In book eight, Odysseus visits the Phaeacian King and Queen and they hold a celebration for him and host the games. When I was reading this in the novel and recognized the importance of the games and festival I was reminded of the movie “Made of Honor” staring Patrick Dempsey as Tom and Michelle Monagha as Hannah. Tom and Hannah have been best friends since college but they have never dated or had a romantic relationship. Tom dates many women while Hannah has yet to find the man of her dreams. When Hannah goes to Scotland for a month, Tom realizes that he does not want to date a multitude of women, but that Hannah is the love of his life. While in Scotland, Hannah meets a handsome and dashing man who is the heir to a whiskey fortune and is considered Scottish royalty. When Hannah returns to New York she plans to tell Tom of her quick marriage to Colin. Tom does not know of their marriage and plans to tell Hannah that he is really in love with her that same night. When Tom finds out about her marriage, he is heartbroken and unable to tell Hannah about his feelings for her.
As her best friend, Hannah asks Tom to be her made of honor for the wedding. Tom agrees, hoping that it will allow him to stay close to Hannah and eventually reveal his love for her and prevent her from marring Colin. When the travel to Scotland for the wedding, Colin’s family host an elaborate celebration that resembles the celebration that King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians hold. Colin sings a traditional Scottish song to Hannah about marriage and King Alcinous is so impressed with Odysseus he offers him his daughter’s hand in marriage. Colin’s family shows a great deal of hospitality towards Hannah and her family members just as the King and Queen of the Phaeacians show hospitality towards Odysseus. Both example lavish food and drinks are involved in the celebration as well as ceremonial clothing and traditional games. The games represent strength, power and glory. In Odysseus’s case he proves his strength over the younger men and the experiences he has from going to war and overcoming so many obstacles. In Tom’s case, his lack of experiences causes him to embarrass himself and allows Colin to win the games.
In the end Tom reveals his love for Hannah and she realizes that she does not really love Colin and Tom is her best friend and soul mate. They leave Scotland and return to New York City where they are marriage. Odysseus does not accept Alcinous’ offer to marry his daughter, instead he continues his journey home to his wife and family. Both examples share the theme of the strength of men and the honor and glory in showing and proving their strength in public. “Made of Honor” is an example of how the traditions and values that are represented in Homer’s work of The Odyssey can be transformed into modern films.
I loved your comparison to the Made of Honor. It never ceases to amaze me how often we are influenced by classic works of literature. We can never just assume that the ideas are original to the movie. I like the closing paragraph comparison too. I viewed Colin as a hero figure too. I saw him as the bigger man that stepped down to do the right thing. The only way I disagree is that I have a harder time seeing Odysseus as a pure of a hero as Colin because he was unfaithful to his wife. Colin was never unfaithful to Hannah. Great comparisons though, I really admire the creativity.
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