The Coen Brothers and the comedy of democracy / Sara MacDonald and Barry Craig.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacDonald, Sara (Sara Jane)

Contributor:

Craig, Barry, 1960-

Bloomsbury (Firm), publisher.

Series:

Politics, literature, & film.

Politics, Literature, & Film

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comedy films.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (133 pages).

Distribution:

New York : Bloomsbury Publishing (US), 2018.

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : Lexington Books, 2018.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Introduction: comedy is serious business

Raising Arizona: it takes a baby to raise a nation

Fargo: why you shouldn't put your friend in a wood chipper

The Big Lebowski: bowling for love

O Brother, Where Art Thou?: that time Odysseus woke up in a democracy

Hail, Caesar!: the divine presence that was not represented in the film.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-9787-3101-9

1-4985-5517-9

OCLC:

1501682270