Alan Woolfolk
Part 2. Ethics: Shame, Justice, and Virtue
“And It's Such a Beautiful Day!” Shame and Fargo
Rebecca Hanrahan and David Stearns
Justice, Power, and Love: The Political Philosophy of Intolerable Cruelty
Shai Biderman and William J. Devlin
Ethics, Heart, and Violence in Miller's Crossing
“Takin’ ’er Easy for All Us Sinners”: Laziness as a Virtue in The Big Lebowski
Matthew K. Douglass and Jerry L. Walls
No Country for Old Men as Moral Philosophy
Part 3. Postmodernity, Interpretation, and the Construction of History
Heidegger and the Problem of Interpretation in Barton Fink
The Past Is Now: History and The Hudsucker Proxy
“A Homespun Murder Story”: Film Noir and the Problem of Modernity in Fargo
Part 4. Existentialism, Alienation, and Despair
“What Kind of Man Are You?” The Coen Brothers and Existentialist Role Playing
Being the Barber: Kierkegaardian Despair in The Man Who Wasn't There
Thinking beyond the Failed Community: Blood Simple and The Man Who Wasn't There
Acknowledgments
First, I'd like to thank the contributors to this volume for all their hard work and patience, which are clearly evident in these terrific essays. Many thanks are also due to all the good people at the University Press of Kentucky, with whom it continues to be a real pleasure to work. Last, for all their love and support I want to thank my family and friends, especially Nayia Frangouli, Brad Herling, Chris Landis, John and Linda Pappas, Yvonne Roen, Aeon Skoble, and Jerry Williams.
INTRODUCTION
Mark T. Conard
Since arriving on the cinematic scene in 1984 with Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen have amassed an impressive body of work that has garnered them critical acclaim and a devoted following. Their highly original works include both comedies and dramas and cover various genres (neo-noir, the romantic comedy, the western, the gangster film). However, most, if not all, of the Coens’ films defy exact categorization, and they always bear the brothers’ unmistakable stamp. From the Irish gangster morality play Miller's Crossing (1990) to the film blanc Fargo (1996), from the neo-noir comedy The Big Lebowski (1998) to the Odyssean O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), the Coens never fail to have something interesting to say and always say it in a unique and entertaining fashion.
As I've already hinted, much of the Coens’ work can be characterized as neo-noir, whatever other styles or genres the brothers are working in. For those unfamiliar with the term, “film noir” refers to a body of Hollywood films from the 1940s and 1950s that share certain visual features, such as stark contrasts between light and shadow and oblique camera angles meant to disorient the viewer, as well as particular themes, such as alienation, pessimism, and moral ambiguity. Classic noirs include The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941), Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944), and Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947). Any film coming after the classic period that displays these themes and has a similar feeling to it we refer to as “neo-noir.” Later films, such as Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974), Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan, 1981), and L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997), fall into this category, as do many of the Coens’ films. Blood Simple is a quite self-conscious neo-noir, for example, and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) is clearly an homage to classic noir. As we'll see later, many or most of the brothers’ other movies can likewise be identified as noirs.
This work investigates the philosophical themes and underpinnings of the films of these master filmmakers and uses the movies as a vehicle for exploring and explicating traditional philosophical ideas. It comprises sixteen essays from scholars in both philosophy and film and media studies. The essays are written in nontechnical language and require no knowledge of philosophy or media theory to appreciate or understand.
Part 1 of the volume, “The Coen Brand of Comedy and Tragedy,” begins with Richard Gilmore's “Raising Arizona as an American Comedy,” in which he argues that the aspirations for improvement of the outlaw protagonist of the film, Hi McDunnough, are quintessentially American in nature. Next, in “The Human Comedy Perpetuates Itself: Nihilism and Comedy in Coen Neo-Noir,” Thomas S. Hibbs claims that the threat of nihilism, often prominent in classic noir,
