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Who Does the Radio Guy Represent in O Brother Where Art Thou

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♫ I am a human being of constant sorrow,
I've seen problem all my days...♫

"You lot seek a great fortune, you three who are now in bondage. You lot will find a fortune, though information technology will not exist the ane you seek. But first... commencement you must travel a long and hard road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell..."

—The Bullheaded Railman

O Brother, Where Fine art Chiliad? is a 2000 comedy pic written and directed by The Coen Brothers, (very) loosely based on Homer'southward The Odyssey.

The story follows three escaped prisoners in Depression-era Mississippi — Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson), and Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro). After fleeing the chain gang, they embark on a rollicking adventure in an effort to reach a huge stash of money that Ulysses buried in his backyard. They have merely a brusque fourth dimension to practice this, though, as the backyard in question is in an area slated to be flooded by the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a reservoir.

On their journeying they meet, among others, a blind prophet, sirens, a Cyclops, and a gifted black guitarist who "sold his soul to the devil". In their attempts to evade the authorities and accomplish the coin, they current of air upwardly recording a hit song, robbing a banking company with George "Baby Face up" Nelson, encountering the KKK, and inadvertently getting mixed up in the land gubernatorial election. And on height of all that, Ulysses must grapple with the prospect of reuniting with his lover and their children...

Information technology was noted for the tremendous success of its soundtrack, most of which was recorded by Alison Krauss & Union Station and other country-bluegrass acts (Dan Tyminski provided Everett'south singing vox).

Bonus points if you recognize the title from Preston Sturges' 1941 motion-picture show Sullivan'southward Travels.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? provides examples of:

  • Added Alliterative Entreatment: "Songs of conservancy to salve the soul."
  • Agent Scully: Everett, who despite being pursued past Satan, coming together a prophet, being seduced by sirens, and beingness obviously saved from execution by divine intervention, still insists that there is a reasonable explanation for everything. At least it's Lampshaded. And by the end, he doesn't really seem sure of himself any more after seeing the cow on the roof of a shed, which the prophet told them that they would see back at the beginning.
  • Ambiguous Disorder: George Nelson shows symptoms of bipolar disorder. He's in an farthermost manic episode when the protagonists meet him, and lapses into a deep low after someone calls him "Babyface." Then when he'southward captured and facing the electrical chair, as Delmar puts it, "Looks like George is dorsum on peak!"
  • Anachronism Stew: The Confederate flag did non become associated with the KKK and racists in general until the ceremonious rights movement in the 1960s. In the 1920s and 30s, they nevertheless used the American flag.
  • And Your Lilliputian Dog, Too!: George Nelson takes a pause from shooting at the cops during his getaway drive to shoot some cows.

    George: Cows. I hate cows more than coppers!

  • Pointer Catch: Information technology looks like Big Dan Teague is going to get skewered by the pole of a falling Confederate flag... merely and then he stops the pointy tip inches from his face by catching it with both easily. Still, a flaming cross does him over just afterward.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
    • Some of Homer Stokes' accusations almost the heroes near the end of the movie: "These boys is not white! Hell, they own't fifty-fifty old-timey."
    • Ane of the people attending George Nelson'due south march toward the electric chair is most upset about his having shot a moo-cow with a tommy-gun.
  • At the Crossroads: The 3 meet Tommy here afterwards he sold his soul to the devil ("I wasn't usin' information technology for nothin'") to become a famous musician; this is based on the real life Tommy Johnson who was the originator of the story. Yep, he did it earlier Robert Johnson.
  • Beat Them at Their Own Game: Pappy's son offers one of his brighter options to beat Stokes in that they could get a dwarf even stumpier than his. Pappy angrily shoots it down, pointing out that Follow the Leader at this point would just make them look like even bigger laughingstocks and pathetically desperate for any points, assuming that they could fifty-fifty find a stumpier dwarf.
  • Belief Makes You lot Stupid: Everett repeatedly chides people for their religious religion. Examples:
    • When Everett witnesses a riverside baptism service, he comments: "Well, I guess hard times flush out the chumps; everybody's lookin' for answers."
    • After Everett'south travel companions become baptized themselves, Everett remarks; "Baptism! You 2 are dumber than a bag of hammers."
    • Toward the end of the film, when facing his own death, Everett falls on his knees and repents of his sins before God. After he is delivered from death (thanks to a sudden and massive inundation of h2o), Everett discounts his conversion by noting that "any human will cast about in a moment of stress." When his companions proclaim that the flood was an act of God, Everett comments, "Once again, yous hayseeds are showin' your desire for intellect." (Note: Everett'due south watery conservancy functions as a clever twist on Expiry by Irony. Deliverance by Irony, perhaps? Miraculous Baptism?)
  • Berserk Button:
    • Don't call George Nelson "Babyface" ("He's a live wire, ain't he?"). Truth in Telly with the existent George Nelson.
      • Possibly an inverted trope, as he'southward already an established madman, and calling him "Babyface" actually shatters his ego, lowering his cocky-esteem.
    • Also, Pete doesn't take kindly to people stealing from his kin.
    • Don't bother offering Everett Fop. He's a Dapper Dan man!
  • Bewitched Amphibians: Delmar is at 1 point convinced that Pete was transformed into a frog.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Article of clothing: Homer Stokes seems like a nice enough guy and mayhap a meliorate governor than Pappy O'Daniel. And and then we run across him leading a Ku Klux Klan rally...
  • Black-and-Gray Morality:
    • The protagonists exist on the gray side. Three escaped convicts and a musician who sold his soul to the Devil ("I wasn't using it"). Everett is a complete liar who tricked the others into thinking that there was treasure and then they would help him escape prison in time to cease his wife from remarrying. Pete is loyal to his friends and family, though he is a bit fierce. Delmar and Tommy are genuinely nice fellows, but Delmar did in fact rob a Piggly Wiggly and lie well-nigh it, while Tommy ran off on his own when there was trouble.
    • Pappy O'Daniel and Penny are slightly further down, but notwithstanding gray. Pappy is rude, selfish, and opportunistic. Notwithstanding, according to him, he tried everything he could to help the people that now support Homer Stokes. He also has no problem with the Soggy Bottom Boys including a black guitarist, even smiling when he notes "folks don't seem to mind they's integrated." Penny told her daughters that their father was hit past a railroad train. But, given that Everett is a conman and a convict, she is correct that remarrying the wealthy and "bona fide" Waldrip is probably best for her daughters.
    • The antagonists are firmly on the black side of things. The Sheriff does a bully bargain of damage in his pursuit of the protagonists, threatening to hang Pete if he doesn't surrender his friends' destination. He likewise tries to hang them fifty-fifty after they were pardoned, and includes Tommy in the hanging just for associating with them. Also, he might be Satan. Big Dan Teague is a conman worse than Everett: he assaults Everett and Delmar for their coin, and later participates in a lynch mob. Homer Stokes presents himself as the "retainer of the lilliputian human", simply it turns out that he'south a Grand Dragon of the KKK, leading the lynch mob to kill Tommy. And, finally, how on globe did Waldrip know that Tommy had sold his soul to the devil?
  • Breathy Lies: "That ain't your daddy. Your daddy was hit by a railroad train."
  • Blind Seer: Lampshaded by Everett, who insists that the human being has a Disability Superpower.
  • Bookends: The movie opens with a chain gang together working near a railroad rails and singing. Shortly after escaping the chain gang, the protagonists see the blind prophet on a push button-car. The film closes with Everett and Penny's daughters tied together by twine walking over a railroad track and singing. And the blind prophet tin exist seen passing by on the tracks.
  • Intermission Away Pop Hitting:
    • The soundtrack had its own sequels.
    • In-movie also, since the Soggy Bottom Boys' singing is and then skilful that it helps resolve the plot.
  • Brick Joke:
    • After mocking Delmar and Pete for beingness baptized early on in the movie, skeptic Everett admits his failings and begs for mercy in a Non-So-Final Confession at the gallows. He is and so forcibly immersed by the floodwaters, and everyone is saved. Literally.
    • Early in the movie Everett, Delmar and Pete meet a bullheaded prophet who claims, "You will see thangs, wonderful to tell. You lot shall run across a cow on the roof of a cotton business firm." At the end of the film, they do indeed see a cow on a cotton house roof.
  • Censorship by Spelling: Sort of. One character wants to prevent his son from knowing that his mother left the family, so he but says "Mrs. Hogwallop up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T." Subverted after on, in that the kid knew exactly what he was talking about, anyway.
  • Chained Heat: The three convicts are chained together for awhile at the beginning.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Everett'due south pomade, particularly its distinctive smell, which lets the Sheriff track them downwardly.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Delmar "We Thought Y'all Was a Toad" O'Donnell.
  • Color Wash: The hue and saturation of the film was messed with until everything was an intensely colorful brownish, imitating the look of sepia-toned photos. Without this, the Mississippi (and South Carolina, for some scenes) summer landscape would have been a brilliant green, which the creators said was besides bright for the Depression era Grit Bowl-type feel they were going for.
  • Comically Missing the Point:
    • Afterwards they get escape and don't quite brand it onto the railroad train, Everett and Pete both call back they should be the ane in accuse.

    Pete: Well, I remember it should be yours truly!
    Everett: Well, I think information technology should be yours truly, as well!
    Beat They turn and look at Delmar.
    Delmar: Okay, I'g with you fellers.

    • When Everett admits he made the treasure up to convince his chainmates — i.due east., Pete and Delmar — to help him escape, Pete realizes that fifty years volition be added to each of their sentences for fleeing the concatenation gang, and that he won't exit of prison until he's 84 years old. Delmar happily chimes in, "Well, I'll only exist 82!"
    • As well, when Pete responds to Delmar's whispered "We idea yous was a toad" line with a dislocated Flat "What", Delmar repeats the whisper more slowly and emphatically.
  • Comic Trio: Everett is The Leader, Delmar is The Fool, and Pete is the Only Sane Man (compared to the other two, at least).
  • Community-Threatening Structure: Ulysses Everett McGill needs to call back a treasure buried in the lawn of his old house. However, the area is scheduled to be flooded by Tennessee Valley Authorization's damming activity. In this example, Ulysses doesn't ever endeavour to prevent the construction (in fact, he sees it as the Dawn of an Era) — it just serves every bit an inexorable deadline for Ulysses and his partners to attain the homestead.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Of course the guy the KKK decides to lynch is the one our heroes know and are on friendly terms with. Not too contrived, though, if you lot know your history. Being an unemployed black man was a crime simply slightly worse than being an employed black man in the South.
  • Corrupt Hick: The insanely decadent Big Dan Teague. Who is channeling the cyclops Polyphemus.
  • Crush the Keepsake: Big Dan attacks Ulysses and Delmar to run into what it is they're conveying. When he sees it'southward but a toad (they thought Pete had been turned into i), he crushes it in front of them.
  • Cult Soundtrack: The soundtrack album is regarded equally one of the well-nigh important State and Bluegrass albums of the decade and sold over 7 million copies. It also won the Grammy Award for Album of the Twelvemonth in 2002, making it one of only iii soundtracks to e'er win that award.
  • Dawn of an Era: Everett'southward view of the building of a hydroelectric dam, which saves his and his friend'southward lives:

    Everett: No, the fact is, they're flooding this valley so they tin hydroelectric up the whole durn land. Yes, sir, the South is gonna modify. Everything's gonna exist put on electricity and run on a paying footing. Out with the old spiritual mumbo jumbo, the superstitions, and the backward ways. Nosotros're gonna run across a dauntless new world where they run everybody a wire and hook us all up to a grid. Yes, sir, a veritable age of reason. Similar the i they had in France." *He sees the cow that the bullheaded soothsayer prophesized* "Not a moment too soon..."

  • Bargain with the Devil: Tommy Johnson traded his soul to the devil at the crossroads for his guitar skills.
  • Death by Childbirth: Pappy mentions that Junior's mother died giving nascency to him.
  • Deep South: Much of the picture show takes place in Grit Bowl-era Mississippi.
  • Deliberately Monochrome: Of the sepia variety, see Real Is Chocolate-brown beneath.
  • Deliberate Values Noise: The nearly notable being the scene where Pappy is considering using the Soggy Bottom Boys to help his campaign and snub Homer Stokes, his son points out that the band's integrated and they're a Deep Southward state. Afterward a moment to watch the cheering crowd, Pappy decides to get ahead with information technology by noting it seems the public doesn't care nigh the integration.
  • Deus ex Machina: The flooding happens at exactly the right time to save them all from being hanged. Possibly a literal example, only it'south foreshadowed enough that it doesn't break the plot even if the viewer doesn't interpret it equally spiritual.
  • Did Not Die That Way: He didn't die at all, Everett finds out his wife has told his daughters that he got hit by a train, rather than tell them he was sent to jail.
  • Disney Death: Pete was believed to take transformed into a Toad past the launderer sirens, so they take him in a box. The toad was so killed by Big Dan Teague by beingness crushed, and his friends were physically incapable of stopping his death considering they were browbeaten to bloody pulps. It was later revealed that the toad was actually not Pete, nor was he fifty-fifty transformed into a toad. Turns out those "launderer sirens" actually delivered him to Sheriff Cooley's men for the advantage, and is now a prisoner back at the farm.
  • The Ditz: Delmar.
  • Empty Piles of Clothing: This (and a toad) causes Delmar to presume Pete's been turned into a toad.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Big Dan Teague.
  • Expy: A number of characters serve as references to characters out of the Odyssey or Greek mythology more generally: Ulysses Everett McGill is of course Odysseus (Ulysses being the Roman version of the name Odysseus) who is trying to get domicile to his married woman Penelope (Penny), Pete and Delmar are the notoriously fractious and uncontrollable coiffure of Odysseus, the iii women bathing and singing in the river are the Sirens, Large Dan Teague is the cyclops Polyphemous, and the blind homo in the beginning is the blind prophet Tiresias. There'south even a human named Menelaus! But he's not an expy (encounter Historical Domain Character below).
  • Fake Band: The Soggy Bottom Boys.
  • Fan Disservice: The Sirens, in addition to being generally beautiful, all habiliment wet dresses then you lot tin can see their lingerie. Yet, combined with the creepy song they go along singing, and the fact that one of them is forcing a drug downwardly Everett's throat, you can't assist but experience there's something off about the whole matter. That's considering they're seducing them to betray them to the Sheriff.
  • Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Arrange: Several. Most notably, Governor Pappy O'Daniel (for the mildly corrupt version) and Big Dan Teague (for the insanely corrupt version).
  • Imitation Affably Evil: Big Dan Teague, who engages the boys in friendly chat earlier chirapsia them up and robbing them. He'due south also a member of the KKK.
  • Starting time Father Wins: Everett'south ex-married woman has told his daughters he's dead due to his lack of steady employment and criminal behavior, and Everett must find his way and win them back before she marries a successful just stodgy political counselor.
  • Flat "What": A silent 1 from Pete when Delmar tells him he thought he turned into a toad.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Delmar, or butterflies at the least.
  • Freudian Trio: Everett (Superego, uses logic and reason); Pete (Id, relies mostly on instinct and opposes Everett); Delmar (Ego, acts every bit a peacekeeper between the two).
  • Funny Background Event:
    • Everett, Delmar, and Pete are all chained together, and effort to escape past boarding a moving train. In the foreground we see Everett (on the train) introducing himself to some hobos. In the background, Pete trips before he can climb in...
    • Too, Pete's gloriously goofy dancing during Delmar'south rendition of "In the Jailhouse Now."
    • Background singing — in Homo of Constant Sorrow, Everett finishes singing a depressing stanza that ends in the line "perhaps I'll dice upon this train..." and Delmar and Pete chime in with a cheery "Perhaps he'll die upon this train!"
  • Genre-Busting: Information technology's a musical/comedy/social commentary/retelling of The Odyssey... that's set in The Great Depression.
  • Good Erstwhile Fisticuffs: Vernon gives Ulysses a good old-timey ass-whoopin' in the Woolworth's. Vernon apparently has some training in the pugilistic arts, whereas Ulysses... non so much.
  • Historical Domain Character: Several announced in the moving picture, though the details of their lives are skewed for the sake of the story. They include bank robber George "Babyface" Nelson, Blues musician Tommy Johnson, and politician W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. The latter arguably undergoes the nigh changes, having his first name changed to Menelaus as a nod to The Odyssey and being governor of Mississippi rather than Texas, while the quondam died three years before the film'southward setting and was The Napoleon in existent life ("George Nelson" was likewise an allonym, for what it'due south worth).
  • Historical In-Joke: A not bad deal of the humour in this picture is derived from these.
  • Hobos: "Any of y'all fellas smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced y'all into a life of aimless wanderin'?"
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • Everett, clearly touched past his come across with the bullheaded seer, goes on at length about how the blind are perchance attuned to the future and hold the gift of prophecy, to account for their lack of vision. When Pete points out that the hereafter he foretold was one where they wouldn't become the treasure they sought, Everett shoots dorsum in frustration, "Well, what the hell does he know?! He's an ignorant old man!"
    • Just equally he is about to exist executed, Everett prays to God to let him come across his daughters at least ane more time. When the dam breaks and saves him, he starts going on most reason. The other two immediately telephone call him out on it.
  • Implacable Man: The Sheriff. Zero will stop him from bringing downward the main trio. Not fifty-fifty a pardon from the governor himself.
  • Inspector Javert: The Sheriff characterizes himself this mode at the very finish, challenge that the boys take merely been pardoned by the law of homo.
  • Informed Attribute: This applies to the Governor, while Homer Stokes runs on a reform platform, calling O'Daniel a tool of the interests. The audience, who doesn't see that much of the Governor, never sees him do much beside swear at and assail his aides with his hat.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Committed past Everett, called out by Pete.

    Pete: You stole from my kin!
    Everett: Who was fixin' to betray us.
    Pete: You didn't know that at the time!
    Everett: Then I borrowed information technology 'til I did know!
    Pete: That don't make no sense!
    Everett: Pete, it's a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the man center.

  • Ironic Nursery Tune: The siren-seduction scene, to "Didn't Leave Nobody Only The Baby" As well a rare case of erotic horror.
  • Jerkass: Pappy O'Daniel, oh and so much. Even though he's the one who pardons our principal characters, meaning they no longer have to be outlaws, it's solely for his own reelection campaign.
  • Wiggle with a Eye of Gilded: Everett. He's greedy, deceitful, sneaky, and arrogant but truly does care for his friends and loves his daughters dearly. When all hope seems lost and he starts praying; Everett prays for anybody else's rubber and happiness, merely asking that his own life exist spared so that his daughters can have a male parent to look later them.
  • Boot the Dog: Big Dan beats upwardly Everett and Delmar, steals their money, and crushes their frog whom Delmar thinks is Pete in front of them.
  • Kids Driving Cars: Everett, Pete, and Delmar manage to escape from a burning barn when Boy Hogwallop bursts through the barn door in his dad'south car and offers them a lift. Since Male child is quite small, he uses a brick to weigh down the accelerator. Later, Everett steals the car, leaving Male child to curse him, Pete and Delmar every bit he walks back to his dad's farm.
  • The Klan: Appears every bit enemies near the end of the movie, as Everett, Pete, and Delmar must rescue their friend Tommy from the Klan.
  • The Lancer: Pete.
  • Large and in Charge: Governor Pappy O'Daniel. "We're mass communicatin'!"
  • Large Ham:
    • Homer Stokes. It's specially noticeable in the scene where he leads a KKK rally. Of class, it makes sense, given that he'southward running for governor and a talent for public oratory would assist him a lot.
    • George "Babyface" Nelson. "I'M FEELING Ten Feet Alpine!"
  • Louis Cypher: The Sheriff who is chasing after them is unsaid, and even theorized to be by the characters, to exist this. His Scary Shiny Glasses reflect fire a lot.
  • Lyrical Dissonance: The Soggy Lesser Boys' extremely cheerful, upbeat rendition of "Man of Abiding Sorrow".
  • Magic Realism: In that location are more than a few downright mystical occurrences in the film, such as the prophet, the sirens, the stiff implication that the Warden is Satan, and God saving the protagonists at the climax.
  • Meaningful Name: In a story based off The Odyssey, the principal character's proper name is Ulysses.
    • Likewise the Governor, whose name is Menalaus, although that'south a petty more The Iliad.
  • Misspelling Out Loud: "Mrs. Hogwallop up and R-U-N-Due north-O-F-T."
  • Mistaken for Transformed: Played for Laughs when the escaped convicts wake up afterwards drinking with some strange women by the river, find Pete gone and a toad in his abandoned clothes, and jump to the conclusion that he was Baleful Polymorphed. They keep the toad for a while before finding out that the women actually sold Pete to the police.

    Delmar: Them si-reens did this to Pete! They loved him up and turned him into a h-horny toad!

  • Musical World Hypotheses: Diegetic all the way through, making its classification as a musical to begin with dubious to some.
  • Mythical Motifs: While the film doesn't follow The Odyssey to the alphabetic character, it does borrow some notable plot elements from it, such as the Cyclops, the sirens, and ane of the main characters trying to get abode to his wife so she won't marry someone else.
  • Mythology Gag: Large Dan the cyclops looks like he's going to lose his center to a flung Confederate flag spear, much like Polyphemus, only he manages to catch information technology between his easily at the concluding moment. Then the gang cuts downwardly the fiery cross, which falls on top of him, almost certainly burning his center out and preserving a piece of the narrative.
  • Never Trust a Title: No, the three master characters are not brothers, nor are they trying to observe their long-lost brother. The title is actually a reference to an old picture.
  • No Animals Were Harmed: The cow that was run over by the cops in pursuit of Baby Face Nelson was CGI, which resulted in the rare addendum to the warning, "No animals were harmed in the making of this film. Any scenes showing animals in jeopardy were simulated."
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: At that place really was a Depression-era Governor named Pappy O'Daniel, merely his given name was Wilbert Lee O'Daniel; in the film the governor'southward real first name is Menelaus (another Homer reference). Likewise the real O'Daniel was governor of Texas, not Mississippi.
  • Not His Sled: The expected fate of John Goodman's "cyclops" is deliberately referenced then avoided. Then happens slightly differently anyway.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Teague's reaction when he realizes that the fiery cross was coming down directly at him.
    • Homer Stokes' reaction when he realizes that the town, later his attempt at getting the Soggy Bottom Boys arrested failed, is now going to run him out of town on a rail as revenge for interrupting the performance.
    • Finally, the slow, dawning realization in the climax that the Warden fully intends to lynch them on the spot, despite the fact that they were given a pardon, and, likewise, murder Tommy, merely for being there.
  • Newspaper-Thin Disguise: Toward the end of the film, the avoiding "Soggy Bottom Boys" perform "In the Jailhouse At present" and "Homo of Abiding Sorrow" while disguised with false beards. Lampshaded later, when their functioning wins over the crowd and Everett deliberately yanks his bristles off for a moment to testify Penny who he is.
  • The Pardon: Granted but ignored.
  • Pedal-to-the-Metal Shot: Parodied. The male child who helps our heroes escape a burning barn in a Ford Model A has fruit crates strapped to his shoes. What's more, the car can't go very fast anyway, and then breaks downwards shortly subsequently their escape.
  • Politically Correct History: Zig-zagged. The white heroes refer to Tommy as a "male child," simply otherwise treat him every bit an equal. The radio station manager insists that he won't play "colored songs," but once the "Soggy Bottom Boys" get popular he's ecstatic almost them and signs them. Pappy O'Daniel doesn't seem to intendance that "they's integrated" after seeing how a crowd adores them and boots out his gubernatorial opponent for interrupting them. The KKK is shown in all its theatrically racist glory, but is also portrayed every bit a fringe organization that is not looked upon favorably by the common townsfolk. This portrayal has some basis in reality, every bit by the 1930s the second Klan'southward membership had dwindled compared to its heyday in the mid-1920s note Specifically, the murder of Madge Oberholtzer in 1925 acquired members to get out in droves; membership continued to decline until the Civil Rights Motility started gaining momentum in the 1950s, simply they have never come close to the level seen in the twenties. It should be noted, however, that Homer Stokes feels perfectly comfy announcing to a roomful of people that he belongs to an organization, wink-wink-nudge-nudge, that engages in cantankerous-burning and lynching, and expects the audience to empathise with him when he attacks people for stopping a lynching. It's non hard to guess that the only reason he's booed is because the people he's accusing happen to be a very popular music band, not because of general principle.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: Homer Stokes, candidate for governor by twenty-four hours, Klansman by night.
  • Popculture Osmosis: The Coens have claimed that they've never really read The Odyssey, but know the story through its diverse adaptations.
  • Produce Pelting: What the audience does when Homer Stokes ends up interrupting the Soggy Bottom Boys performance to get them arrested, that besides as ride him out of town on a runway.
  • Real Is Brownish: Pursued with a vengeance, given that a substantial portion of the motion picture's post-production budget went into extensive colour-correction. The Coens wanted every frame of the film to reflect the dingy, withered dustbowl expect, and in some cases took entire fields of dark-green flora and turned them yellow.
  • Reduced to Ratburgers: Pete and Delmar melt a gopher and offer it to Everett. He doesn't seem very enticed by the notion — non because of their pick of food, but because splitting such a small animal three ways wouldn't be much of a meal. Delmar heads him off with news that they actually caught and cooked quite a few gophers, so Everett can accept the whole affair.
  • Retirony: Of a sort. Pete was two weeks from being released from prison anyway. Now that he's escaped, he'll have to serve some other fifty years and won't get out until 1987.
  • Road Trip Plot: The convicts are trying to get from their escape from the chain gang to Everett's secret stash, encountering many obstacles and interesting characters along the way.
  • Rock Me, Asmodeus!: "And I have it from the highest 'thority, that that negra... sold his soul to the Devil!!!" annotation The townsfolk don't purchase into it, though.
  • Running Gag:

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

    • Everett'due south obsession with his Dapper Dan pomade too counts, as well as his reflexive worrying about his hair whenever something wakes him in the middle of his slumber.
    • The abiding reference to Everett supposedly beingness striking by a train once he reunited with some of his daughters.
  • Satanic Archetype: Sheriff Cooley fits Tommy Johnson's description of the Devil exactly: "He's white, as white every bit y'all folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow vocalisation. He likes to travel around with a hateful old hound." Notwithstanding, upon seeing him at the finish of the movie, Tommy doesn't seem to discover.
  • Saved by the Coffin: After the valley floods, the protagonists cling to i of the coffins the sheriff was planning to bury them in.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: The Sheriff/Warden/Devil wears these.
  • Seinfeldian Conversation:
    • This charming example:

      "He's gonna paddle our trivial behind."
      "Ain't gonna paddle it — gonna kicking information technology. Real hard."
      "No, I believe he's gonna paddle it."
      "I don't believe that'south a proper description."
      "Well, that's how I'd characterize it."
      "I believe it's more than of a kickin' sitchiation."

    • The word of a "grease spot on the L&N" and a "bona-fide" suitor ranks correct up in that location too.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness:
    • Everett. For example, from the Funny Background Event described above:

      Everett: Say, any of you fellas happen to be smithies? If not smithies per se, possibly you trained in the metallurgical arts before straitened circumstances led you to a life of bumming wandering?

    • Likewise Big Dan Teague:

      Large Dan Teague: And cheers for that conversational hiatus. I generally refrain from spoken language while engaged in taste. At that place are those who try both at the aforementioned time; I find it coarse and vulgar.

  • Shout-Out:
    • The film'due south title is itself a Shout-Out to Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels.
    • The entire plot contains various shout outs to the Greek epic poem The Odyssey by Homer. The master protagonist is named Ulysses in both stories, has to become domicile to prevent his married woman from marrying someone else, and they meet singing women who seduce them (the Sirens) and a i-eyed behemothic man (the cyclops). The reform candidate is named Homer Stokes, referencing the author Homer. The bullheaded railroad human being predicting events references Tiresias, while the bullheaded radio station manager references Homer once more, who was also said to be blind.
    • Tommy's Deal with the Devil is a reference to a similar deal supposedly made by real-life bluesman Robert Johnson. (Or perchance Tommy Johnson, depending on whom you lot ask.) And the song that Chris Thomas King performs during the campfire scene is "Difficult Time Killing Flooring Blues," originally by Johnson's contemporary Skip James.
    • Not to mention that a human named Ulysses meets a guitarist at a Crossroads.
    • The KKK scene is based off of the scene in The Wizard of Oz where the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man endeavor to sneak into the witch's castle. The guards are chanting the way the KKK does and even doing a similar dance, and the three heroes steal disguises from the guards/KKK.
    • The Soggy Bottom Boys are a reference to the Lite Crust Doughboys, who were featured on the real-life Pappy O'Daniel'due south radio prove, and/or the Foggy Mountain Boys (founded by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs).
    • There'due south a coffin floating on a flooded river at the terminate, which is most certainly a Shout-Out to William Faulkner's Every bit I Lay Dying. And they apply it as a raft.
    • Sheriff Cooley looks and dresses very similarly to Boss Godfrey in Absurd Hand Luke, right down to his Scary Shiny Glasses.
    • George Clooney's performance equally Everett owes more than than a footling to Clark Gable.
    • A throwaway gag may be a shout-out to Porky Pig:

      Everett: Well, we are negroes, sir. All except for our ac-c-c-c... our ac-c-c-c... uh, the man who plays the guitar.

    • "Is you is, or is you ain't, my constituency?" annotation ...my baby
  • Sold His Soul for a Donut: The master characters encounter a immature musician who claims to take sold his soul to be able to play the guitar really well. Delmar, who recently had a religious experience, is disappointed by the idea of selling a soul for and so trivial.
  • Something We Forgot: The trio arrive at the cabin in the valley to think Penny's ring, forgetting that Sheriff Cooley had earlier learned of the location by torturing Pete and is now lying in wait for them.
  • Sophisticated as Hell: Many of the characters in a patchily educated manner, but mostly Everett. "I'm the goddamn paterfamilias!"
  • Source Music: All the music in the film is diegetic.
  • Stout Forcefulness: Big Dan Teague.
  • Stern Hunt: The Warden's search for the iii convicts.
  • The Stool Pigeon: Pete ends upwards condign a Lacerated Larry after the "Sireens" basically turned him over to the sheriff's men for a compensation (which initially led them to believe that Pete was actually turned into a frog due to information technology existence in his clothes).
  • Surrounded past Idiots: Pappy O'Daniel'southward cronies and son are sycophantic yes-men who are a bit slow on the uptake, and Pappy is painfully aware of this. This is about likely the reason he tries to convince Vernon T. Waldrip to leave Stokes' campaign and join his.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: "Who is that man?" "Non my husband." Also doubles as a Shout-Out to the source textile.
  • Symbolic Baptism: Played for Laughs when the escaped convicts Pete and Delmar stumble onto a group baptism in a river and jump at the chance to start over with a clean slate... which mostly means doing exactly what they were earlier. They're likewise a bit dislocated to hear that information technology doesn't actually do anything for their criminal records.

    Delmar: Only they was witnesses that seen us redeemed.
    Everett: Even if it did put you square with the Lord, the state of Mississippi'due south a little more difficult-nosed.

    • Everett is and so even more than symbolically baptized when he gives his Non-So-Final Confession, on his knees praying for salvation... when the damming of the river floods the valley and sweeps away not just sins, but sinners, and houses.
  • Those Two Guys: Pappy'south two advisors, see the Seinfeldian Conversation above.
  • Trail of Breadstuff Crumbs: How the sheriff keeps finding Everett. Everett's a Dapper Dan homo, going through obscene amounts of the stuff whenever he can get a concord of it. The sheriff'southward bloodhound can rails him hands.
  • Travel Montage: Nosotros get a serial of scenes showing the trio making their way beyond Mississippi, stealing a auto, stealing a pie (Delmar pays for it), telling scary stories around the bivouac (claw-handed human being)...
  • True Companions: Everett, Pete, Delmar, and Tommy.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
    • The bank customers at the robbery seem to be rather non-plussed by all the shooting.
    • Everett himself is rather not-plussed by Big Dan beating the hell out of Delmar with a tree branch until Large Dan starts attacking him.
  • Upper-Class Twit: Pappy O'Daniel's son.
  • The Vamp: The 3 sirens.
  • Villainous Glutton: Big Dan Teague, as befits his correspondence with the cyclops Polyphemus.
  • Villainous Breakdown: "Babyface" Nelson and Homer Stokes.
    • Nelson gets better...sort of.
    • "MY Proper noun IS GEORGE NELSON, AND I'M FEELIN' TEN Feet TALL!"
  • Villain with Proficient Publicity: Homer Stokes, oh and then much.
  • Wardens Are Evil: The Sheriff. While at the beginning he is in the right to hunt down Everett, Pete, and Delmar (because of them being fugitives), he goes for overkill tactics similar burning down a barn with them inside. He insists that he answers to a college constabulary than man'due south (so he will just keep coming no matter what), and the moment he makes it clear that he will see them all hang fifty-fifty if they are at present pardoned (and he will kill Tommy for no reason other than him being there with the fugitives), he crosses the Moral Effect Horizon hard. That he is a Satanic Classic doesn't assist any.
  • Warm Identify, Warm Lighting: The film uses an extreme yellowish filter throughout that makes what were light-green fields look yellowish. While it gives the movie a nostalgic sepia experience, it too accentuates the fact that the story takes identify in sweltering rural Mississippi in the middle of summer.
  • Nuptials Band Removal: As the guys meet the singing sirens, Everett, in the background, pulls his wedding ring off right before the girls come over and start getting cozy with them.
  • Whole Plot Reference: Loosely, to The Odyssey.
  • Working on the Chain Gang: The story begins with Everett, Pete, and Delmar escaping from this while chained to each other. Pete, at i point, is recaptured and put back to work on the chain gang and has to be broken out of prison again.

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou

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