known is a formula for a successful film, as long as it is done the right way. The Coen Brothers, famous for successful films such as “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski,” made a movie together entitled “O Brother, Where Art Thou.” This film, while unique in its setting and a little bit different in the plot, is clearly an adaptation of the ancient classic poem “The Odyssey” by the poet Homer. Even a review by the renowned film critic Roger Ebert states: “O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a Homeric journey through Mississippi during the Depression (Ebert, Roger 2000).” The film itself depicts the obstacles and fate of a man during the Great Depression who escapes from jail and whose only goal is to make it back home. The struggles he and his fellow escapees meet along the way are strikingly similar to the perils that face Odysseus and his men on their mission to get back to Ithaca. Also, the character references in the film that parallel the characters in the epic poem are abundant. The film is almost a modern homage to the ancient poem in all the different ways it emulates “The Odyssey.” To fully understand all of the different ways the film relates to the poem, it is important to establish the character...
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...THE ODYSSEY Is a good leader classified as one who personally gains a lot or one who benefits his or her community at large? After fighting in the brutal Trojan War, Odysseus travels the sea in hopes of returning to Ithaca, his homeland, and his wife and son, Penelope and Telemachus. Homer’s The Odyssey reveals the struggles and obstacles Odysseus and his men face traveling home. As prophesized, twenty years later, Odysseus returns to a devastated Ithaca, alone, penniless and unrecognizable. Odysseus has hubris, a flaw that costs him, as well his men, excessive troubles. Odysseus does not learn from his and others’ past mistakes, again leading him into traps that could have easily been avoided. Odysseus constantly puts his men in harm’s way for selfish purposes. For these reasons, Odysseus is an incompetent leader, and therefore should be criticized. Odysseus has hubris. This excessive pride and arrogance leads Odysseus and his men into difficult situations that would not have otherwise arisen. Towards the beginning of Homer’s epic, Odysseus narrowly escapes from a Cyclops’ cave. In triumphant victory, Odysseus taunts the Cyclops, Polyphemus. His men advise him against further agitating Polyphemus after the Cyclops starts throwing massive boulders at their ship; however, Odysseus displays hubris and does not listen. ‘Godsake, Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!’ ‘Aye He’ll smash our timbers and our heads together!’ / I would not heed them...
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...Odysseus and Aeneas, the two epic heroes who both visit the Underworld for their own reasons, are representatives of Greek and Roman cultures. The depictions of their journeys to Hades from The Odyssey by Homer and Virgil’s Aeneid leave us unlimited fantasies about the Underworld, and they let people start to think about the life and death. Some of Odysseus and Aeneas’ backgrounds and their experiences of visiting the Underworld are similar; however, their motivations, personality and developments are very different. Based on what I’ve read from The Odyssey and Aeneid, I think Aeneas is a greater hero, but Odysseus’s purpose, social status, characteristics and developments make him is better “brought to life”. First of all, one of the reasons that why Odysseus is more like a human being than Aeneas is is their motivations for visiting the Underworld are different. Both of Odysseus and Aeneas are former soldiers in the Trojan War, but they are on different sides in this war. Aeneas wants to find a new place for him and the Trojan remnant to settle, so he goes to the Underworld for visiting Anchises-who can gives him directions to his future. In the case of Odysseus, his purpose of heading to Hades is not that noble. He just wants to go back to his home after the destruction of Troy, and he needs to know how could he do that by asking Tieresias. From their motivation, I think Aeneas is a selfless person. According to Aeneid, “Roman, remember by your strength to rule/Earth’s peoples—for...
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...Introduction The movie of Stanley Kubrick: A Space Odyssey base on Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel”. The core theme of the movie was fiction and the story of Clarke reflects the same. “The Sentinel” provided the original basis for Kubrick’s film version and the story itself published after the film’s release. “A Space Odyssey” book reviews discuss the plot, characters and themes found in the story. One can learn more about the different literary elements that should be examined in the story. According to the plot of the movie the space navigators David Bowman and Frank Poole, along with three frozen hibernauts and a talkative computer named Hal, are aboard the spaceship Discovery on a mission to Saturn. They told that the purpose of the mission is to enter and explore the atmosphere of the planet. Trouble arises, however, when Hal announces that the computer's Fault Prediction Center indicates failure of one of the units within seventy-two hours (Angelo, 2003). Although the faulty part, that is not the end of the astronauts' problems. Hal still insists there is trouble ahead. Faced with an increasingly frustrating and odd-behaving Hal, Bowman threatens to turn the computer off. Before long, navigator Poole, working outside the ship, disconnected from his safety lines and drifts off into space. The sleeping hibernauts also disconnected from the pods that maintain their bodies and die. Bowman left alone with Hal (Angelo, 2003). Realizing that the computer killed the others...
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... Final Film Critique: O Brother, Where Art Thou? Everyone likes to laugh, and this film is no stranger to the call. O Brother, Where Art Thou is indeed a comical action/adventure and musical romp Directed by Joel Coen and Produced by Ethan Coen. The Cast consist of many favorites in film such as George Clooney, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson. The film O Brother, according to well-known film critic Roger Ebert (2000), “is based on Homer’s The Odyssey” (p.1), this is an epic Greek poem around 700 B.C. Although the setting is much different, the Homeric journey of three would be prisoners of the late 1930s are similar to The Odyssey and its theme of perseverance. The movie O Brother, Where Art Thou however has a comical twist accompanied by great Gospel/Bluegrass music, and scenes that play into an allegorical concept including references to repentance and salvation during the depression of that era. The storyline in this movie the collaborating efforts of the Coen brothers and cinematographer Roger Deakins bring together a musical and adventurous comedy filled with action. This story depicts an era in time where ignorance, poverty, and racism are prevalent among the effected in the rural South in the late 1930s. However, the comical twist and the characters acting skills make this story of a complicated journey filled with obstacles into one of the funniest reenactments ever produced. George Clooney, who plays...
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...2001: A Space Odyssey Analysis The purpose of this report is threefold. I will begin by briefly discussing my interpretation of the film, 2001: a Space Odyssey, with a particular focus on the piece of alien technology, the black monolith. I will then discuss the plausibility of the Jupiter landing/living scenes, including the accuracy of how it was portrayed and whether living on Jupiter for a sustained period of time is realistic. Finally, I will wrap up by delving deeper into the black monolith. I will discuss the plausibility of the technology and the initial reaction to the technology from life on Earth. The ending of this film is entirely open to interpretation, ranging from an explanation for Darwinian evolution to strictly religious thoughts of God or gods. Personally, I saw the black monolith as some sort of super-advanced alien technology that served multiple purposes. The first purpose, which was seen in the “Dawn of Man” section of the movie, was to assist in the advancement of an intelligent race. The monolith first appeared to the primates, before some of the early Homo species had arose. Shortly after contact with the monolith, one group of primates began to use a bone as a weapon. With the newly found weapons, one group was able to defend the water hole from another group. This suggests that the monolith had somehow inspired, whether through some sort of telepathic thought transmission or simply through touching it, the apes to begin using tools. The monolith...
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... Daniel Miller Professor Schmidt ENG 225 March 25, 2010 Analyzing Films Generally, when a person wants to watch a movie, it is solely for the purpose of entertainment. As the audience member, we often do not spend a great deal of time analyzing the plot, dialogue, and setting. But by taking the time to carefully analyze a movie, you can get a better appreciation of the story that the filmmakers are trying to tell. The films themselves often have a number of elements that come together in order to guide the audience through the arc of the story. Film has properties that set it apart from painting, sculpture, novels, and plays and it is a storytelling medium that shares various elements with short stories and novels (Boggs and Petrie, 2008). While the actors themselves may be the most visible elements on the screen, a number of other craftsmen had to perform many other functions in order to get that finished film in front of an audience. If you are interested in analyzing why one movie succeeds and another fails, it is necessary to understand how much of a collaborative effort filmmaking truly is. Here are some elements that should be considered when preparing to analyze a film (Pollick, 2007). To Analyze a Film Completely First, consider the effectiveness of the dialogue and storyline. Professional screenwriters are the true architects of a movie, though many of them do not get the same attention as the actors or directors of a film. Screenwriters may adapt a book into...
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...E. O. Wilson is quoted saying “Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds is not productive.” Religion is found everywhere. Religion is defined as “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe” (“religion”). Everyone puts their faith and trust into something. Most people would not put the idea of religion and the genre of science fiction in the same category, but these two ideas are intertwined. In Charles Darwin’s book The Origin of Species, he stated that creation was “originally breathed [to life] by the Creator” (Connor 368). Even a well-known scientist such as Darwin included ideas of religion in his theories. Science fiction has elements within that can...
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...work of art with surrealistic and typical arrangements itemizing the disarray, roughness, dread, and nightmarish franticness of the Vietnam War. On first look, Apocalypse Now may resemble a war film or maybe even a dramatization. It felt like a thriller, loathsomeness, an epic and also a film that was past the typical limitations classification to me. O'Donnell (p 19) points out that lighting is as a key segment in the film close by fogs and shadows. The general appearance of the film is dull and shadowy concerning the subject of war and the faint experience that the officers grasp in that. As the enterprise begins, the lights are steadily raised. Willard starts his vessel ride in nightfall. However, as the excursion gets more profound, the movie gets gloomy, the shadows get maintained, and light is darkened. The movie’s lighting is profoundly illustrative of the risks of the conflict in the wilderness and the allegorical voyage that the warriors attempt in the otherworldly domain. The vessel, relevantly named "Erebus" (the dim locale of the netherworld, the one that the dead must go before they achieve Hell; the underworld), is not lit by any stretch of the imagination, yet is the only asylum in the profound wilderness around. The lights are flashy and difficult to the eyes (Hell’s fire) whereas the blacks are demanding to the point that they are similarly tedious (Journey to hell). A percentage of the sunshine scenes are high interestingly where the light is originating from the...
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...puts forth information to be just as relevant to the argument from the University College London, “It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.” (p.91) Carr goes on to use expert opinion in persuading the reader to see that the mind needs deep reading to develop. In doing so, he compares and contrasts the intellectual difference between light and substantive reading. For example, he quotes Maryanne Wolf, developmental psychologist at Tufts University, “We are not only what we read, [w]e are how we read.” Furthermore, “When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.” (p.91) Carr uses several more experts in varying fields to emphasize his point of comparing and...
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...In ancient times, the epithet was a commonly used byname in both the oral and written traditions. The epithet was a descriptive name, not unlike a modern nickname, and was used extensively in epic poetry. The most famous use of the epithet was those used in the Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey. The use of epithets was used as well in a much earlier Mesopotamian poem known as the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Homeric Poems and the Poem of Gilgamesh the two stories share stock epithets and epic similes. The paper will first discuss epithets in the Homeric poems, then discuss the epithets in the Epic of Gilgamesh in comparison. Homeric Epithets Places The epithet, as previously mentioned, was essentially a byname. It saw its full use in the Homeric Epic which is why this paper chooses to discuss the Homeric poems first. While it was defiantly used to describe individuals such as Gods and certain characters, it was also used to describe certain places as well. Homeric scholar Bowra discussed this in her analysis: “Homeric...
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...In-Flight Entertainment: “What is In-Flight Entertainment?” Marcel Sebastian Veit Schiffmann Pace University Janet Jones 091A Academic Writing (CRN 24297) In-Flight Entertainment: “What is In-Flight Entertainment?” Introduction This Research Paper is going to clarify the question about “What is In-Flight Entertainment?” It also reveals how “In-Flight Entertainment” was developed, and what basically is needed to be done until passengers can finally enjoy their “In-Flight Program”. Most people have never heard about the term of “In-Flight Entertainment” and have no understanding what this topic is all about. They take it for granted that they get entertained on a long distance or even short distance flight. Movies, music, applications and games are seen as natural given things on board of an airplane and most people don´t understand that there is much more behind it than just pulling their screen out of their armrest or turning the screen on, which is mounted to the backrest of their front seat. From the past till the present, when everyone has its own screen and can choose from a variety of entertainment options, it was a long way to go. Started with exhibitions of silent movies on linen by 16mm film reels at the beginning of the early 1920´s, as mankind was just about to conquer the sky and aviation was still in its infancy, up to black and white TV screens in the 1960´s, until today, with every passenger having its own LCD screen in front. In order to...
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...more of a chaotic one. In my interpretation, this chaos of the human impact on nature and the growing complexity of technology are depicted because that is simply how life has become for modern humans. Life is chaotic and the addition of increasingly intelligent beings trying to make order out of chaos will ultimately be futile. In other words, the very attempt at creating order out of chaos is chaotic in and of itself. The footage of nature before the arrival of man shows the beauty and natural aesthetics of the world untouched by man. The following footage served as a means of comparison to life pre and post the introduction of technology and man-induced order. This is why I believe there are no protagonists or antagonists in this movie. A typical protagonist has a clear motive or goal and coerces the audience to cheer...
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...that had previously been assigned to people. "Computer" was originally a job title: it was used to describe those human beings (predominantly women) whose job it was to perform the repetitive calculations required to compute such things as navigational tables, tide charts, and planetary positions for astronomical almanacs. Imagine you had a job where hour after hour, day after day, you were to do nothing but compute multiplications. Boredom would quickly set in, leading to carelessness, leading to mistakes. And even on your best days you wouldn't be producing answers very fast. Therefore, inventors have been searching for hundreds of years for a way to mechanize (that is, find a mechanism that can perform) this task. This picture shows what were known as "counting tables" [photo courtesy IBM] A typical computer operation back when computers were people. The abacus was an early aid for mathematical computations. Its only value is that it aids the memory of the human performing the calculation. A skilled abacus operator can work on addition and subtraction problems at the speed of a person equipped with a hand calculator (multiplication and division are slower). The abacus is often wrongly attributed to China. In fact, the oldest surviving abacus was used in 300 B.C. by the Babylonians. The abacus is still in use today, principally in the far east. A modern abacus consists of rings that slide over rods, but the older one pictured below dates from the time when pebbles were...
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...Literal Vampirism: Nasty old man, attractive but evil, violates a young woman, leaves his mark, takes her innocence b. Sexual implications—a trait of 19th century literature to address sex indirectly c. Symbolic Vampirism: selfishness, exploitation, refusal to respect the autonomy of other people, using people to get what we want, placing our desires, particularly ugly ones, above the needs of another. 4. If It’s Square, It’s a Sonnet 5. Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before? a. There is no such thing as a wholly original work of literature—stories grow out of other stories, poems out of other poems. b. There is only one story—of humanity and human nature, endlessly repeated c. “Intertexuality”—recognizing the connections between one story and another deepens our appreciation and experience, brings multiple layers of meaning to the text, which we may not be conscious of. The more consciously aware we are, the more alive the text becomes to us. d. If you don’t recognize the correspondences, it’s ok. If a story is no good, being based on Hamlet won’t save it. 6. When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare… a. Writers use what is common in a culture as a kind of shorthand. Shakespeare is pervasive, so he is frequently echoed. b. See plays as a pattern, either in...
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