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njoseph's avatar

The final words of the Lord of the Rings- the final volume of which is The Return of the King - is Sam saying "well I'm back," turning the whole darn thing into a homecoming tale.

I would also point out that dozens and dozens of classic bluegrass songs have the longing for home as their central theme.

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Nate Spins Vinyl's avatar

What's the alternate title for The Hobbit?

"There and Back Again"

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njoseph's avatar

Yes! and picking up the LOTR thread, note as well that "The Return of the King" means Aragorn is finally home after exile. The Elves go home to the West, taking Gandalf with them. Frodo is too traumatized to go home, but in a way, being reunited with Bilbo, also on the boats going West, is his home. And if you really want to stretch the metaphor, the Ring itself must go home, back to where it was created, for the world to achieve peace.

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Nate Spins Vinyl's avatar

Tolkien is the master.

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Karen Bryan's avatar

Paul Hindemith wrote an 8-minute opera with that very title ("Hin und Zuruck").

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Kate Stanton's avatar

There’s no need to leave The Shire when you have friends like Sam.

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Karen Bennett's avatar

A signed photo of Jake LaMotta should *not* be languishing in a box! Surely there must be a wall in your home that can accommodate that!!! (My Dad boxed Lew Tendler in a gym in Philly somewhere when he was young. Tendler won, of course. My Dad taught me a left hook when I was 10. He really wanted a son.)

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Matt Richards's avatar

Anabasis is also about a return home. And the movie The Warriors is based on it. It always depresses me when I see that movie, and it says "Based on a novel by Sol Hurok." Poor Xenophon gets no credit at all.

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Norman Sheidlower's avatar

Sol Yurick

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Matt Richards's avatar

Rats. Obviously I was relying on my increasingly faulty memory.

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Alisa Kennedy Jones's avatar

Ghaaaaagh!!! The poseur-classicist in me loves this whole post! 😂

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Dan C @storymapsdan's avatar

The biggest hit in the history of the Warner Brothers studio concerns a character who must leave their safe, ideal home to go to a foreign land, and after a great struggle they return home to find it has been taken over by enemies. They use their wits to gather a small force and defeat the monsters, taking back their beloved home but in doing so, realizing it was never perfect. They now see the cracks in the facade and hear the cries of those that were left out, ironically the enemy they just vanquished. Their home, and they, must change, and a new synthesis of morals and societal standards must be put in place that addresses the needs of everyone, not just their side. Ultimately, our hero realizes that they no longer fit in this "new" home, and their place is back out in the foreign land where it may be more dangerous but the rewards are greater.

Know the name of the movie?

No, not Harry Potter.

Barbie.

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Eric Dane Walker's avatar

Around the holidays, when the disputes about whether Die Hard is a holiday movie begin to bubble up, there is one consideration I suggest in favor of its status as a holiday movie that often — not always — prompts the naysayer to reconsider their position: that McLane is just trying to be with his family. (I do wish he exercised his wits in less violent ways, though.)

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Bob Lucore's avatar

There’s no place like home.

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Richard Fawal's avatar

Is “Die Hard” a Christmas movie? Maybe, but it’s also a homecoming movie. All John McClane wanted was to get back together (back home) with his wife. Hans Gruber interfered, and McClane had to use his wits (plus guns and explosives) to overcome.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

With your wide range of knowledge, as you often demonstrate here, I'm not surprised you made a good case for the connection between Greek poetry and American movies.

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Fred Levitan's avatar

I look forward to your interlocutor unwittingly prompting you to find deep meaning, universal truths and foundational wisdom in Adam Sandler films.

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Whiskey6's avatar

The golden age of Pixar movies were all about getting lost (a childhood fear that even adults like Odysseus relate to) and finding a way back home. Toy Story, Cars, Finding Nemo, Monster’s Inc. are also amazing movies because they tap into the western storytelling tradition in a way.

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Boris Kraft's avatar

Brillant piece. I love this movie. Need to watch it again, now that I know what it’s actually about ;-) And all the more reason to read Odyssey again as well.

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Greg Lindenbach's avatar

Whoa- had no idea about the link to Homer. There goes my complimentary post-50 Elitist membership. Time to dust off The Fugitive for another look- great writeup.

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Deep Turning's avatar

There's also the Coen Brothers, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which is directly modeled on The Odyssey and has multiple episodes and characters directly copied.

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Karen Bryan's avatar

I love that movie! Especially since the title was borrowed from "Sullivan's Travels", another of my favorites.

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Greg Lindenbach's avatar

Another to watch- it's been a long time.

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e.c.'s avatar

I'd say "loosely based on." Charles Frazier's novel Cold Mountain seems a lot closer to its sources, especially since the Civil War is going on and the main character is a soldier who deserts and goes through a *lot* just trying to get home. Probably fair to say both works were "inspired by" Homer.

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Michael Kupperburg's avatar

Bravo! Your comparison of the Odyssey and The Fugitive, with the proper idea of getting back to where one came from, is glorious. Another movie of similar intentions is "Brother from another Planet".

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The Minor Wazoo's avatar

Isn’t Joyce’s Ulysses about Stephen and Bloom wanting to get back home ?? Obviously I know the wholebook is modelled on Homer - doh ! But it is a modern novel. In Malcolm Lowry’s Under The Volcano the protagonist dreams of a home he will never see again. The protagonist of Roth’s fantastic novel “An American Pastoral” tries to re-find the home that is lost . I guess it depends on the definition of that word “home” . Steely Dan (not novelists) wrote an entire song about this - “Home at Last” . Its everywhere in literature old and new. Alienation by any other name would smell as sweet.

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Greg Lindenbach's avatar

Yes! Home at Last- great song from an outstanding album.

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Andrew Shields's avatar

“Home at Last” was my first Odyssey story! I loved it and later found out that its image of being “tied to the mast” came from the Odyssey.

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Fred Ross's avatar

I'm not sure I buy this on Odysseus. Kazantzakis's sequel read very true to the character to me. Odysseus's father Laertes, called wise, is the one who clings to home. Cunning Odysseus even in his youth left home to voyage and visit among the other Achaian nobility. So it's not so much a homecoming tale as a tale of reclaiming power.

> Hunters are always on the move, so they are less interested in creating these deep roots in an unchanging geography. In many instances, they operate as nomads.

They are on the move, but generally in very predictable patterns that are deeply tied to the geography. The natives of the Pacific Northwest had very specific patterns they worked through over the seasons through specific places. Here's where the camas grow and must be thinned and harvested. Here's where the salmon weirs go up and the fish are smoked for winter. Here is where we pass in the summer to harvest berries and plants. Here is the edge of our route and the beginning of our neighbors'. Other nomadic peoples like the Sami have similar paths. Nomadic humans are as tied to the details of local geography as any other migrating species. Even among non-migrating hunting groups they are living in a very specific piece of land that they are very tied to and know well. It's hard to feed yourself in unfamiliar territory.

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