When we watched O Brother, Where Art Thou? in class, we arrived at the Ku Klux Klan scene right as class was ending. This allowed for quite a bit of stewing in my brain overnight, and right up until the movie started up in class again the next day. We had only just barely seen the heads of the KKK members and heard the beginning of their chanting and then Mr. Mitchell stopped the movie, saying that we would save this scene for tomorrow. Thinking about it later that day, I didn’t really know what to expect. With what level of seriousness would the Coen brothers approach this topic?
When we watched the scene the next day, I didn’t really know what to think. My first reaction was one of incredulousness. Singing and dancing Ku Klux Klan members? Then the logic-focused (yet very gullible) part of my brain kicked in with, “Did KKK members actually sing and dance?” In the end, though, it was clear the Coen Brothers had put a lot of thought into this scene. They were very exact with the organization of the Klan members, first having them dancing and singing while advancing in concentric circles, then doing some sort of bowing and partner dancing before marching in unison to form a white cross in the center of the group. This brought up the question for me: If they put so much work into this scene, what was their intention for its impact on the film? Was it intended to be comedic? Or symbolic? Or a mix of the two?
There does seem to be a certain degree of comedic value in the scene, however horrifying it is to imagine a Ku Klux Klan rally as being funny. There is first of all the general weirdly comedic aspect of the Klan members marching in unison and then there are several comedic sayings in the leader’s speech such as, “Let’s not forget those ladies, y ’all” and the leader’s statement that they need to protect their women from “all those smart-ass folks say we come descended from monkeys,” obviously referring to evolutionists. There is also the added comedic value of a lot of the actors playing the KKK members actually being African-Americans from a “formation troupe of military guys who march,” as remembered by Joel Coen. George Clooney similarly remembered, “You’d be at the craft services table and there’d be a bunch of black guys with Klan hoods getting food!” The concept of black Klansmen only further serves to increase the comedic value of the scene.
At the same time, the Ku Klux Klan scene is extremely symbolic, as a factor of the American mythology included in the film, as the only scene in the film where Tommy actually has a visible purpose, and as an obstacle for our three heroes. Without this scene, the movie would be lacking an essential aspect of early 20th century American society, as this scene prompts the only discussion of black-white interactions in Mississippi at the time. This topic is otherwise mostly skipped over in the film, whose main characters are mostly white males.
In the end, my view of the KKK scene is mostly a comedic one. The scene offered an opportunity for major reflection and discussion of race, but this opportunity was mostly ignored (I can’t say I can see a way in which they could have brought this discussion into the film in a way that would still fit in with the comedic plot, but that’s why I’m not a filmmaker and they are!). Nonetheless, the KKK scene prompted the comedic with undertones of seriousness “miscegenation” scene near the end, and, the ironically comedic scene of Homer Stokes and his accomplice, whose name I don’t believe we are ever told, crumpling up their Klan hoods and throwing them in the car, at least the former of which is essential to the eventual pardoning of the characters and the overall conclusion of the film.
Quotes from Joel Coen and George Clooney are from this article: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/o-brother-art-thou-george-828277
