Soggy Bottom Boys Analysis

Throughout the film, music is also used as a populist trope that unites Southerners, with the popular genre of folk music appearing in nearly every scene. In the South during the 1900s, folk music was the main source of musical entertainment, both for individuals and at large gatherings. At his rally in the town square, Homer Stokes had a folk band play “Keep on the Sunny Side,” uniting the crowd under their mutual love for folk music. At the end of the movie, when both gubernatorial candidates are attending a gala with hundreds of supporters, the Soggy Bottom Boys make an appearance, much to the enjoyment of the crowd.
Never failing to seize a political opportunity, Pappy O’Daniel rushes out on state and begins dancing along with the band. Following their first live performance of “Man of Constant Sorrow,” Pappy capitalizes on the Soggy Bottom Boys’ popularity and pardons the band members for any crimes they may have committed, garnering tremendous support from the crowd. This pardon is a populist trope, because Pappy claims to understand the struggles they are enduring as average men, and wants to be a champion of the people by …show more content…
also relates to Charles Pierce’s Idiot America in the sense that there are many “cranks” on display throughout the movie. Perhaps the most obvious cranks are the three prisoners themselves, as they are engaged in a wild adventure to find treasure they have no reason to believe in. The men represent conspiracy theorists who have set out to prove a mysterious theory—in this case, the treasure—exists. Pierce argues that the spirit of the American crank is rooted in conspiracies, and a true crank is one who sees conspiracies in every act. While Pete and Delmar were oblivious to Everett’s motives for planning the escape and had no reason to suspect any form of deception, they are still considered cranks because they believed in the conspiracy of treasure, which was no more than a figure of Everett’s