"Oedipus Wrecks" is a successful appropriation of the Greek tragedy in that it uses the same themes as the play in a modern context. The film is an appropriation rather than an adaptation because elements of the original play's plot and characters have been used in a different setting to create new meaning and explore the themes in a different way, in this case a parody of the original, rather than using the same story …showed first 75 words of 748 total…

…showed last 75 words of 748 total…shock, to make humour. But the responder, having already experienced the mother, finds the deepest element of humour in knowledge of the sons doom and how he suffers seeing it all play out before him. It is a condensed example of many of the themes of "Oedipus Rex", like of mother and son, fate, inevitability, and false relief, and an awareness of this in the responder adds yet another layer of humour to the scene.