The Coen Brothers and the Comedy of Democracy
By (author) Sara MacDonald, Barry Craig
Publication date:
31 December 2018Length of book:
132 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9781498555166
Both critically and commercially successful filmmakers, the Coen brothers have written, produced, and directed numerous acclaimed films over the past three decades. Sara MacDonald and Barry Craig demonstrate that their comedies, in particular, which are often dismissed as mere entertainments, actually present substantial philosophic and political arguments. They examine five of the Coen brothers’ comedies: Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou, and Hail Caesar!. In those works, they discover insightful engagements with such ideas as questions of human freedom, the relationship of reason to religion, and the nature of liberal democracy in the American regime. They demonstrate how sometimes explicitly, but generally implicitly, the Coens draw on thinkers such as Homer, Plato, Dante, and Hegel, while simultaneously presenting popular entertainment.
This is both a thoughtful book and a light-hearted one. . . In addition to sharing in the enjoyment of a number of movies, the book offers reflections that are relevant to political philosophy, and can stimulate further thought.