On the Coen Brothers and Nihilism
Wherein I talk about a great filmmaking duo.
I am sad to say that I only recently managed to watch No Country for Old Men. This is an intolerable sin; however, it is merely yet another tacked to the millions that will already drag my soul to the lands south of Heaven.
Today, several days later, I find myself thinking still of the film and what it means. Well, let me rephrase: I am not thinking so much about what the film itself means but more what it means in relation to my understanding of the greater Coen Brothers library.
I have come to believe that they (Ethan and Joel) are nihilists.
The reasons I think this are many and varied, but there are a few films which seem to directly speak to this idea. There is a theme that runs through many of their works that I can only sum up as “things happen, and they do so for no rhyme or reason, and there is no guiding force behind them.”
The most obvious example of this is, of course, No Country for Old Men: Chigurh is effectively a force of nature. He simply happens. Nothing that Sheriff Bell does can stop him and Chigurh’s actions further send Bell into despair for his ability make a difference in the world.
Fargo. Fargo is a brutal film and it is sometimes easy to forget that while remembering only the funny parts. We, from the vantage point of Frances McDormand’s character, are mere observers to what amounts to a series of random acts of violence (they have a reason – but again, it is something that happens). It doesn’t happen to us; we are the investigators.
Now, The Big Lebowski speaks to nihilism, but it does so in a mocking tone. This is, I think, intentional: the three “toughs” claim to be “nihilists” but do so in a manner that is so transparently cliched that they cannot be taken seriously. They believe in “nothing,” which is a logical fallacy.
The Dude, however, is possibly a true nihilist: he goes through life understanding that “shit happens”. And, in the course of the movie, it does (Donnie’s death being just one element).
(I should point out that I think Lebowski is one of, if not the, greatest comedy ever made. I have found that it takes most people three viewings to catch the full “zen” of the film. If you have not watched it in a while, I suggest you do so.)
This thread – that things simply happen – rears its head even in their most screwball comedies (though typically with less violence). For example, in Raising Arizona we have a biker who might as well be the devil and at the end of the film we are left with the concept that hope is futile because everything may be a dream.
“And then I woke up.”
What are the tenets of “true” nihilism? In a sense, they can all be reduced to the idea that any moral direction that exists is a falsehood. If there is a “god”, it cares little about us and less so about what is “good” or “evil”. Many people attach an emotion of “despair” to this idea but I do not think that is accurate: despair assumes a morality within it.
(This is not too far from my own philosophical and religious beliefs: I think there is a god of some sort, but I also believe that we are to him as a single bacterium on my skin is to me: irrelevant. Applying a moral stance to a deity is arrogance in the extreme; “good” and “evil” are relative to our own mortality.)
I’m not entirely certain where I am going with this writing save this: in a world where In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale could have been made, god must surely be oblivious to our plight.
Comments on On the Coen Brothers and Nihilism
Agreement on THE BIG LEBOWSKI being one of the greatest comedies ever.
I’d say you also missed making mention of THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE which is about as overtly nihilistic a film as you could wish to see.
It’s been a while since I saw The Man Who Wasn’t There so I couldn’t pull details about it to the forefront, which is why I didn’t mention it.
I *do* remember it being heavily nihilistic, though.
Yeah, to be honest I’d be extremely hard pressed to recall any details about TMWWT beyond the fact that it was nihilistic… It’s been a long time since I saw it, too, and it’s not one of those films you really feel compelled to revisit..
its brilliant and brutal of course.
also blood simple. omg.
very much a kin to NCFOM.
If you have a week to kill, you may enjoy Todd Alcott’s Coen Brothers dissections, particularly The Big Lebowski.
Er, I actually meant this review of The Big Lebowski, though the other is good as well.
What’s amazing is that No Country is an almost scene-for-scene faithful adaptation of Cormack McCarthy’s novel, except that the scene I consider the emotional core of the novel is so incredibly truncated in the film that it changes the whole feel of things. One might even say it makes them more nihilistic.
Highly recommended.
Where do you place hudsucker… its almost unrepentantly upbeat?
also “And then I woke up.” is i think unambiguously just about his dream of the future. of growing old with their own kids… not the whole move…
just sayin.
although with hudsucker… so much is by chance…
I’ve kinda filed The Big Lebowski into the bucket of “Movies I Will Never See Because Most of its Hardcore Fans Annoy the Shit out of Me”. I’ve probably heard every single line from the movie at some point or another without even knowing it, and I don’t even know what the film is about. As far as incessant, out-of-context movie quoting goes, it’s Monty Python for People Without Neckbeards.
It may be the greatest movie ever made, but it will likely forever languish in the bottom of that bucket, along with Buckaroo Banzai, Napoleon Dynamite, and Snakes on a Plane.
Your logic also follows for Barton Fink and Miller’s Crossing. :>
I also thoroughly enjoyed No Country For Old Men as well. Probably one of the best antagonists I’ve seen in a film in memory. :>
Egan
I agree the films are unsettling but not due to nihilism. Nihilism is the proposition that life is without purpose or meaning. And there is a very distinct line between good and evil in all their movies. But their movies do lack a couple of anchors that the average Hollywood movie does have, which might make them *feel* nihilistic.
1 – The world has no bias towards good or truth. There films don’t start with a harmonious web of sympathy that is violated by a single evil individual. The world is just a loose collection of people, half of whom are below average in intelligence, with competing interests.
2 – Powerful or romantic emotions do not lead one to redemption. This is a particularly American trope which is what makes the Coen brothers’ movies feel “European”. In a Coen brothers movie, you might do horrible and stupid things for love. Love will NOT make you a better person. Even the protective or possessive feelings that most people feel for babies are satirized, as in Raising Arizona.
The Coen brothers don’t idealize society, and they don’t elevate love as the supreme emotion. Instead, their most sympathetic characters are small-town law enforcement officers. People with compassion, forbearance with the faults and limitations of others, humility, and decency. Even if these characters don’t have the power to change the world, they can create little islands of goodness. Ultimately it’s a very conservative outlook, just without theism.
Some people have suggested that Vonnegut novels operate the same way (the author agreed).
How can we not mention A Simple Man?Or Burn after Reading?
Both of those movies were released after this post was written.