Most embarassing movie - "O' Brother..."

[Whitehall]

I had heard good things about the sound track to "O' Brother, Where art Thou" so I rented the DVD and sat down to watch it.

While there were a couple of cute moments, on the whole, I was embarassed by it. It just couldn't stop from ridiculing Southerners and in the most stupid, banal, stereotypical manner possible.

As a society, we've made it clear that "Negro" jokes, Polish jokes, etc, etc are unsuitable for civil discourse and for good reason. Today, Hollywood thinks that Southerners and the Amish ("Kingpin") are fair game and outside any respect or deserving of dignity we otherwise expect to show everyone else and each other.

It burns me - and I'm neither.

The music was great and I look foward to picking up the SACD even though that will put a buck back in some Hollywood creep's pocket.

[Celt]

Joel and Ethan Coen have a tendancy to exaggerate stereotypes. Give "Fargo" a look-see sometime. They probably pissed off the entire state of Minnesota. However, I like "The Hudsucker Proxy" because it's a throwback to Howard Hawks zany comedies.

[Whitehall]

"Fargo" was much more humane and respectful of the characters in my view than "O Brother". I've been in Minnesota and in the Deep South and "Fargo" was a more accurate view.

A broad brush in parody can be fine and entertaining but this was just hateful in places.

[jlindsey86]

It's been awhile seen I have seen "O brother" but I really enjoyed it. Curious as to what parts you found to be so offensive? I am from the south and nothing struck a cord with me.

I think it's a great movie!

[Sandy G]

Rednecks/Southern backwoods types are the last people we can still make fun of, & not get the PC Police riled up. Used to make me mad, until I realised how many damyankees & Canucks, etc, come here w/LOTSA green money to laugh at us....Shit, I'll put on a pair of bib overhauls on & stick my thumb up my arse if it'll make youse damyankees throw money at me....Be glad to ! Hehehehehehe...an' y'all hurry back next year.....-Sandy G.

[Ghog]

I, too, am from the south, deep south delta country of arkansas to be exact, and I have seen movies that offended me in their portrayal of southerners. But, curiously, I rather enjoyed "O Brother, Where Art Thou". I can't really explain why it didn't come across as mocking and denigrating, but it didn't just the same. In the same way carricatures often grossly but accurately exaggerate reality, the movie portrayed a segment of southern life in it's time period that was accurate, but exaggerated. Growing up in the 60"s, I knew people whose carricatures would closely resemble the characters of the movie. Weird? Yeah, it was, but very entertaining and in ways historical. And to me not the least bit offensive.

Ghog

[Sandy G]

From MY perspective, a much more accurate representation of life here was "Driving Miss Daisy", & even it was a bit stereotypical.

[Negotiableterms]

Originally Posted by Ghog

... in it's time period...in ways historical...

To me, that was the "Get out of jail free card". If it hadn't been set 70 (or whatever) years ago I'd have been offended too. In the 1930s the whole world was a different place, and much behavior that was normal then would make caricatures today.

Take a look on A&E at Poirot, and see if the English don't seem caricatures, yet the portrayals are accurate for normal people of that era. Same for Nero Wolfe. Normal behavior from the early 1900s is seen here on AK purely for effect. How often do you see someone here referred to as a "Gentleman" or addressed as "Sir". When's the last time you heard that formality in a mall?

No one on this site is old enough to have lived through the 30s and still remember it, since if you were old enough to remember things in the 30s, you're too old to remember anything now.

Just think... in 50 years or less, we'll all be caricatures for some ancient decade, ya know, dude?

[BULLWINKLE]

I loved it. I dont think it was meant to be a accurate portrayal of life but a satire. Homers Odessy take off. I laugh every time I see it. Great one liners "Damn, were in a tight spot!", "I nicked the census man." "Now, theres a good boy." The music is great too. Its only a movie.

[vertex]

I know how you feel. You should rent "Raising Arizona" sometime, and then try comparing the two movies. It seems that both of these movies are suprisingly similar, in terms of the characters used (Cage's and Clooney's characters are very similar) and the theme of redemption.

In 1987, I didn't know who the Coen brothers were when I sat down in a theater with some friends to watch this movie. As the only person from my group from Arizona, I was a bit squeamish at the outset of this movie. They had Nicholas Cage's character living in a trailer in the middle of Papago Park in Tempe, about 10 minutes from where I lived, so believe me, I empathize with you.

But after the 1st 10-15 minutes, I bought into the movie, and by the end of the movie, I wasn't embarrassed at all by any of the portrails. I was 'in' on the joke, and I ended up laughing my ass off.

It seems that the characters in Raising Arizona had much more of an edge to them than the one's in 'O Brothers', though they are all sympathetic.

[Urizen]

I didn't know until a few years after I saw it that it was based on Homer's epic, "The Odyssey". I have friends who have a lake house in Tishamingo, Mississippi, where the great flood takes place. The flooding of this manmade lake actually submerged the small town there and is a popular diving site. A beautiful lake, home to many bald eagles.

[Whitehall]

I agree that "Driving Miss Daisy" was a more representative and a more enjoyable film. But then, so was "Gone with the Wind"!

What was offensive? Well, I too spend some years of my youth in the Deep South so knew people like the characters. Dumb, uneducated, yes, but still warmly human.

For example, the road camp guards. My best friend in high school got in trouble afterward and spent a year in a road camp, wearing chains and swinging a pickaxe. Later, my mother remarried a retired road camp guard (following his 25 years in the Navy). When I told my friend about him, he said "Cap'n Hank! He saved my live and straightened me out!" Today, my friend is a lawyer. My stepfather is one great guy. So are road camp guards pure evil and hideous? What if some badass breaks loose and robs your house?

Their treatment of religion was also downright hostile. I'm in no way part of any organized (or unorganized) religous faith but I at least respect people of other faiths.

Sorry, but I saw this movie as an attack on red-state Americans and part of the "culture wars." Guess I see a hidden agenda, like a lot of Hollywood's recent output.

But there were some cute jokes - the "rolltop desk" gag was one.

If you like it, so be it. I'll not have it in my house.

So what's your take on Cool Hand Luke then, speaking of chain gang films?

[Urizen]

Originally Posted by foetusized

So what's your take on Cool Hand Luke then, speaking of chain gang films?

Great flick. Eggs and Joy!