I've assumed the Homeric parallels were just there for the fun, and weren't too significant, I felt. It wasn't meant as an American equivalent of Ulysses making deep statements about the human condition.I think.

Its central point was the same as the one at the heart of Sullivans Travels, to which it paid pleasing tributes both with the title and in the cinema scene. Which is basically about keeping on keeping on, and the importance to people in trouble of having their hearts lifted by straight simple fun. Mickey Mouse, or good Old Timey music.

And while Sullivan's Travels is one of my favourite movies, its music wasn't a patch on Oh Brother. And the choreography of the baptising and the Klan sequence...