Unit 11: Contemporary Myths

        In the film “O Brother Where Art Thou,” Homer’s the Odyssey is adapted into a modern telling of the epic. Along with aspects and symbols of the Greek myth, the directors also used tales and legends from other times and cultures. One such example can is Sheriff Cooley, who is described as being the devil. When the group meets the blind prophet, Tommy Johnson, he describes the devil is “as white as you folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow voice. He loves to travel around with a mean old hound.” The Sheriff fits this description throughout the movie and in fact, we never actually see the sheriff’s eyes; we only ever see him wearing large reflective glasses, giving them an empty look.

Sheriff Cooley

        Along with his physical description, this character is also representative of the Christian notion of the devil in his actions. The devil is often thought to be always present and always trying to take souls away to Hell. While the Sheriff is not literally always present, he is always on the groups trail and breathing down their necks, so to speak, in an attempt to take them back to prison; also known as hell.