The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers by Conard, Mark T. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cubierta The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1. The Coen Brand of Comedy and Tragedy

“Raising Arizona” as an American Comedy

The Optative Mood and America Comedy The Event Jokes Polysemousness Dreams and Freedom The Uses and Abuses of America The Double Plotline or: The Good of the Bad The Uberty of Liberty Notes

The Human Comedy Perpetuates Itself

Nietzsche and Nihilism Noir, Nihilism, and Comedy in The Big Lebowski Basic Familial Instincts in Coen Comedy Notes

Philosophies of Comedy in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Generic Incongruities Challenging Postmodern Aesthetics Comic Endings Comic Absurdities Notes

“No Country for Old Men” The Coens’ Tragic Western

Coen Irony To Kill a Bird Westerns and Greek Tragedies Power, Hubris, and the Fatal Flaw Our Place in the Universe Rules and Vulnerability Apollo and Dionysus: Reason and Passion The Westerner, Blood, and Death Fate No Country for Old Men A Dream of Fire Notes

Deceit, Desire, and Dark Comedy. Postmodern Dead Ends in “Blood Simple”

Minimal Philosophy and the Failure of Imagination The Complexities of Going “Simple” The Uncertainties of Postmodern Fate Multiple Burlesques The Triumph of the “Funny” Girl Notes

Part 2. Ethics: Shame, Justice, and Virtue

“And it’s Such a Beautiful Day!”. Shame and “Fargo”

Aristotle on Shame Gaear Grimsrud Jerry Lundegaard Marge Gunderson Conclusion Notes

Justice, Power, and Love. The Political Philosophy of “Intolerable Cruelty”

What Is Justice? Justice as Power Destruction of One’s Opponent Nailing Someone’s Ass Justice as Compromise Justice as Fairness All’s Fair in Love and War Notes

Ethics, Heart, and Violence in “Miller’s Crossing”

Ethics: “I Ain’t Embarrassed to Use the Word” “Ethics” with a Twist “Jesus, Tom”: Violent Interlude (1) How to Philosophize with a Chisel: “Look in Your Heart” “An Artist with the Thompson”: Violent Interlude (2) “Mr. Inside-Outsky”: Tom’s Play “A Deep, Dark Place”: Violent Interlude (3) Conclusion: “Do You Always Know Why You Do Things?” Notes

“Takin’ ’er Easy for All us Sinners”

“Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweed” “We believe in nothing, Lebowski. Nothing!” “Viva Las Vegas!” “I went out and achieved anyway.” “Smokey, this is not ’Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.” “Takin’ ’er easy for us sinners” “Well, that about does’er.” Notes

“No Country for Old Men” as Moral Philosophy

Sheriff Bell and the Moral Imperative Llewelyn and Moral Authenticity The Philosopher Who Fell to Earth Coda Notes

Part 3. Postmodernity, Interpretation, and the Construction of History

Heidegger and the Problem of Interpretation in “Barton Fink”

A Day or a Lifetime The Life of the Mind The Dream and Its Interpretation The Metaphysics of Presence Dasein “A Tourist with a Typewriter” Interpretation, Understanding, and Barton Fink Notes

The Past is Now. History and “The Hudsucker Proxy”

The Politics of Postmodernism Remembering the Past Challenging the Past Deconstructing the Past Notes

“A Homespun Murder Story”. Film Noir and the Problem of Modernity in “Fargo”

Film Noir in the Snow MacIntyre’s Critique of Modernity The End of Modernity in Fargo The Deeper Crime in Fargo Notes

Part 4. Existentialism, Alienation, and Despair

Uncertain of All Creating a Self Hats, Pomade, and Hair Nets The Man Who Wasn’t There Notes

Being the Barber. Kierkegaardian Despair in “The Man Who Wasn’t There”

Kierkegaardian Despair Introducing Ed The Possibility of Becoming a New Man Ed’s Conscious Despair: A Man of Immediacy with Some Reflection Ed’s Deepening Despair Alien Encounters Ed’s Confession Ed’s Continuing Search for a Way Out A Modern Man? Acknowledging Absurdity Ed’s Deepest Despair: Inclosing Reserve The Man Who Isn’t There Notes

Ransacking the Museum of Dead Styles The Marks of Cain A Chilling Horatio Algerism What Kind of Man Are You? Notes

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