"O'Brother Where Art Thou?": Music

I think the music in O'Brother Where Art Thou is a very important aspect of the movie. It also helps parallel many of the parts from The Odyssey. Here are some of the songs I think are important and create interesting similarities between the movie and book.

You Are My Sunshine 
This song signifies the hospitality aspect from the Odyssey. In the movie, this song tends to be sung when a group of people is being brought together. One example was during the scene where the senator candidate gets the group of people in the hall to sing it, after giving a "moving" speech and pardoning the Soggy Bottom Boys.

Down to the River to Pray 
This song shows the significance religion played in O'Brother Where Art Thou. It can be seen as a parallel in the Odyssey as the importance of Greek Gods, as Athena tends to get Odysseus out of sticky situations and a "God" or something tends to help the Soggy Bottom Boys out of tough situations. For example, when Ulysses last minute prays to God before being lynched, and he (or a natural cause) answers his prayer and sends the flood. The main difference here is that in the Odyssey there was always no question about who was interfering in the mortals lives. In O'Brother, it is shown that there is some question of whether or not there's really a God.  

I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow 
This song does a good job of capturing the hardships that both Ulysses and Odysseus go through on their journeys home. For Odysseus, his journey is longer, but for Ulysses his is more mentally taxing (in my opinion). For Ulysses, he must convince two of his friends there is "treasure", thus lying to them while getting them to travel cross country to make it home and stop his wife from re-marrying, only to arrive home and find that his children don't remember who he is (similar to Telemachus barely having known Odysseus)  

In the Highways
I thought this song was an interesting homecoming song in O'Brother. It does a good job of capturing the journey aspect of Ulysses travels home. I liked the way it was the children singing the song, because it truly a cute way to capture the way Odysseus has missed his children. 

Call Me, Beep Me: Kim Possible and the Odyssey

If you’re unfamiliar with the animated Disney show, Kim Possible, then one, you’re missing out, and two, here’s a summary. Kim Possible was a show about a redheaded teen and her friends Ron Stoppable, his pet naked mole rat, and a intelligent hacker who is secretly behind everything, but stays at home. The high schoolers embark on secret missions to defeat bad guys.

There are many notable things about the program. Besides being Disney’s best animated show, Kim Possible’s story line actually mirrors that of the Odyssey. Here’s why:

Wade

Wade is the Athena of Kim Possible. He appears to have unmentioned social anxiety, and never actually leaves his house, using electronic communication to give Kim and Ron tips and instructions to beat the bad guys. He parallels Athena’s story line, seeing that he tends to give our “heroes” vital information to save the day.

Kim Possible

Though Kim was my favorite character, she most closely parallels Odysseus, due to her impeccable ability to transform. Instead of Odysseus type supernatural transforming, Kim goes from kick ass super hero to average teenage cheerleader. Though it pains me to say it, Odysseus is the main hero of the Odyssey, and Kim is most definitely the main hero of Kim Possible.

Ron Stoppable

Besides his ridiculously ironic name, Ron and his tiny naked mole rat are actually quite similar to Telemachus. He is initially a very passive character, taking a lot of rude behavior from many of his peers. Similar to Telemachus, he begins to grow into his heroism, with a little help from Wade.