The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers

by Conard, Mark T.

• ISBN13: 9780813134451
• ISBN10: 0813134455
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-07
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

Film/Philosophy

Author Biography

Mark T. Conard, associate professor of philosophy at Marymount Manhattan College, is the editor of the Philosophy of Popular Culture series and of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Film Noir, The Philosophy of Neo-Noir, and The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
The Coen Brand of Comedy and Tragedy
Raising Arizona as an American Comedy	p. 7
The Human Comedy Perpetuates Itself: Nihilism and Comedy in Coen Neo-Noir	p. 27
Philosophies of Comedy in O Brother, Where Art Thou?	p. 41
No Country for Old Men: The Coens' Tragic Western	p. 55
Deceit, Desire, and Dark Comedy: Postmodern Dead Ends in Blood Simple	p. 79
Ethics: Shame, Justice, and Virtue
"And It's Such a Beautiful Day!" Shame and Fargo	p. 93
Justice, Power, and Love: The Political Philosophy of Intolerable Cruelty	p. 109
Ethics, Heart, and Violence in Miller's Crossing	p. 125
"Takin''er Easy for All Us Sinners": Laziness as a Virtue in The Big Lebowski	p. 147
No Country for Old Men as Moral Philosophy	p. 163
Postmodernity, Interpretation, and the Construction of History
Heidegger and the Problem of Interpretation in Barton Fink	p. 179
The Past Is Now: History and The Hudsucker Proxy	p. 195
"A Homespun Murder Story": Film Noir and the Problem of Modernity in Fargo	p. 211
Existentialism, Alienation, and Despair
"What Kind of Man Are You?" The Coen Brothers and Existentialist Role Playing	p. 227
Being the Barber: Kierkegaardian Despair in The Man Who Wasn't There	p. 243
Thinking beyond the Failed Community: Blood Simple and The Man Who Wasn't There	p. 267
God, Man, and Nature
How Job Begat Larry: The Present Situation in A Serious Man	p. 289
"A Lead Ball of Justice": The Logic of Retribution and the Ethics of Instruction in True Grit	p. 307
List of Contributors	p. 333
Index	p. 339
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