Comedy in O Brother Where Art Thou

The use of comedy in O Brother Where Art Thou is a large part of what makes the movie so successful. The camera, the script and the actors all help create the sort of scholarly slapstick comedy that is the movie’s signature. The scene where the congregation comes through the forest and Delmar and Pete get saved could be a very serious scene examining religion and its effects on he human spirit, and while it does dabble in those topics it does so with a comedic flare that adds to the entertainment of the scene.

The scene opens with Everett walking up to the camp where Pete and Delmar are sitting around a fire eating. Everett and Pete discuss how they are going to get to the treasure. There are a series of close up shots on Pete and Everett as they discuss transportation to the treasure, interrupted by close ups of Delmar as he offers Everett a gopher, saying “gopher Everett?”. Pete realizes that Everett has stolen from his cousin and as he realizes this the camera zooms into an even closer up shot of Pete who has narrowed his eyes to a slit in a look of hatred. The exaggeration of Pete’s expression combined with the dramatic zoom in on his face creates a comedic aura instead of one of drama. Once again Delmar offers the gopher to Everett. Music is brought in and the sound interrupts Pete and Everett’s argument. Faintly behind the close up of Pete and Everett you can see white robed figures. The camera then has movement for the first time in the scene and there is a tracking shot around the 3 men showing that they are surrounded by these people in white. Once again, Everett is offered some gopher by Delmar. 

The camera then cuts to the three men walking among the crowd and the music becomes much louder. The camera then zooms out to a bird’s eye view and we get a sense of how big the crowd is and we see that they are all getting baptized. Just as Everett starts talking about how silly the whole thing is the camera cuts to Delmar slopping exaggeratedly through the water towards the priest. Delmar then says he’s a new man and heaven everlasting is his reward and Everett responds with “we’ve got bigger fish to fry”. The scene ends with Pete shoving his hat to Everett and slopping through the water off screen on his way to be baptized as well.