Two of a Kind: Analyzing O Brother Where Art Thou and King Kong

King Kong relates to O Brother, where art thou in many cinematic ways. Aesthetic techniques can be matched in the two films with the use of spectacle, sound, and mise-en-scene. Both movies tell a tale of false and misguided fortunes as Ulysses Everett McGill (O Brother Where Art Thou) leads an account to fake secret treasure in chances to fix his marriage and Carl Denham (King Kong) pursues the latest adventure movie secretly in sight for the humongous monster Kong. O Brother Where Art Thou and King Kong both utilize comparable aesthetic techniques of spectacle, sound, and overall mise-en-scene to embrace separate misguided missions.

Both pictures use spectacle to employ realistic characteristics in unnatural worlds. King Kong showcases an island of wild inhabitants housed by monstrous creatures that interact with modern day civilization. O brother Where Art Thou uses the classic story of Homer's Odyssey in a modern Americana setting. Both films are created with extreme uses of editing that gives creative personality to each picture. One of the O Brother's most intriguing effect shots occurs very early in the story. When the three cons break away from the chain gang, they attempt to board a rolling freight train. McGill jumps through an open boxcar door; a second con is halfway in and halfway out of the car, hanging on for life; and the third con is running alongside the car, trying to catch up. He finally stumbles and falls, dragging the other two out of the car. The sequence was clearly too dangerous to shoot with a real, moving train. Instead of using stunt doubles, the actors were filmed pantomiming the shot in front of a blue screen. The moving train was filmed as a background plate, and the two elements were composed by Digital Editing. With the use of stop-action animation and rear projection, King Kong also tells a tale with the use of cinematic editing between actors and simulation.

In King Kong, sound plays a key role in the suspense between on screen action and the viewer. With all action movies, diegetic and nondiegetic sounds function as a part of the plot telling its own separate story. King Kong does this with use of drum patterns, explosions, screams, and roars. Use of musical score is used to cut in between scenes giving a vibrant editing technique. Not only does sound create a massive concept in King Kong, it also moderates the movie O Brother Where Art Thou. The genre may be a mix between drama and comedy, but it is obvious that it fits into the model of a musical. With skits and songs throughout the film, the score creates an important part of the overall mise-en-scene of O Brother Where Art Thou.

The camerawork in both films is more subjective, revealing the story to viewers as if they are participants rather than spectators. Eerie jungle sets and accurate setting backdrops create a feeling as if the viewer is actually in the action of King Kong. A heart racing music score gives a panic attack to the audience with the idea of being in the characters own footsteps. Camera angles in King Kong give up close and personal shots which allow a feeling as if you are involved in the on screen drama with the out of this world monsters. O Brother Where Art Thou uses three close-ups of the main characters in quick succession over the campfire which creates the effect as if the viewer is sitting in. The same effect is used while the KKK meeting is taken place. A pan shot which circled to robed figures as they enter the crowd of the cross burning gives the effect of being apart of the crowd.

O Brother Where Art Thou sets McGill on a journey to reunite with his wife and King Kong is an expedition by Denham to make a mark on the world by capturing the world's largest beast. With the use of stop-action animation and rear projection, King Kong's mise-en-scene portrays an early cinematic tale of man's lust for personal dreams. O Brother Where Art Thou leads a relation to false undisclosed fortune in odds to fix a marriage. Although these two films seem to have no relation, they are both plugged with similar aesthetic techniques of mise-en-scene, sound, and spectacle to strive for two mistaken missions.